Collectors of baseball cards striking out

[DR.X]

I never was into cards, but are my Todd Van Popple cards worth a fortune?

[comicwiz]

Trends and "Keeping u with the Joneses. This is what we are taught to do from a very early age. When we are children, we ask for the things our neighbours and school friends wear, the music they listen to or the things they watch on television.

 

By the time we are old enough to start making decisions for ourselves, we are are either busy giving into things like peer pressure or pursuing a life of "adult" responsibilities.

 

If kids today can't relate with their friends at school about a comic or sports cards they bought, the collecting spark just can't ignite.

 

The economic pressures facing parents in the sandwich era compound this problem further, because even kids who do collect are collecting fads, and their parents just can't keep up.

 

Collectors with children will at some point need to seriously consider socking away college funds, and between priorities such as keeping a job, home, and paying bills, upholding the family pillars eventually take away any discretionary spending.

 

Cards and comics are hobbies built on memories, and unless something changes about the way trends are stacking the odds against nostalgic collectibles, then I don't see the way shrinking collector bases afflicted stamps and cards being too different from what will happen with back-issue comics.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Well one thing that is not dead is the Walking Dead(no pun intended). Yes even in trading cards they dominate. Some single redemption cards are now selling for over $700 on EBay.

First the Walking Dead dominates comics and now cards!

The hottest cards in the land! It all comes back to the Walking Dead!

 

[the420kid]

...wardrobe cards from the tv show? they are hitting that same pitfall as Upper Deck. tsk tsk

 

[MisterX]

Well one thing that is not dead is the Walking Dead(no pun intended). Yes even in trading cards they dominate. Some single redemption cards are now selling for over $700 on EBay.

First the Walking Dead dominates comics and now cards!

The hottest cards in the land! It all comes back to the Walking Dead!

 

 

So...kids are buying these cards?

[chrisco37]

Well one thing that is not dead is the Walking Dead(no pun intended). Yes even in trading cards they dominate. Some single redemption cards are now selling for over $700 on EBay.

First the Walking Dead dominates comics and now cards!

The hottest cards in the land! It all comes back to the Walking Dead!

 

 

So...kids are buying these cards?

 

Comic book nerds are buying these.

[MisterX]

Well one thing that is not dead is the Walking Dead(no pun intended). Yes even in trading cards they dominate. Some single redemption cards are now selling for over $700 on EBay.

First the Walking Dead dominates comics and now cards!

The hottest cards in the land! It all comes back to the Walking Dead!

 

 

So...kids are buying these cards?

 

Comic book nerds are buying these.

 

I need to go back to Irony 101!

[Park]

Well one thing that is not dead is the Walking Dead(no pun intended). Yes even in trading cards they dominate. Some single redemption cards are now selling for over $700 on EBay.

First the Walking Dead dominates comics and now cards!

The hottest cards in the land! It all comes back to the Walking Dead!

 

 

So...kids are buying these cards?

 

Comic book nerds are buying these.

 

30 to 50 year old comic book nerds are buying these.

[Owls Head]

Kids today have more today to keep their time occupied than they did. Take a 12 year old kid for example in say 1965. How do you keep him quiet and keep from being bored? Read comics, go see a movie at the theater, collect baseball cards, play sports, ride a bike, watch TV, get a paper route. Compare that same 12 year old to the year 2012 and how do you keep him busy? Go online, play PS3/Xbox, text his friends on his iphone, watch a movie on his parents HD 120 inch TV. Much more now to hold his attention than watching a bunch of overpaid, juiced up cry babies.

 

 

True that!

[Owls Head]

Baseball is dead.

 

Phils sold out 81 of 81 home games last season.

 

 

+1

 

+2

[Gatchaman]

The way that the comic market is going today (with the dive it took in the 90's due to really bad printing choices) it will live on. With the internet allowing people to get books they are needing it has allowed people to stay in the game and the will keep the comicons going. Emerald City Comicon is a relatively new con, but it is very strong.

