Baseball Cards: From Hobby to Investment (2 Viewers)

[jazzeum]

Trading Cards: A Hobby that Became an Investment

 

[DMNamiot]

Interesting article but as I thought the cards in focus were some pretty high grade and rare ones that are worth a ton of cash. I am not sure most of todays collectors will want to wait 50 years to see if the Jeter Rookie or Ripkin rookie cards will be worth 20 million...

Dave

 

[jazzeum]

Dave,

Since cards in the last 40 cards have been produced in high quantities I doubt any of them will appreciate like the cards mentioned in the article. It’s all a question of supply and demand.

Brad

 

[lancer]

Dave,

Since cards in the last 40 cards have been produced in high quantities I doubt any of them will appreciate like the cards mentioned in the article. It’s all a question of supply and demand.

Brad

Excellent point, Brad. Since the late 70's, cards were produced in huge numbers. Speculators got involved as popularity exploded, the card bubble burst and many speculators who hoarded cards hoping for future profit were left holding a lot of worthless cardboard. Of course there are exceptions, but they are few and far between. There are simply a huge supply of post 70's cards to choose from while the pre-70's cards are much scarcer. No one is sending their children through college based on a collection built from cards produced in the last 40 years. Now, if one has a lot of cards from the 50's, or before ... -- Al

 

[Combat]

A lot of fun collecting these as a kid. The bubble gum they used to include was rock hard and tasted like sweetened cardboard but we still chewed it. In terms of an "investment" though not so great. I think the market for these cards hit rock bottom a while back. Several companies started producing them in large numbers. Some of the older and rarer cards will always fetch a good price, but anyone who collects baseball cards to make money has a tough road. It should be a hobby for kids.

 

[lancer]

A lot of fun collecting these as a kid. The bubble gum they used to include was rock hard and tasted like sweetened cardboard but we still chewed it. In terms of an "investment" though not so great. I think the market for these cards hit rock bottom a while back. Several companies started producing them in large numbers. Some of the older and rarer cards will always fetch a good price, but anyone who collects baseball cards to make money has a tough road. It should be a hobby for kids.

Speculators ruined the former kids hobby in the 80's. The hobby has changed to the point where I have seen kids buy a pack of cards, open it, thumb through it looking for the special 'Limited Edition' insert cards, and then discard the whole pack of cards upon success or failure in finding an insert card. It seems few collect the cards for the sheer joy of getting their favorite players anymore, it is all driven by the LE inserts. Money rules, a sad fate for what was once a great kids hobby. -- Al

 

[gk5717]

Baseball & hockey cards were my hobby from 1977 until 1991. Lucky for me I still had my cards from the 50's and 60's. In most cases complete sets. When I got into the hobby in 1977 it was not main stream and I was able to fill in the cards I needed for practiclly nothing. Example I bought a mint Nolan Ryan rookie card for $5, it later booked in the price guide for $800. As mentioned above in the early 80's the hobby went main stream and everyone began buying. Those cards are next to worthless. When I discovered K&C in 2002 I sold off my entire collection within 2 years to fund my new hobby. Needless to say I made a very nice profit. I do at times regret selling especially, the older cards from the 40's & 50's. It was a fun time.
Gary

 

[lancer]

Baseball & hockey cards were my hobby from 1977 until 1991. Lucky for me I still had my cards from the 50's and 60's. In most cases complete sets. When I got into the hobby in 1977 it was not main stream and I was able to fill in the cards I needed for practiclly nothing. Example I bought a mint Nolan Ryan rookie card for $5, it later booked in the price guide for $800. As mentioned above in the early 80's the hobby went main stream and everyone began buying. Those cards are next to worthless. When I discovered K&C in 2002 I sold off my entire collection within 2 years to fund my new hobby. Needless to say I made a very nice profit. I do at times regret selling especially, the older cards from the 40's & 50's. It was a fun time.
Gary

Well remember that Ryan rookie card, part of the 1968 Topps set. Had the entire set (and still have a 68 Mantle) but sold it in the 80's when the Ryan card peaked. Saw a good return but I now wish I had kept the set which I had laboriously assembled pack by pack as a 15 year old. Most of my cards were from the 60's but went bye-bye in the 80's as the craze grew before the collapse in the 90's. -- Al

 

[Combat]

I remember as a kid in the 1970s a gas station (maybe Sunoco) giving out these packages of stickers/stamps of the various NFL and NHL players. Every time you filled up they would give them to you by the handfuls. You could stick them in a booklet they provided. I used to nag my parents incessantly to get gas to collect those things. For some reason it was almost impossible to get a complete set. You would end up with some players missing and about a thousand duplicates of others. But it was a lot of fun.

