A Quick Note on the Decline of Baseball Cards

[whatupyos]

I remember when I was a kid, I lived for baseball cards. I couldn't wait to do chores around the house or recycle cans to save up to buy a pack of cards. Money would literally burn a whole in my pocket. I collected cards from the time I can remember in 1985 all the way through the beginning of college. I remember my dad sending me a pack or two of cards when I was away at college. I seemed to notice the decline of the baseball card frenzy around the late 90's to early 2000's. Seemed to be a baseball card show a weekend in the early to mid 90's. I miss those days. I can't stand all those game used jersey and bat piece cards. I think card companies started doing that to gain interest in cards since it was starting to decline in interest. I prefer game used now that I'm older, but its sad to see the decline.

Aaron

[godwulf]

yeah we got that postcard as well. We plan on going. Maybe we can finally meet

Each table at the dinner will also have an AFL player sitting.

I hope the players and coaches don't get swamped with autograph requests at the cookout, to the extent that it ruins the event for them and becomes embarassing. I would guess that a couple of the better known prospects would be targets for that, if they're there. It would be different if they weren't about to play a six-week schedule, during which anyone going to even one or two games will be able to get all the autographs they could hope for. Me, I've got my season pass, and have plans to get to about 25 games this year, including fifteen days when I'll be on vacation from work and doing nothing but watching Baseball, Mon-Sat.

I saw Rusty Ryal the other day, btw, and he let me hold his 2008 AFL Championship ring; it had a pretty nice stone in it.

[pietraynor]

Reading these posts brings back a lot of memories...As a teen in the early '80s I went to the weekend baseball cards shows at least once a month, miss those a alot..never knew what was going to walk in the door, made a lot of great buys as a dealer setting up a shows..Remember meeting Greg Pruitt (Browns) & Bob Feller back then..While I haven't collected cards since '85 or so, I do enjoy going to a show every now and then. Awhile back I bought a hoard of early '70s football cards & made sets because they were relatively inexpensive & easy to find (either online or at shows)..Finding myself drawn to sets I knew as a kid (Hostess, Kelloggs, etc)..That's about the only interest I have in cards now. Jay.

[WadeInBmore]

I absolutley love the old cards. If and when I collect cards I only go after HOFer RC...all the cards I wanted as a kid but couldn't afford. I agree that the newer cards are garbage. I would rather sift through and look at cards from the 50's with a crease or two and rounded corners then play with the cards of today. I remember picking up my Jackie Robinson RC about two years ago and feelings like I was 12 again...except I was 26 I love looking at my collection and appreciate what the vintage cards went through to get into my collection. Today people open the packs and protect the cards immediately. The hobby is all about the "Grade"...i don't like that, for me its about the love and pursuit.

Happy collecting

wade

ps inevitably it was by getting back into card collecting that I learned of game used collecting...now my primary focus is game used as I don't think I've added any new card of substantial impact since the Robinson RC.

[commando]

Right now I'm in the middle of building a website that features and gives information on sportscard sets produced during the 1980s (the days of my innocent youth). The bottom line is that most of these sets have little value, but in a way, makes them even MORE fun to collect. I've gone on eBay and purchased bundled lots of small sets (remember those little boxed sets sold at K-Mart, Walgreen's, etc?) for a few cents each. Police and Safety sets cost a fraction of what they did years ago. Even the famous 1984 Donruss Baseball set, with the Mattingly rookie, was picked up by me for $42 dollars postpaid.

Cards from the 1980s were WAY overproduced, but they make me happy. You know? And that's what its all about... I can't tell you much about cards produced after the mid-1990s, because my head started to hurt right around then, every time I opened Sports Collectors Digest. It was becoming impossible to keep track of everything being produced at that point, not to mention the expense involved.

I've been looking at 1980s baseball card magazines while doing research for my new website. Some creep named Dave Miedema keeps popping up with a variety of articles.

[both-teams-played-hard]

The bottom line is that most of these sets have little value, but in a way, makes them even MORE fun to collect. I've gone on eBay and purchased bundled lots of small sets (remember those little boxed sets sold at K-Mart, Walgreen's, etc?) for a few cents each.

