Boy, Collecting Sports Cards Has Changed...

[Holographic Elvis]

I tell you what.  Seeing someone my age sell between $60K-$100K in cards each month makes me want to get back into it.  Sports card collecting has changed DRAMATICALLY.  Regular cards aren't worth squat unless they are graded.  I just sold 32 Barry Bonds cards on ebay, including several RCs, and only got $100.  And if you take the gamble in grading them and they come back less than a 9 or 9.5, you won't get much for them.  The fun of the hobby died a long time ago (which is why I stopped collecting around 90-91.)  It's nothing more than a business now.  That's why you see these cards with the US President's autos on them.  It's all about the secondary market.  

[JediMAC]

Fortunately, the grading madness didn't really start until after I had already gotten out of the hobby.  Another thing I always find amusing when I come across it now, is that one guy in the sports card infomercials (or just a sportscard program on TV, I dunno) who does nothing but SCREAM his bloody head off the entire program.  Know the guy I'm talking about?  Not sure if he's still around, but I know he was for at least a good 5 years or so, up until just recently.  Such a freak, that I always had to stop and watch him yell for a good half hour straight!  


As for Brian's comment earlier about buying packs...  I think I stopped buying baseball cards by the pack, as soon as they really started offering them by the set as well.  I'd guess that was around 1984ish.  I just recall complete sets for each year (for each company) were only around $20 - $25, which was much easier than trying to piece together a 792 card set pack by pack.  Even up into the early 90's, I was still pulling sets for about that price.  I think I got all 5 sets (Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck, Score) for those last few years for only about $125 - $150.  Not too bad.  What was strange though, is that individual cards from those sets (like a Griffey rookie) were going for WAY MORE than the complete set actually cost.  Made absolutely no sense...

My biggest fear though, is that all of my 50's and 60's cards are in binders in those 9 pocket sleeves, but I have no idea if they were those relatively new "acid free" pages (or whatever it was), or if I've got the old crappy ones that eat away at the cards...  I guess now that I have access to them again (since we moved last year, and I got them out of my aunt's house) I should maybe take a look at them and figure that out, huh?    Especially before I go about insuring them for bookoo bucks.  Just gonna take a while, since I've got like 16 bankers boxes and about 12 binders full of them.  Ugh.

[jokabofe]

Fortunately, the grading madness didn't really start until after I had already gotten out of the hobby.  Another thing I always find amusing when I come across it now, is that one guy in the sports card infomercials (or just a sportscard program on TV, I dunno) who does nothing but SCREAM his bloody head off the entire program.  Know the guy I'm talking about?  Not sure if he's still around, but I know he was for at least a good 5 years or so, up until just recently.  Such a freak, that I always had to stop and watch him yell for a good half hour straight!  

they used to have a great snl skit with someone playing that guy, saying he was gonna douse himself with gas 'cause he was losing his shirt selling his cards so cheap... i think it might have been will ferrel playing the role. i'll have to see if i can find a clip to download... it was great.

As for Brian's comment earlier about buying packs...  I think I stopped buying baseball cards by the pack, as soon as they really started offering them by the set as well.  I'd guess that was around 1984ish.  I just recall complete sets for each year (for each company) were only around $20 - $25, which was much easier than trying to piece together a 792 card set pack by pack.  Even up into the early 90's, I was still pulling sets for about that price.  I think I got all 5 sets (Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck, Score) for those last few years for only about $125 - $150.  Not too bad.  What was strange though, is that individual cards from those sets (like a Griffey rookie) were going for WAY MORE than the complete set actually cost.  Made absolutely no sense...

My biggest fear though, is that all of my 50's and 60's cards are in binders in those 9 pocket sleeves, but I have no idea if they were those relatively new "acid free" pages (or whatever it was), or if I've got the old crappy ones that eat away at the cards...  I guess now that I have access to them again (since we moved last year, and I got them out of my aunt's house) I should maybe take a look at them and figure that out, huh?    Especially before I go about insuring them for bookoo bucks.  Just gonna take a while, since I've got like 16 bankers boxes and about 12 binders full of them.  Ugh.

i stopped buying cards when they started asking $10 and $12 a pack for the "high end" versions. it's all about the chase cards nowadays. getting a piece of barry bond's jock strap embedded in cardboard outweighs the fun of buying cards and collecting your favorite players. and why does each company have to offer 9 different sets?

[Thomas Grey]

Can't stand it now. I once spent $500 or so trying to pull a rare card on like 5 boxes of football cards and got nothing but a ton of duplicates and autographs by the worst players - Ray Carruth or something...

I just try and add to or fill my 1977 & 1978 football & baseball collections because it takes me back to the sugary, stiff gum and the mystery of the packs. I collected because I liked the players. Value has robbed everyone of the innocence of days gone by and all the collections tossed out because they were 'worthless'.

If I collect anything modern it's the vintage or throwback sets. Beyond that I have lost all interest and passion for sports because they have lost their meaning. It's about stars and money and inhanced performance. I miss the Pete Rose slide into 3rd, the truth of the home run (Reggie in '77). I miss that people played because they loved the sport. It's a tragedy and I was a hardcore fan.