Boy, Collecting Sports Cards Has Changed...

[Brian]

I used to be pretty big into collecting baseball, football, and basketball cards growing up, until I quit collecting them sometime during my high school years.  I think at the time I was getting out of it because packs had gone to the $1 to $3 price range, with less cards in each pack.  Those were some good times though, and I still have many of them.  Boy, has card collecting ever changed since those days....I couldn't believe this article:

Card Collector Strikes It Rich

[Jeff]

Remember when they used to put GUM in with the dang cards?
And you had to wipe the "gum dust" off of the first card?

Remember when Upper Deck didn't exist yet?
And Griffey, jr's Rookie Card was their best card?

Remember when you got your Topps Billy Ripken error card?  
The one with #$%^ on his bat handle?

I do... I'm old.

Jeff

[Brian]

I remember all those things as well Jeff, those were good times though in card collecting.  I still remember when brands were just starting...the first "Upper Deck" cards in baseball...the Griffey Jr. was the highest price card at the time I think.  The "Pro Set" cards in football (if I am remembering the name right).  The Hoops and Skybox cards in basketball, I remember Skybox being a little more expensive.  I still have all of my b-ball cards, most of my football, and some of my baseball cards.  Simpler times back then, could buy a box of cards for like $20 to $35 depending on the cards.  And there were actually 10+ cards in a pack for awhile there.  Good times.  I remember the Billy Ripken "error" card too, had to laugh when I read that...forgot about that one.

[DSJ™]

Wayne Gretzky's rookie card, in the spokes of bikes they went. Who wood haf thunk!  

[Ben]

Damn. I was thrilled just to get a Nolan Ryan or Ricky Henderson card, and if I found the entire lineups for the Cubs and Indians in a year.

$100 a pack? Wooo.

[Darth Broem]

When I collected there seemed to only be a few companies like Topps, Fleer, and Donruss.  Then all of a sudden it seemed like there were 20 companies producing all sorts of expensive exclusive sets and I just got too overwhelmed with it all and quit.  I still have the cards though.  

[jokabofe]

Upper Deck's game-used patch baseball packs hit the $200 mark and included autographs of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. A card with signatures of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh sold on the secondary market for more than $6,000.

what do they have to do with baseball?

[Durge]

25 thousand? That's just sick. People who would buy a new sports card rather than a new sport car frighten me.

[jokabofe]

anybody who has $25,000 to spend on a sports card already has a sports car. maybe 2.

[Brian]

On the topic of cards...when we were moving a couple months ago, I found my baseball/football/basketball/Marvel card collections, and looked through a few of them.  I sold some "extras" boxes on a garage sale a couple of years ago, but still have quite a few left.  I have sometimes thought about selling much of it off (takes up a lot of room, and I don't actively collect them anymore anyways), and use it to fund Star Wars/current collecting funds.  I'd also want to keep a few, just to have if we ever have kids some day.  Have any of you ever sold off most (or all) of your sports card collections?  It seems to me that most of what I have likely isn't worth much anymore (like it was at the time at least), since the advent of grading has come around.  Are "regular", ungraded sports cards worth anything anymore?  I mainly collected from the 1988-1994ish time I think, for the most part.  Its funny, I was a big K.C. Royals fan as a kid, and of course, Bo Jackson was my favorite player.  I have a huge collection of his cards, that probably aren't worth squat anymore  Do any of you know, are sports cards from back then even worth anything now, if they aren't graded?  Just curious.

[DSJ™]

I used to collect non-sports cards until they got pricey & chasing the cards around drove me nuts. Subset after subset, chase after, well you get the picture.

I sold all my Star Trek cards & the best I got was for my Babylon 5 card set complete, $900. on eBay. Glad I have another complete set!  

All I have now is that Babylon 5 set, vinty SW sets & a hand full of sets from my Gerry Anderson collection.

