Collectors of baseball cards striking out

[Silver Surfer]

Dude I haven't seen you post in months and you return to talk about baseball cards! Take it to the water cooler.

And it seems like you are a regular chatty Cathy now. You have more posts than I do

 

WAY more interesting one's too. Good to see you bud. (thumbs u

[Gatchaman]

Collect cause you like it, collect cause it makes you happy. Any financial rewards are a bonus.

Opening packs of 89 Bowman makes no sense other than i guess it makes you happy. I dont see any financial reward ever coming of this

I DONT GIVE A CARP ABOUT FINANCIAL REWARD! It was the fun of opening a rack case. 3 rack boxes for about $30. I got several hours of enjoyment out of it. Well worth it to me.

And that is part of my point. Any financial reward is a bonus. I collect for enjoyment. I got away from that in comics and it kinda burned me out.

 

Here, here!!!!!!

[Gatchaman]

Really, Baseball Cards are pretty useless when you think about it.

 

Not on bicycle spokes.

 

 

[Gatchaman]

Sorry if this has been said before. I watched the OP's video and my thoughts on this are that comic characters are more eternal.

 

There is only 1 spider-man, and he has been in comics for the last 50 years. The average athlete's career isn't more than 10 years.

 

Sports is a business of "what have you done for me lately." Players are VERY easily forgotten. Unless you have vintage rookies of legends expect the market to fall through very soon.

 

I was collecting a lot of Broncos and Spurs players autographed card and recently sold my entire collection on the bay because once those players retire or get traded the market for them will be gone.

 

I think the vintage comic market is much stronger, and the sports fad is much more comparable to the modern comic/ variant market.

Babe Ruth is eternal. Mickey Mantle is eternal, Sandy Koufax is eternal, Roberto Clemente is eternal. There are just as many immortals in baseball, probably more, as in comics.

I assure you, people have not forgotten about Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, Christy Matthewson, etc.

Yes, cards do tend to take a hit after the shiny and new wear off. But what collectible in todays market doesnt?

The maxim is the same: Collect what you love, love what you collect, and if there is any money left in them then that is a bonus.

 

Big difference though is I could find some kid in the middle of any country in the world and chances are excellent that they have heard of Spider-man, Superman, Batman etc.

 

What kid in Pittsburgh has heard of Clemente? Or a kid in LA heard of Koufax? My son probably has no idea who many of these guys are. (Strangely enough, he did some report last year about Hank Greenberg. No idea where that came form.)

 

Go ask your average HS kid in anytown USA about Whitey Ford. Dollars to donuts says you will be lucky if some of them think he was the President at one time.

 

I love baseball. I know who all these guys are and I even appreciate the guys that I have never seen play but they all have a shelf life in the consciousness of the public. Most of them have passed the expiration date.

 

If I asked my son's (10 years old) class tomorrow who has heard of Iron Fist and who has heard of Sandy Koufax, I would be quite surprised if any of them have heard of Koufax. I would also say that more would have heard of a run of the mill B list Iron Fist.

And those kids will have read exactly how many Spidey/Supes/Bats comics?

Combined more kids will watch Jeter and Ortiz play Baseball next year, then read comics.

Is this one of those Stanford studies?

If you think about it most comic books after 1985 are worthless as well.I see both baseball cards and comic books as both great hobbies, and hobbies that can learn good knowledge from one another.

 

I have seen dealers take baths in sports cards to where they couldn't even get $40 for a 5,000 count box, but in most cases you can get $40 for 1 or 2 long boxes (600-700 books). The last card show i sold at a dealer had a wall of 5,000 count boxes that were going nowhere. Over a year ago I went to a yard sale and watched people almost fighting over 5,000 count boxes of Magic Cards. I have had to beat people out of comic books at estate sales. But, when I see mounds of sports cards for sale nobody wants them.

[arexcrooke]

If you think about it most comic books after 1985 are worthless as well.I see both baseball cards and comic books as both great hobbies, and hobbies that can learn good knowledge from one another.

 

Baseball Cards have no function other than as a collectible. None.

Comics tell a story through words and art. Regardless of how anyone feels about the quality of storytelling from 1985 on (and really, there's just as large amount of questionable art and storytelling pre-1985 as post), the majority of tpb's sold each month is easily from the modern era of comics, so obviously there's interest.

Now from a monetary value standpoint, the modern era of comics seem less valuable, but even that can be deceiving. Keep in mind that by 1985, the secret was out, and the majority of comics were bagged and boarded and protected; increasing the amount of high quality copies available.

Which has more to do with the lower selling prices than any perception of worthlessness.

 

Sure, Comics and Cards can learn something from each other, but there is a difference there that is apples to oranges.

Its funny how people have to put raise their hobby up by putting others down.