 

There is a difference between what comicons are offering to the collectors verses what sports did. Comicons are keeping people involved and you can see a lot of children at these shows. My two kids (12 yr old girl and 13 yr old boy) both love going and like comic books. My son is also huge into computer gaming. What sports cards did was ruin the market when you had numerous companies producing numerous cards of the same players. In 1989 Upper Deck started it. Their 700+ card set only had one card worth getting. It was card #1 Ken Griffey JR. Outside of that you throw all the cards away. They were printing and printing cards to make money, but there was little to no return on the cards you bought. The same company would have up to five sets carrying the same cards. One of the last card shows I sold at a gentleman bought a box of cards for $80 and only pulled out a $50 jersey card. The rest was garbage. What fun is this for kids?

 

Starting in 1990 the non sport card craze almost bankrupted sports cards and in 1993 the start of the CCG with Magic the Gathering stole the rest of the young generation. All of your kids that were thought to be buying sports cards are spending millions on Magic, Yugioh, and Pokemon cards. That market is still very strong.

 

The comic shows are combine the comic books, non-sports cards, gaming cards (some show they do tournaments), and anime. On top of selling high dollar comics they are still catering to the young crowd and children. There is a lot of cosplay. The best way to make money is to get your customers involved. The difference between a liquor store and a pub. Sports cards cared only about money and priced themselves right out of the game.

 

My 12 year old daughter like to collect baseball cards so at a yard sale I bought her a 1985 Topps Baseball set including Mark Mcguire's rookie for $40. That is the only set that has his 1985 rookie card and at that time there were only 3 companies making one set a piece.

[Gatchaman]

I can see this happening to our comic marts now in the North of England, over the last 10 years they get more and more depressing, with less dealers and even less customers. ( The further south you go the better it gets )

This has also happened with British comics in general.

I only collect American comics but I remember going to see a collection and along with the US stuff, I bought an old collection of British comics dating back to the 1920s and earlier.

Not knowing much about them, I did a bit research only to find the market was flooded with them and they were almost worthless.

99% of the people who collected this stuff was now very elderly or dead and the relatives have long since cashed the collections in.

Massive supply and no demand = game over.

I collect American comics for myself and will continue for the rest of my life, but no one else in my family is interested in them. I can see them getting cashed in when I am gone.

There is a poll for ages of readers elsewhere on here and I think it was coming out that the average age was 36-45 with the under 20s almost none existant in comparison.

I think that this is not only likely to happen, I think it is only a matter of time.

 

Good post. As the saying goes, just because it's old doesn't mean it's valuable.

 

However the under 20s just don't have the disposable income that thirtysomethings have, nor would they necessarily seek out sites about dedicated collecting such as this one.

 

Granted, comic shops from the late 80s onwards began to rely more and more on peripherals and merchandise, so not that much has changed. However comic shops generally still aim to be near campuses or at least be in a trendy area - Gosh Comics for example have done very well with their move to Soho, with a lot more late teens / early 20s customers in there buying monthlies.

 

The comic store I had in 1999 really would have survived in today's market as I didn't rely on just new items. It was a true collectable store as I carried loose toys, superhero videos. collector and quarter comics, and anything that collectors of the time would be interested in. I actually sold a collection of Exo-Squad, Star Wars Micro Machine, loose Star Wars and G I Joe figures, etc. I got a lot of compliments on the shop. I believe stores would do better if they would bend more towards this route rather than just depend on exclusively new items.

 

Go to yard sales before you open your stores.

[HOTFLIPS]

I regularly attended the Parsippanny years ago. It was something i looked forward on a Tuesday night. I used to set up regularly and attend. I know pretty much everyone that was interviewed in this story. What I find ammusing is that people find this story fasinating.

