[hempick]

I want to keep it real simple and just list the biggest benefit for me personally...I started to collect with my son when he was around eleven, through the teen years when all else would fail we could still talk baseball and cards, now as his son approaches those years there is an enjoyment when my son shares his collecting years with the grandson

Great point that you (and others in the topic) mentioned about collecting as a family experience.

My mom collected when she was a kid and bought a bunch of boxes/sets for me when I was born. I didn't really get into it until I was 9 or 10, but it wasn't because of her. I just kind of started on my own.

Then after I started collecting, we found a bunch of her old cards and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. The connection of collecting with her stuff being Musial, Berra, and guys of that era and then my collection starting with Ripken, Mattingly, Griffey, and others from the late 80s/early 90s.