Remember, comic collectors are people who collect magazines about people in tights with some type of superpower flying around.

Baseball cards are at least of real people.

[arexcrooke]

Sorry if this has been said before. I watched the OP's video and my thoughts on this are that comic characters are more eternal.

 

There is only 1 spider-man, and he has been in comics for the last 50 years. The average athlete's career isn't more than 10 years.

 

Sports is a business of "what have you done for me lately." Players are VERY easily forgotten. Unless you have vintage rookies of legends expect the market to fall through very soon.

 

I was collecting a lot of Broncos and Spurs players autographed card and recently sold my entire collection on the bay because once those players retire or get traded the market for them will be gone.

 

I think the vintage comic market is much stronger, and the sports fad is much more comparable to the modern comic/ variant market.

Babe Ruth is eternal. Mickey Mantle is eternal, Sandy Koufax is eternal, Roberto Clemente is eternal. There are just as many immortals in baseball, probably more, as in comics.

I assure you, people have not forgotten about Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins, Christy Matthewson, etc.

Yes, cards do tend to take a hit after the shiny and new wear off. But what collectible in todays market doesnt?

The maxim is the same: Collect what you love, love what you collect, and if there is any money left in them then that is a bonus.

But how many baseball cards have sold over $10k vs comic books...lets say after 1950

I dunno. But I would say that there are cards that trade in that range.

But, sorry to be obtuse, the point of your post is?

My point is I agree with the OP that Collectors are striking out with baseball cards. They, compared to comic books.....S....U....C...K. Thats my point

Ah, the always popular "what i collect is awesome and what you collect su cks" argument. Always trotted out by the small minded and those who take someone else collecting something else as a personal affront.

Cards are not striking out. There are shows all over, about 4 this month just in my state of NC, shops that are still open (my local card shop does a booming business and you should see the nights they have pack wars and trade night, and they are geared to kids as well) and a thriving community on eBay. Oh, and there are about 5 major message boards as well that are always active.

But, lets not let facts stand in the way of a good argument doucher.

 

So what goes on in NC is indicative of the overall hobby? Can you say that the hobby is as strong across the country?

 

There are other facts in play here. Those facts are that in general the collectible sports card market is a shadow of what it was 20 years ago. Cards were massively overproduced, values plummeted. Here in CT, I watched at least 5 local stores go out of business when sports cards collapsed in the 90s. In the late 80s/early 90's I used to be able to go to to at least one to two card shows every month. That just isn't the case here anymore and I do not believe your example in NC is the norm. The hobby is depressed right now. I wish it weren't

So what goes on in your neck of the wood is indicitive of the hobby? You dont get to play it both ways.

So, my anecdotal evidence is not acceptable but yours is. Nice.

There are shows all over the US, large an small, on a very regular basis. There is the National, in Baltimore this year, that is every bit as large as SD, NY, Chicago-Con. The hobby isnt depressed as bad as you think it is.

[Jeffro.]

So what goes on in your neck of the wood is indicitive of the hobby? You dont get to play it both ways.

So, my anecdotal evidence is not acceptable but yours is. Nice.

There are shows all over the US, large an small, on a very regular basis. There is the National, in Baltimore this year, that is every bit as large as SD, NY, Chicago-Con. The hobby isnt depressed as bad as you think it is.

 

Well, you started the game chuckles, I just opted in. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

 

The hobby isnt depressed as bad as you think it is.

 

I truly hope you're correct.

[arexcrooke]

Way to ignore the meat of my post. Actually good job ignoring all of it. Be proud of yourself playa.

Add something besides a tired and worn out saying that a middle age cracker has little idea how to dumb he sounds.

[arexcrooke]

The only sports card I ever kept.My 1954 Mantle.

 

Oakman, not to rain on your pictured '54 Bowman Mantle, but you recognize it as a reprint I hope?

 

Like Jeff, I love pre-'75 Baseball and likely always will. Eh, collect what you like. And as for SGC, which used to be a part of the Collectors' Society but is obviously not any longer, whatever happened to them that the split occurred? Jeff, do you happen to know?

Yes of course.I don't have a scanner,so I took a pic from photobucket.Not my card.

you took the pic from your photobucket. Let's be clear on that.

[krighton]

baseball/sports cards have never recovered from the debacle of the late 80s early 90s. Greed killed the hobby. Video says 81 billion cards produced in 1 year before the bubble burst...that will never happen in the comic industry.

[arexcrooke]

baseball/sports cards has never recovered from the debacle of the late 80s early 90s. Greed killed the hobby.

And you are actively collecting today? Did the greed from that same time in comics kill it?