 

I am not an expert, but I (Jeff) happen to know a lot more about sportscards than I do Comic Books. Charles knows the Comic side of things and i have learned a lot in the past 6 years. This was a story in the mid 90's. Not now. The reason I got out of the sportscards was because in the early 90's the market was flooded and the sheistiness between card dealers and card companies(see Upper Deck, PSA and the book, "The Card." That Parsipanny show has been like that for at least the past 10-15 years. The only people that set up at that show are dealers who have customers that meet them there. In a sense, they are just delivering products.

 

That show used to be great. I would buy cases of wax and submit my cards directly to SGC as they were always set up there (they struck a nerve with me too). I would go through common card boxes and fill my sets. There was nothing like collecting cards.

 

There is a difference between cards and comics. The difference being that although new product is being produced in exhorbinate amount of quantities, kids will collect (or read) comics because there is a path for them to get interested. Movies are bringing kids in. There are no movies about baseball. At least none that could have the special effects that a Comic movie can have.

 

I am surprised at the sources they used for this story. Gordon has been out of touch with the hobby for as long as i known him. He was asking 3x guide for raw cards 20 years ago. And "Jack", well i wouldnt trust him any more than i would a 3 dollar bill.

 

I still collect cards for myself. As I have gotten older and as I have gotten my career in order, i tend to collect older pre-1975 baseball cards. The exception are basketball cards which i would collect up until 1986. Football here and there and I have the only hockey cards i want. Gretsky rookie, Lemeux, etc. I will be setting up at the National Sportscard convention this year most likely and definately setting up at the Fantasy Football Fest in August in Atlantic City.

 

There still is a demand, albeit not as great as it used to be.

 

Jeff

[goldust40]

I can see this happening to our comic marts now in the North of England, over the last 10 years they get more and more depressing, with less dealers and even less customers. ( The further south you go the better it gets )

This has also happened with British comics in general.

I only collect American comics but I remember going to see a collection and along with the US stuff, I bought an old collection of British comics dating back to the 1920s and earlier.

Not knowing much about them, I did a bit research only to find the market was flooded with them and they were almost worthless.

99% of the people who collected this stuff was now very elderly or dead and the relatives have long since cashed the collections in.

Massive supply and no demand = game over.

I collect American comics for myself and will continue for the rest of my life, but no one else in my family is interested in them. I can see them getting cashed in when I am gone.

There is a poll for ages of readers elsewhere on here and I think it was coming out that the average age was 36-45 with the under 20s almost none existant in comparison.

I think that this is not only likely to happen, I think it is only a matter of time.

 

Good post. As the saying goes, just because it's old doesn't mean it's valuable.

 

However the under 20s just don't have the disposable income that thirtysomethings have, nor would they necessarily seek out sites about dedicated collecting such as this one.

 

Granted, comic shops from the late 80s onwards began to rely more and more on peripherals and merchandise, so not that much has changed. However comic shops generally still aim to be near campuses or at least be in a trendy area - Gosh Comics for example have done very well with their move to Soho, with a lot more late teens / early 20s customers in there buying monthlies.

 

When I was a kid there was about 8 comic shops in my city all selling back issues as well as new stuff. I can remember shops in the 1970/80/90s, they had a great selection of back issues and reading copys of the new stuff. Buyers were all around chatting and recommending titles to each other. You felt welcome and the people working there were happy to see you and knowledgeable about the subject.

Now there is only a Forbidden Planet & a Travelling Man neither of which sell back issues. The staff are just shop assistants and know nothing about comics.

The personal touch is gone. The kids are gone. The buzz is gone.

Can you imagine kids today enthralled in such a way or even a comic shop allowing them in to read like this.

You will never see this again.

 

 

 

I can remember going to the comic shops that were around in London (there weren't many) in the early to mid '70s. The staff were surly and would never have let me get away with reading the comics, let alone sit on the floor and peruse them.

[supapimp]

here is a article on ken griffey jr's upper deck rookie card from four years ago by darren rovell:

 

Junior Mint The enduring popularity (and ubiquity) of the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. card.

[oakman29]

here is a article on ken griffey jr's upper deck rookie card from four years ago by darren rovell:

 

Junior Mint The enduring popularity (and ubiquity) of the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. card.