So true. I hope everyone on this forum would still collect, even if there was no monetary value. Wonder if Yankees flannels and 60s NFL durenes were worth less than 10 bucks? Our friends and family would really believe we were weirdos.
K-Mart cards were worthless in 1982 and worth even less now. But damn, they're beautiful.
No one has mentioned flat, powdery, cardboardish bubble gum. I recently opened a 30-year-old waxpack and chewed the gum. Nasty, but tasted just like 1979.

[OaklandAsFan]

I hope the players and coaches don't get swamped with autograph requests at the cookout, to the extent that it ruins the event for them and becomes embarassing. I would guess that a couple of the better known prospects would be targets for that, if they're there. It would be different if they weren't about to play a six-week schedule, during which anyone going to even one or two games will be able to get all the autographs they could hope for. Me, I've got my season pass, and have plans to get to about 25 games this year, including fifteen days when I'll be on vacation from work and doing nothing but watching Baseball, Mon-Sat.

I saw Rusty Ryal the other day, btw, and he let me hold his 2008 AFL Championship ring; it had a pretty nice stone in it.

I hear ya on that Godwulf, I actually plan on avoiding asking for autographs during the dinner and trying to treat them as normal individuals. This has worked for me in the past and I have gotten to know several of the Oakland Athletics on a personal level. Not too mention I plan on being at many many games during the AFL season so why bother hitting them up now, in the past there has never been an issue with players signing autographs either before or after games, you can pretty much get the entire team on a ball or whatever before or after every game they play because they are still rookies and haven't been jaded by fame and the constant harassment for autographs that establisted stars get.

[godwulf]

K-Mart cards were worthless in 1982 and worth even less now. But damn, they're beautiful.

The wall above my desk at work is covered with a couple of hundred '65 Topps cards, in toploaders supported by clear plastic push pins. One of the best-looking sets ever, imo...and I could care less about "condition" when I buy them. I usually pay a buck or two per card for, on average, "G-to-VG" cards, and that's good enough for me. I was eleven when that set came out, and just looking at those cards really takes me back. They'd probably look funny if they were in Mint condition.

No one has mentioned flat, powdery, cardboardish bubble gum. I recently opened a 30-year-old waxpack and chewed the gum. Nasty, but tasted just like 1979.

About ten years ago, I opened a bunch of packs from the late '80s, which would have made them "only" about ten years old at the time, and I also tried chewing one of those little pink rectangles. I put it in my mouth and it immediately dissolved - I mean, completely dissolved, leaving only a slightly stale, gum-flavored aftertaste. I don't recommend it, but just about every card collector I talk with has done it at least - and usually only - once.

[godwulf]

I hear ya on that Godwulf, I actually plan on avoiding asking for autographs during the dinner and trying to treat them as normal individuals. This has worked for me in the past and I have gotten to know several of the Oakland Athletics on a personal level. Not too mention I plan on being at many many games during the AFL season so why bother hitting them up now, in the past there has never been an issue with players signing autographs either before or after games, you can pretty much get the entire team on a ball or whatever before or after every game they play because they are still rookies and haven't been jaded by fame and the constant harassment for autographs that establisted stars get.

The Diamondbacks prospects are back in their usual place, with the Scottsdale Scorpions, this year, after playing with the A's, etc, on the Phoenix Desert Dogs last year - so, since I'll mostly be following those guys around, I won't be coming to Phoenix Muni as often as I did last year, of course. I'll still be coming out there when the Scorpions are visiting, or when the Scorpions are playing in Surprise, or some ungodly, out-of-the-way place like that...looking at my schedule, I'll be visiting your ballpark at least eight times during the season.

Of the DBacks guys, Brandon Allen (who has been the big club's everyday First Baseman for a few months now) is gonna get swamped by auto-seekers, I think it's safe to say. There are really no big names on the DBacks roster, other than him.

[joelsabi]

did anyone flip for baseball cards or was that just a geographic phenomenon in the early 70's, being that my dad was stationed in a military base in Japan. Was flipping cards done over in the 48 contiguous states back then or ever?