[whomerjay]

It's funny how people praise the inherent value of collecting comics because it's "art" whereas other collectibles are simply soulless with no intrinsic value. If one reads these boards, discusssion about comics is primarily about what they are worth and the dynamics of the comics business. In the minority are discussions about story lines and art. Alternatively, baseball cards tend to provoke analytic discussions of players' personalities, abilities, accomplishments/anecdotes, and the game itself that tap the nostalgia button much harder and more frequently than do musings over comics. The fact that baseball cards are about real people is not just a liability that can drive the price of a card down, it's something that makes the hobby relevant and worthwhile, and IMO more rewarding. Personally, I find a discussion as to whether Williams was better than DiMaggio more relevant, valuable, and worthwhile than one that ponders whether Spiderman could beat Batman in a fight.

 

And BTW, IMO baseball has stimulated the production of "art" that is arguably much better than anything comics have produced. I do, however, acknowledge and respect contrary opinions here, and admit to enjoying much about comics and the hobby. But some of the comments here about baseball and baseball card collecting are, as Arex says, "so wrong I don't even know where to start."

[krighton]

baseball/sports cards has never recovered from the debacle of the late 80s early 90s. Greed killed the hobby.

And you are actively collecting today? Did the greed from that same time in comics kill it?

 

actively collecting baseball? no, not at all. the greed in comics from that time wasn't quite a watershed moment as it was in baseball. they were able to recover by keeping the print runs low and putting out better stories. even though baseball cut their print runs it didn't have the same effect (for whatever reason).

 

Baseball card collecting is starting to go the way of stamp collecting. When you consider Magic the Gathering came along about the same time that the bubble burst in baseball cards it grabbed a huge majority of the youth that would have naturally progessed into baseball. By the same token, nothing has come along to replace Comics (except maybe video games but those sometimes go hand in hand).

[whomerjay]

Really, Baseball Cards are pretty useless when you think about it.

 

I love baseball but never got into cards. They are pictures of dudes.

 

 

I love women but can't get into women's basketball.

[arexcrooke]

Again

I find it awe inspiring that you can make sweeping arguments about the card Industry and hobby even though you have said you are not involved in the hobby now.

It must be difficult to have so much knowledge and be so intelligent that you can dictate from on high about a hobby you don't participate in.

:hail:

In all reality you are as clueless as others in this tread when you talk about cards. You rely on an episode in the hobby that happened around 20 years ago and try to apply it to today.

If comics changed and adapted (although just as a medium comics are very less produced and bought today than in say 1985) then wouldn't it make sense that cards did too?

Yes somewhere in your ubiquitous knowledge that point must have slipped your mind.

[bill977]

a question for arexcrooke; do you think the prohibitive cost of a box of cards,with no chance of getting a set or even half of a set has driven the kids away?for example my grandson loves the topps heritage cards,but with a box being 75 dollars plus, and no chance of completing it for under 200.00 that puts him out of the game. whereas he claims for about 40.00 total,he has a shot at completing a magic set,or whatever the new cards along that line are. now back in the 70's my allowance and paper route i could afford to buy a box of 1975 topps for about 3.60 and could buy 3 or 4 boxes over the summer and complete a set. i did that with topps,donruss and fleer,right up until the early 90's. and i think the heritage cards are nice,but what would it cost to build a set of these,using the old way?

[ComicConnoisseur]

It's funny how people praise the inherent value of collecting comics because it's "art" whereas other collectibles are simply soulless with no intrinsic value. If one reads these boards, discusssion about comics is primarily about what they are worth and the dynamics of the comics business. In the minority are discussions about story lines and art. Alternatively, baseball cards tend to provoke analytic discussions of players' personalities, abilities, accomplishments/anecdotes, and the game itself that tap the nostalgia button much harder and more frequently than do musings over comics. The fact that baseball cards are about real people is not just a liability that can drive the price of a card down, it's something that makes the hobby relevant and worthwhile, and IMO more rewarding. Personally, I find a discussion as to whether Williams was better than DiMaggio more relevant, valuable, and worthwhile than one that ponders whether Spiderman could beat Batman in a fight.

 

And BTW, IMO baseball has stimulated the production of "art" that is arguably much better than anything comics have produced. I do, however, acknowledge and respect contrary opinions here, and admit to enjoying much about comics and the hobby. But some of the comments here about baseball and baseball card collecting are, as Arex says, "so wrong I don't even know where to start."

+ 1

 

[Jeffro.]

Way to ignore the meat of my post. Actually good job ignoring all of it. Be proud of yourself playa.

Add something besides a tired and worn out saying that a middle age cracker has little idea how to dumb he sounds.

 

Oh go f yourself. All you do is pop on occasionally, spew and then disappear again.

[krighton]

they could have held the card show in that video in someone's basement....scary.

 

 

[Jeffro.]

Attention everyone, Arex has all the answers. No one else is allowed to form an opinion. You can all go home now. Thread closed.