As for selling them, best bet is to check eBay for completed items to see if its worth letting go. Not sure what the market is.  

[Brian]

Thanks Dale, I appreciate it.  I know what you mean, I'm not sure if it is worth letting go of them or not.  I've been looking around ebay and such, and it seems like the only things that sell are graded cards, sets, or sealed boxes.  It isn't a real big deal, but I thought I'd trim off some of what I had maybe.  I have so many baseball cards, and I'm just not really interested in the sport anymore, so I figured I might get rid of them.  We'll see if it is worth the trouble or not though.

I have (and continue to) sporadically collect Star Wars cards, past and present, although not with any consistency.  The new heritage series looks tempting though.  I got out of card collecting for much the same reasons you did.  When I was collecting sports cards, there was only a few basic "brands" to buy.  There was Topps, Score, Donruss, Fleer, and depending on the sport Pro Set (football), Skybox (NBA), Hoops (NBA), and Upper Deck was in its beginning years.  There are probably a few I'm forgetting as well, but it was more basic when I collected.  It is just too much to keep track of (and afford) nowadays.

Part of me wouldn't mind collecting sports cards again (basketball probably, or football), but I don't know if I could afford it.  Plus, I don't like paying $2.50+ for a pack of 8 cards.  When I was collecting, I think it was at least 10-12 for a $1 or less.  That's more like it.  Plus, looking at all the different brands, sets, subsets, etc., I don't know which one to go with.  I'd obviously have to pick a focus, or a certain brand, and stick with it.  Anyone know if those even exist anymore...just plain old, regular, sports cards, now "super duper sets", or extra expensive sublines?  Just looking around the net trying to figure things out, its enough to make your head spin .

[Rob]

I sold my 30,000 or so baseball cards back in middle school for $200.00

Paid for 1/3rd of my guitar.  I got a great deal.

[JediMAC]

I've got a HUGE baseball card collection (1955 - 1993ish).  Along with SW, it was my primary hobby growing up.  I was hitting the card conventions at least once or twice a month, loading up on the stars from the 50's and 60's, while at the same time, trying to complete my set for each year working backwards (made it to 1975).  It was more consuming than SW for sure, during the mid-'80s for me.

But then when the 90's started rolling around, the Rookie card craze was really beginning to take hold, along with the multitude of other companies entering the market.  Guys that hadn't played an inning of Major League ball had their cards opening in the $100 range...  That's just stupid.  Everything turned totally "investmentary" (is that a word?)  Things were also so much easier when it was just Topps.  Got tougher when Fleer and Donruss joined the party.  I was still keeping pace when Upper Deck and Score started up to.  But after a few years of that, on top of trying to keep up with the bajillion subsets that kept coming coming out (when there used to be just one "traded" set each year), I finally said screw this, and threw in the towel around 1993ish.

I'd like to delve back into baseball cards at some point, and continue working on completing my sets for 1974 and earlier, and polish off a few more of the superstars from the 50's/60's that I still need.  But since SW has been so time and money consuming of late, I just haven't had the motivation to expand my collecting focuses yet.  But oddly enough, I'm right in the middle of reworking our insurance policies out, and the baseball card and Star Wars collections have become a primary focal point in our dealings now...  Not fun.

I just hate the direction sports cards took through the 90's and on into the present.  It used to be such a fun hobby, but then everything totally changed, for the worse.  

[Brian]

I just hate the direction sports cards took through the 90's and on into the present.  It used to be such a fun hobby, but then everything totally changed, for the worse.

I agree totally Matt, this is how I felt about it too (and why I quit).  I had so much fun collecting cards in my elementary, junior high and early high school years...but then it got so it wasn't fun.  Too much to keep up with, less cards in each pack, higher price per pack, it just got to be too much.  Part of me would like to get into cards again too, but like I said, probably just one kind...to keep it simple and cheap.  Really thinking about going to a card shop here in town to see if I can shed my baseball card collection.