[osujeffrey]

Amazing Post and Great Reading!
I enjoyed all the Pro and Con aspects of this thread....

The bottom line (in my opinion) is "Collect what you Enjoy".....

I happen to mostly agree with the topic, I enjoy vintage far more then modern collecting. It is simpler to have "one rookie card" and a finite amount to collect...


(here is an example of why I am fed up with modern collecting)
I was lucky enough to pull a 2012 Topps Tribute 1/1 Purple auto... Imagine my surprise when I looked on this site only to find there were three different versions of the Purple 1/1 auto..
Turns out there were variations for each print run... That is absurd.

And that does not even touch on licensing etc...

I feel 1985 was the last good year for card collecting.... (alas, I am that old..)

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On another note about "Budget"....

I have found vintage to be much cheaper then modern collecting...

For the price of one pack of average cards with guaranteed auto (the staple of modern collecting).
I would guess the average retail price is between 50-75 dollars. Then more then likely you are getting a card that is shall we say... Not what you are looking for...75 dollars at the LCS on vintage singles though, you know what you are getting and it goes a long way...

For the price of hot players like Darvish, Harper & Trout... You can buy amazing vintage from just about anybody...(Mantle, Mays etc....) Granted maybe not a rookie, but set realistic standards and vintage is within any budget of somebody that invests in modern cards..