I’ve been collecting since 1993. With prices on everything being absolutely crazy these days, I’m thinking of quitting the hobby altogether. If you want a laugh, check out eBay prices for anything cards related. Absolutely insane, with virtually no bang for your buck. No way to make any $, or at least get some value for your money. I think prices will remain ridiculously high for a long time. I love busting wax, but it’s ridiculous to pay $200 ( or more) for a box and get $20 worth of cards. Breakers are also killing the hobby....
You have collected since 1993 so you have seen the ups and downs of the hobby for almost 30 years now. You've seen and read this story before you are older and im assuming much wiser. Let the process play out. You know what will sustain and what wont. We have new/old blood back in the hobby just enjoy the ride and move some stupid stuff you never thought you could for stupid money. Cards today are the modern day stock market and everyone is enjoying it. Play the angles buy cheap singles. We have all seen players like Dominguez come up and fizzle out. Its going to be some no name guy in 2020 Bowman that will be the man.
Drad_1205 Wrote:You have collected since 1993 so you have seen the ups and downs of the hobby for almost 30 years now. You've seen and read this story before you are older and im assuming much wiser. Let the process play out. You know what will sustain and what wont. We have new/old blood back in the hobby just enjoy the ride and move some stupid stuff you never thought you could for stupid money. Cards today are the modern day stock market and everyone is enjoying it. Play the angles buy cheap singles. We have all seen players like Dominguez come up and fizzle out. Its going to be some no name guy in 2020 Bowman that will be the man.
BINGO!
couldn't have said it any better.
rad_1205 Wrote:You have collected since 1993 so you have seen the ups and downs of the hobby for almost 30 years now. You've seen and read this story before you are older and im assuming much wiser. Let the process play out. You know what will sustain and what wont. We have new/old blood back in the hobby just enjoy the ride and move some stupid stuff you never thought you could for stupid money. Cards today are the modern day stock market and everyone is enjoying it. Play the angles buy cheap singles. We have all seen players like Dominguez come up and fizzle out. Its going to be some no name guy in 2020 Bowman that will be the man.
Thanks for cheering me up Rich. I went and spent $140.00 (!!) on 3 packs of jumbo Bowman yesterday... I pulled a low profile (I think) auto of Mario Feliciano, and didnt really get much else other than a Robert RC. I did get a bunch of prospects though, and thats essentially the point of Bowman, so we'll see how these guys end up.
On a side note, if anyone has a Witt Jr or a Dominguez Bowman Chrome Prospect card they want to trade, hit me up! LOL
I left the hobby about 6 years ago for various reasons:
-Was going through a divorce and had jumped into the dating world again which definitely takes money and attention away from collecting.
-Lack of creativity. For modern cards, I've never liked the unlicensed cards which left Topps. When it got to the point where if you put a few years of Topps or Bowman in front of me and I couldn't tell what year the card was without looking at the back because they all looked so similar, I just felt like I was opening the same thing year after year.
-Inability to find a collecting focus and stick with it. I'd start something, go a little bit, and then lose interest. Set building, player collecting, team collecting, type collecting, etc. I never felt any satisfaction after a short period of time with what I was collecting.
-Cost. Whether it be buying boxes/packs/singles, the cost was pretty ridiculous for what I was getting in return. I mean, there were/are things that are more than a car or mortgage payment. I could pay the same for a box of Legos but at least there is, at times, hours of entertainment that comes with paying that much.
-The collecting community seemed to get smaller and smaller every year which decreased interaction with people. I'd been on other card forums but, aside from a vintage one I was on, they all seemed to be a running soap opera which is exhausting so I stuck around on this site. I feel talking cards with like minded people and trading is one of the best parts about this hobby. When you find yourself talking with the same people over and over, and that pool of people shrinks, it's the same conversations over and over. (NOT a knock on anybody here that I interacted with.) Additionally, as much fun as I had trading on here, the trading pool was an ever decreasing group of people and it became difficult to trade in which both parties were happy. Going to card shows, as much fun as it was to browse through boxes of cards I was looking for or seeing certain cards for the first time, the majority of the people I would come across seemed to have zero personality and were just a bunch of grumps. I don't think I realized this until I took my son to a ComicCon for the first time 8 years ago and how much fun everybody was having and how social everybody was.
I don't miss the hobby at all. With that said I do like to check things out in the hobby once in awhile. I got rid of about 95% of my collection and still have some stragglers to sell off. I can't say that I won't ever return but if I do, it likely won't be for awhile. I've gotten remarried and we have a new addition to the family due on Christmas Day and my interests have changed. I'm more into doing yard work, trying new things on the grill or smoker, and have finally gotten back into reading more.
I think the only regret I have is getting rid of my T206 HOF Portrait collection I had started. I had a solid start to that but sold it off years ago. If I do come back to the hobby, it will definitely be collecting in the pre-war era of cards and likely going back to the T206 portraits.
I'm jumping back in on the shallow end, I basically only buy the basic Topps and Bowman packs. I simply can't afford spending hundreds of dollars a time, but I can do $30-$40/month. I enjoy the feeling of opening packs and thankfully so does my girlfriend. That rare find is such a great feeling, so I think that's why I can justify what used to be a much bigger habit. We've also come to enjoy mailing cards to players for autographs. Always a cool feeling getting a return in the mail, although the success rate seems low.
No matter what happens, the key is hobbies are supposed to be fun or relaxing, so however that can be achieved...do it!
MichaelCassel Wrote:I'm jumping back in on the shallow end, I basically only buy the basic Topps and Bowman packs. I simply can't afford spending hundreds of dollars a time, but I can do $30-$40/month.
This is exactly how I got back into it. I picked up a few things here and there in the early 2000s - and by a couple, I mean one or two packs a year at most.
On a whim, I picked up a 2011 Bowman Platinum blaster on clearance at Walmart. I hit a Matt Harvey autograph redemption, and had fun busting open that cheap box. Then I found the '11 Topps Update on clearance and I was hooked again.
Sold the wrong ones from that Update set (6 or 7 Trouts for $25 each), but had fun and remembered why I fell in love with the hobby when I was a kid.