[jhyde77]

When's the last time a cassette tape sold for 4 grand?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251028620137?ssP...1423.l2649

Ha ha. That cracked me up. I know the baseball card market is still OK, because some of the 80s cards I'd like to have are not cheap.

[mattyclipz]

The economics of the card market right now are completely skewed to new high end auto relic cards today. Even marginal rookies, prospects, and players have their cards spike in value upon release. This however is the equivalent of dot-com stock buying in 1999 IMO. Eventually, the card companies will see other card companie making huge bucks for these cards and want in. Next thing you know, the market is flooded with Auto card and short print cards. We are already starting to see it with the explosion in the number of high end sets. I laugh at 1 of 1 cards because in reality every card is a 1 of 1. The card companies are taking advantage of peoples greed right now, but eventually the market will collapse when all the buyers have gone broke after paying $1500 for Laurence Maroney rookie cards or a hyped player of that elk.

Anyway, the true value in collecting right now is in pre 1980s cards. New cards won't hold their value. Vintage will only increase because they are harder to find and condition is important. Does it make sense that you can buy a Hank Aaron PSA at a decent grade level for jsut a little more than a Bryce Harer auto sp that has been slabbed?? hardly. The market will eventually correct itself. True vintage will only continue to rise because they are tremendously more rare than the artifical "rare" cards companies are producing today.

[ryancholden]

Agree with go back to the '90s type inserts. I got out of the hobby mid 90's and came back after the GU'ed thing had been rolling for about 10 years.

Let me tell you, it was about enough to make me think why even bother to take the hobby back up when I was so far behind the times. I would see people show off and talk about their 1000s of jersey and bat cards and that's all people seemed to care about. And there was me with my lone Shawn Green bat card. WooHoo! lol. But then I started to realize that I personally didn't really care about little pieces of cloth or a wood shaving on a card. I guess if I want a piece of a guys jersey or bat that bad, I'll pony up and buy the whole dang thing. Don't get me wrong, as a player collector there are a few GU'ed cards I'll find myself drawn to, but it's usually because I like the way the card looks regardless of the GU'ed insert. (I guess I do sometimes try to obtain some GU'ed, to be used solely for trading purposes)

Autos? Meh. I would like to have one nice one of Griffey (and about a dozen other guys), but I have no desire to own hundreds of copies of one dude's signature. I guess I can see the allure there, but it's just not my cup of tea.

While I'm ranting, I get kind of tired of the "rainbow" thing too. If you're going to give each color a different print run, then why not make the photo of the player different for each print run/ color too?

/Rant

Gotta say, I feel this way quite often!!!

---

Well I haven't read all of the posts yet, but a couple things strike me:

1) I haven't seen anybody mention the affects of Fantasy Baseball on this hobby. Perhaps the rise in Fantasy Leagues also is a big push on why kids like Strasburg and Harper are so potentially over-hyped these days.

2) Kids- My son loves baseball. He has great hat collection (like his dad...can never have enough ball caps, right?), plays the game on the ball diamond and yes plays the game on his XBox. I actively talk to my son about cards, have involved him in tons of my trades, and have given him a great start to his collection as a Cubs fan. If you want kids to get back into the hobby, take your kid to your LCS and buy him some packs once a week or so. If you don't have a LCS (like myself), take him to Wally World, Target. Buy him a box on his birthday. How we get kids back into the hobby is by taking their hand and showing them the hobby ourselves.

[Vols-1]

The economics of the card market right now are completely skewed to new high end auto relic cards today. Even marginal rookies, prospects, and players have their cards spike in value upon release. This however is the equivalent of dot-com stock buying in 1999 IMO. Eventually, the card companies will see other card companie making huge bucks for these cards and want in. Next thing you know, the market is flooded with Auto card and short print cards. We are already starting to see it with the explosion in the number of high end sets. I laugh at 1 of 1 cards because in reality every card is a 1 of 1. The card companies are taking advantage of peoples greed right now, but eventually the market will collapse when all the buyers have gone broke after paying $1500 for Laurence Maroney rookie cards or a hyped player of that elk.

Anyway, the true value in collecting right now is in pre 1980s cards. New cards won't hold their value. Vintage will only increase because they are harder to find and condition is important. Does it make sense that you can buy a Hank Aaron PSA at a decent grade level for jsut a little more than a Bryce Harer auto sp that has been slabbed?? hardly. The market will eventually correct itself. True vintage will only continue to rise because they are tremendously more rare than the artifical "rare" cards companies are producing today.

I agree, cards have become a niche market geared toward the high end insert collector online. There is a kobe card listed right now with a week to go thats at $35,000! I wonder how long the bubble can last for 5-35k inserts?

[mattyclipz]

That's outrageous. The only reason people seek out high end cards today is because they hope to flip it quick to someone else willing to pay a little more. that nonsense will stop. Vintage collectors are more likely to purchase a card and hold it for sentimental reasons or hold it for a extended time period to let it appreciate.

[markmulder20]

I agree, cards have become a niche market geared toward the high end insert collector online. There is a kobe card listed right now with a week to go thats at $35,000! I wonder how long the bubble can last for 5-35k inserts?

I couldn't believe it myself until I did a quick search:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/97-98-Metal-Univ...4cfff71714

Rare 90s basketball inserts and parallels are unmatched in the hobby, and that's mainly due to basketball's worldwide appeal.

Insane.

[chrisa19978]

I couldn't believe it myself until I did a quick search:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/97-98-Metal-Univ...4cfff71714

Rare 90s basketball inserts and parallels are unmatched in the hobby, and that's mainly due to basketball's worldwide appeal.

Insane.

Thats a crazy price for any card I have my limits and this card has past that something about spending 5 months worth of my pay check I just can't do that.

[markmulder20]

Thats a crazy price for any card I have my limits and this card has past that something about spending 5 months worth of my pay check I just can't do that.

'Crazy' is an understatement. I don't think I've even come close to spending 1/4 of that amount on my entire collection, and I've been collecting for the better part of 20 years.