General Forum

Toronto Star

Unintentionally, that article describes almost everything that is wrong with the hobby today. And the majority of the uninformed who read it and are influenced to get into the hobby will lose their honest earnings.

I can't get over people who wear masks but not over the nose. Also, the second-to-last line is bogus: "Everyone is in it to find a card that will turn into a profitable investment down the line." 

Wrong!

Thank you for sharing the article.  I agree with the other posters that article concerns to much with the profit side of the hobby.  I am with the majority of the members on this site is that we are in the hobby for fun. 

I moved to St. Louis in February of 1986. During the 80's to current times there have always been card shows in the area. In 1988-90 when people at the company where I worked discovered that I collected cards I was repeatedly asked about the investment value of cards.  I always told them to put money in the stock market or CD's, not baseball cards.  Then invariably they would give me $25-30 and ask me to buy them a factory set "for their kids college fund" next time I went to a card show.  Over a two to three year period I probably bought close to a hundred factory sets of cards for people.  
Reading this article made me wonder if all those sets are still in basements and closets throughout the city.

I was mailing a PIF the other day, and the postal clerk asked me which brand of card she should buy, of some minor leaguer I never heard of.  I think she assumes I'm selling these cards I mail all the time, rather than trading or giving them away, and I'm in it for the $$.  I just said get Bowman if he ain't in the majors yet. Probably her only option anyhow.  It really blows people's minds when they know I collect cards, but I don't honestly know the most valuable card in my collection.

It's a damn shame where the present-day state of card-collecting resides.  It's not a hobby...  It's playing the lottery.  But mostly I feel bad for the kids who are being left behind here.  They will never really have the same joy of card collecting that I know.  As for the hobby... it's simply not a business model that's truly sustainable.  I know we all collect in our own way but when this all crashes, I really don't want hear people crying about it.  On the bright side, after the crash I'll be able to scoop up some great bargains. 

Funny i had the same talk with my son about this last week. He asked if I would want a big Card"ie Gratzky's rookie" I said it would be nice to have a card?cards worth thousands. I Told him I would rather have 1000 $1 DOLLAR CARDS THAN 1 $1000 CARD

"I Told him I would rather have 1000 $1 DOLLAR CARDS THAN 1 $1000 CARD"

I've never been to that particular card store, but it's funny that they bring up 90s Skybox cards. I gave a rather light criticism to a guy that runs a card store in the Toronto area over how much money he was charging for ungraded early-90s Skybox and Hoops Jordan cards, and was swiftly blocked from his Instagram page. It's crazy to see the price of some of these things that are super-common are going. I've been collecting trading cards since I was 5 or 6 (I'm 35), well before I even watched sports regularly, so I've seen what's available and lived through all sorts of over-hyping of cheap product. I hate seeing new collectors getting taken advantage of.

Bottom line: Buy what you like, don't chase valuable cards for the sake of it, and keep a modest budget.