I had so many Griffey Jr. Upperdeck cards,more than 50 or so.My big thing was 60s and 70s rookies though.

[ComicConnoisseur]

I regularly attended the Parsippanny years ago. It was something i looked forward on a Tuesday night. I used to set up regularly and attend. I know pretty much everyone that was interviewed in this story. What I find ammusing is that people find this story fasinating.

 

I am not an expert, but I (Jeff) happen to know a lot more about sportscards than I do Comic Books. Charles knows the Comic side of things and i have learned a lot in the past 6 years. This was a story in the mid 90's. Not now. The reason I got out of the sportscards was because in the early 90's the market was flooded and the sheistiness between card dealers and card companies(see Upper Deck, PSA and the book, "The Card." That Parsipanny show has been like that for at least the past 10-15 years. The only people that set up at that show are dealers who have customers that meet them there. In a sense, they are just delivering products.

 

That show used to be great. I would buy cases of wax and submit my cards directly to SGC as they were always set up there (they struck a nerve with me too). I would go through common card boxes and fill my sets. There was nothing like collecting cards.

 

There is a difference between cards and comics. The difference being that although new product is being produced in exhorbinate amount of quantities, kids will collect (or read) comics because there is a path for them to get interested. Movies are bringing kids in. There are no movies about baseball. At least none that could have the special effects that a Comic movie can have.

 

I am surprised at the sources they used for this story. Gordon has been out of touch with the hobby for as long as i known him. He was asking 3x guide for raw cards 20 years ago. And "Jack", well i wouldnt trust him any more than i would a 3 dollar bill.

 

I still collect cards for myself. As I have gotten older and as I have gotten my career in order, i tend to collect older pre-1975 baseball cards. The exception are basketball cards which i would collect up until 1986. Football here and there and I have the only hockey cards i want. Gretsky rookie, Lemeux, etc. I will be setting up at the National Sportscard convention this year most likely and definately setting up at the Fantasy Football Fest in August in Atlantic City.

There still is a demand, albeit not as great as it used to be.

 

Jeff

Would love for you to share some pictures of those cons with this board.

[bill977]

the sports card market was not helped with the greed of the companies that produced cards. regular topps were not enough so we got stadium club,topps finest and on it went. then donruss,fleer,upper deck and score jumped that bandwagon and drove the hobby into the dirt. the baseball strike of 1994 didnt help,nor did the subset and auto. card craze right the ship,either. so can comics go the same route? i am not sure,but i would still be buying the war comics,just like i still buy my old cleveland indians cards to complete my team sets from 1948 bowman to present

[lambfan68]

In 1989 Upper Deck started it. Their 700+ card set only had one card worth getting. It was card #1 Ken Griffey JR. Outside of that you throw all the cards away. They were printing and printing cards to make money, but there was little to no return on the cards you bought. The same company would have up to five sets carrying the same cards. One of the last card shows I sold at a gentleman bought a box of cards for $80 and only pulled out a $50 jersey card. The rest was garbage. What fun is this for kids?

 

There's the problem. Since when did "fun for kids" = "return on investment"?

 

Collecting didn't used to be the same thing as hoarding stuff away for the purpose of reselling it later. All those people that started hoarding cards and comics in the 80s/90s (creating the bubbles) on the hopes that they'd be buying the next Mantle rookie card never understood why it was valuable in the first place.

 

I collected baseball cards and comics as a kid. I gave up my original collections in the early 80s because it wasn't fun anymore. The adults turned it into a commodities market, not a cool thing you do because it is cool.

 

Baseball cards and comics used to be cool on their own merits, not because of ROI. Comics were fun to read. Baseball cards were a connection to your heroes.

 

 

 

Maybe in 50 years, after everyone has thrown out or burned those cases of 1987 Topps baseball cards they'll be "collectible" for the first time.

 

 

 

 

[oakman29]

The only sports card I ever kept.My 1954 Mantle.