[Exquisitecollection]

the hobby is fine and will survive. Threads like this pop up from time to time to scare people. The simple fact is people love to collect cards. People will always buy and collect. It is all about seasons. Baseball sets are cold right now as everyone is in football mode

[Phillies_Joe]

the hobby is fine and will survive. Threads like this pop up from time to time to scare people. The simple fact is people love to collect cards. People will always buy and collect. It is all about seasons. Baseball sets are cold right now as everyone is in football mode

Not to quibble...but this hobby has some serious problems ahead of it as mainly there are no kids that I know of (and I know alot of kids LOL) that collect cards. SOME people love to collect...alot of people are just chasing money. There is also the price point on cards which alienates those entering the hobby.

And, I must be honest, this hobby has an over abundance of sleazbags, con-men and rip-off artists. My daughters don't come with me to card shows anymore because they actually don't like the miserable people that are constantly encountered. Look at the boards...nothing but a bunch of whinney crybabies IMO. Who wants to deal with that when you are doing something that is suppossed to be fun? (there are alot of very very nice people, esp. here on Beckett, so don't think I feel this way about everyone)

Yes, people will always buy and "collect", there just won't be that many doing it down the road.

[corbin21]

I have to agree with Cross. I started collecting cards in 1967 and 1968 when I was in 6th and 7th grade. I remember going to the corner store and buying a pack of cards for a nickel. Then going to school and trading my Mickey Mantle for Willie Mays, which I still have the 67 and 68 Mays cards. Mom didn't find them to throw out. I remember putting the cards in my bicycle spokes or shooting at them with my BB gun. But the cards were a nickel a pack and not considered a huge investment at the time. Today I spend a ton on all types of protective plastic to store and protect my cards. I've gone from storing my cards in 1967 in a shoe box to storing them in nine pocket sheets or pro-mold magnetic cases. LOL I'm sure we would all like to go back to the "good old days" and relive our past. But unfortunately those days are gone, but the love and enjoyment that I have opening a pack of cards is still there no matter the cost or the value of the cards. Happy New Years' to everyone. Thank you for responding to my post.

[jcollyer]

Will continue to stick with the A&G sets as long as topps produces, love the feel of the base cards and the chase of getting the mini variations.

Set 1-350 every year with some inserts sets
Minis and numbered minis *very short printed*
Autos seem also to be short printed some are numbered but many not but cant be so many of them

Prices continue to be reasonable even on the second market, but as by far the most short printed full set over the years this will show.

[shezdoni]

Well I did a little research and here are my findings. Number of cards for each Topps base set. 1995 660, 1996 441, 1997 496, 1998 503, 1999 596, 2000 523, 2001 791. So as you can see there was a definite drop in the number of base cards after 1995. So Topps might have produced less cards for less cards in a set.

ok, but you also have to take into account on how many base sets that are actually produced, not just through the sets, but also through the packs.

For example if Topps produces 10,000 sets in 1995 at 660 cards per set, that comes out too 6,600,00 cards, which comes out to 10,000 cards of say card #1, and that is just in the set form, and doesn't include the millions of cases of cards that came out in pack form, Back in the 90s cases used to come with 20 boxes per case with 36 packs per box, with each pack containing 12 cards, that comes out to 8640 cards per case, and those cases were produced in the millions

For 2013 topps it was 12 boxes per case, 36 packs per box, 10 card per pack, that comes out to 4320 cards per case, and that doesn't include the cards released in the various set forms

[zaccheus85]

This year (Okay so for a few years now), Bowman/Bowman Chrome Parallels are getting absurd: Purple, Blue, Red, Pink, Black, Green, Xfractor, etc...Topps has Camo, Pink, Gold, etc. Printing plates are absurd: so many of them they should stop numbering them 1/1, game-used (err, cards with fabric), and autographs numbered to 12098983549824 make everything less valuable.

It would be nice to go back to the smaller number of parallels, inserts, more rare actual game-used and autographed cards...then again, those who grew up collecting cards in the 60s and 70s probably thought the copious number of 1990s inserts were absurd.

[cross4444]

The reason that more parallels are being is added is so that the pack-ripper gets the feeling that they are getting more value per box by getting more "color". In actuality, the more parallels there are of a card then the less they each sell for. There are some of us who are rainbow collectors, but that's a pretty small number. With so many parallels I don't even attempt to try to complete Alex Gordon rainbows, but I will pick up a few of the higher serial numbered cards if I can get them for the right price.

There's nothing wrong with having so many parallels, Topps wins by convincing us they're giving more value, and we win because there's a larger variety for those who may prefer a certain color.

[zeprock]

I started collecting cards in 1967 and 1968 when I was in 6th and 7th grade. I remember going to the corner store and buying a pack of cards for a nickel. Then going to school and trading my Mickey Mantle for Willie Mays, which I still have the 67 and 68 Mays cards. Mom didn't find them to throw out. I remember putting the cards in my bicycle spokes or shooting at them with my BB gun. But the cards were a nickel a pack and not considered a huge investment at the time. Today I spend a ton on all types of protective plastic to store and protect my cards. I've gone from storing my cards in 1967 in a shoe box to storing them in nine pocket sheets or pro-mold magnetic cases. LOL I'm sure we would all like to go back to the "good old days" and relive our past. But unfortunately those days are gone, but the love and enjoyment that I have opening a pack of cards is still there no matter the cost or the value of the cards.

+1

Honestly those were the Good Ol' Days. It all started for me a couple years later in 1970 but it was still five cents a pack and I was trading Bench and Rose for Yaz and Clemente. When Jim Northrup of the Tigers hit a home run against the Red Sox, I put his card on the dart board and had at it. My brother and I used to put our cards in our bike spokes too until we figured out we could make the same sound with regular playing cards. Those were the "learning years" and I've since upgraded those complete sets and take much better care of them now but I was eleven when I started and the collecting bug has never left.

[danpia]

I get pissed when I think about how much money I spent on 1989 Topps when I was 14 yrs old. Or when I traded a 1989 Donruss Griffey Jr Rookie for a newly released 90 Topps Eric Anthony rookie.

Unfortunately, back then cards were way over produced and the fact that I can go to a LCS and find cases of 88 Donruss or 89 (insert company here except UD), for $8 a box or less is sad.

Today, I think Topps is just spitting out way too much crap. They don't cater to the kids anymore with the exception of Topps. Everything else is catered to the crowd with money willing to crack a bunch of product and then turn it to eBay. Look at the Wave Wrapper Redemptions. They are all taken within 10 days of the products release due to the people who crack 20 cases the day before release and then immediately send in the wrappers. That is bull crap!

For me now, I just buy Bowman for the rookies and rookie autographs. I rather take a chance with a 3rd round pick auto that may make it or may end up working at Home Depot than get a box of Topps and pull a 1 of 1 Julio Borbon parallel. I buy Bowman and then sit on it for 5 years and hope for the best.

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you should grade those Willie Mays cards.