General Forum

I collected cards as a youth from 87 into 91 and a little into 92.  Although girls, sports, high school, and adolescence were obvious reasons I faded away from the scene, there was another reason....

Cards got lifeless and boring in 93 and beyond.  Yes, card quality increased, but almost all of the cards were repetitive, no-border cards that were totally snoozeworthy.  I guess it sort of started with 91 Stadium Club and 91 Ultra, and the shark was fully jumped by all the major players by 94 (except for Score, who held out a bit longer).

I realize that this is merely my truth (aka, opinion), but I am curious if anyone else shares my sentiments???  And, yes, I loved the fun and colorful cards of the mid to late 80s.....

Same and the baseball strike in 1994 really killed it for me.. Most of my collection ended in 1991 and started again in 2004. 

My sweet spot was 1980-1984. I'm probably a little older than you.

'92 was my last big year of collecting as well, I felt overwhelmed by the output of product.   I would still buy a pack every now and then, but the strike in '94 stopped those impulses.  On the bright side, I turned my attention to getting cards from the 50's, 60's and early 70's that I always wanted and was able to acquire many before they became too expensive.  

I found the mid-to late 90's and early 2000's to be a great time for card designs.  Pacific, Pinnacle (while they were around), Fleer in basketball, Topps, and even Upper Deck had some unique concepts that you would never see today.  Once exclusive licenses became standard, that is when I feel designs became bland and stagnant.  All the Upper Deck hockey sets from 2005-06 forward look the same to me.  Same thing with Panini's products, they lack any creativity, and some of their sets are so similar to other sets they are really hard to tell apart.  Good thing they put the year and set name on the back.

Like most others will probably say, I prefer the look of pre-90's cards from all sports because they actually put effort into making a unique design each year.

I think by the mid nineties video games and the internet took over a lot of young people's attention.

I personally love the junk wax era of cards. There are so many different designs, improvements in printing techniques and they are inexpensive to collect. Later on, the digital photography made a big difference in card quality.

For me the emergence of dozens of needless variations and short prints was the shark jump. The laziness of the card companies (read mostly Topps) using the exact same photos for the base, opening day and holiday sets (I'm sure there is more) and the tedious orange, pink, blue and polka-dotted variations. And don't get me started on the idiotic numbering systems (mostly Bowman). 

Glad I got that out! I feel much better. (speaking on baseball only)

I'm a big fan of mid to late 90s basketball designs.

Some of the most iconic cards in the (basketball) hobby come from this era IMHO.

Though I guess OP is correct in that most don't have borders! I can't say I have ever thought about or been bothered by this though.

I think your timeline and rationale track pretty consistently with my own.

Glad to have rediscovered my love for the hobby at a bit older age. 

I resumed in 2020, but not because of covid.  My dad passed, and I had to sell his cards.  That ended up sucking me back in.... I wished I would have collected alongside my dad!