 

[gk5717]

Two things growing up. Summer collecting baseball cards and Christmas looking at the Sears catalog and picking out which Marx playset I wanted. Being a Cardinals fan nothing like opening a 5 cent pack of cards and right on top was a Cardinal.
Gary

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi guys,

I am really enjoying the discussions here even if it’s not Toy Soldiers. But I do have a pretty good collection of cards from the old days ie 50s to 60s 70s and a smattering of 40s and a couple from 38 but I only collect my team and a few of the guys I liked from other teams but for my team they are fun to look at. But back in the 1980s I drifted away for a while and only picked up team sets as I found them. Otherwise I didn’t understand or like all the speculation and pretty much missed it. Anyway, I still pick up cards but usually they come from my kids via mom for Christmas.

Dave

 

[Combat]

The talk of baseball cards reminded me of the primitive but fun sports games we had as a kid. My favorite was that vibrating metal football field where you placed these plastic football guys. You could actually buy teams painted in NFL uniforms. When you turned the thing on it sounded like an earthquake with them rattling and going every direction like the Monty Python skit where the track meet guys can't run in a straight line. I never did quite figure out the rules. And the bubble hockey games. There seems to be a resurgence with that one. There was also a company called APBA that made all sorts of sports games based around cards and rolling dice. Remarkably they still seem to be in business.

 

[zblang]

As a kid of the 80s my baseball cards make for good packing material and insulation! That’s about it

 

[lancer]

The talk of baseball cards reminded me of the primitive but fun sports games we had as a kid. My favorite was that vibrating metal football field where you placed these plastic football guys. You could actually buy teams painted in NFL uniforms. When you turned the thing on it sounded like an earthquake with them rattling and going every direction like the Monty Python skit where the track meet guys can't run in a straight line. I never did quite figure out the rules. And the bubble hockey games. There seems to be a resurgence with that one. There was also a company called APBA that made all sorts of sports games based around cards and rolling dice. Remarkably they still seem to be in business.

My brother and I had that football game and we spent quite a bit of time with it. I remember trying to pass that felt football with the spring-arm QB figure that never worked worth a spit. We collected almost all the teams. I think my brother still has some of the teams. Great memories. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Baseball & hockey cards were my hobby from 1977 until 1991. Lucky for me I still had my cards from the 50's and 60's. In most cases complete sets. When I got into the hobby in 1977 it was not main stream and I was able to fill in the cards I needed for practiclly nothing. Example I bought a mint Nolan Ryan rookie card for $5, it later booked in the price guide for $800. As mentioned above in the early 80's the hobby went main stream and everyone began buying. Those cards are next to worthless. When I discovered K&C in 2002 I sold off my entire collection within 2 years to fund my new hobby. Needless to say I made a very nice profit. I do at times regret selling especially, the older cards from the 40's & 50's. It was a fun time.
Gary

I started re-collecting in the 80s and as Gary notes they're practically worthless. I stopped in the mid 90s because there were just too many cards to collect. They now sit up in the attic.

 

[gk5717]

My brother and I had that football game and we spent quite a bit of time with it. I remember trying to pass that felt football with the spring-arm QB figure that never worked worth a spit. We collected almost all the teams. I think my brother still has some of the teams. Great memories. -- Al

I also had the football game. What a joke. I liked the basketball game better. The ball would roll around the court, fall in a hole then you would shoot the ball at the net. This game actually worked. Back to baseball cards. For about 5 years me and my brother would play baseball games with our cards and keep records of teams & pitchers wins & losses. Real simple we would make line up, flip the card, heads a hit, tails an out. We would do 3 innings to be a game. It took us all summer to do both leagues but it was a fun thing to do at night.
This only a hard, old time card collector would remember. Baseball cards were issued in series, one series at a time. It was always great when you bought a pack of cards and it contained the new series. That's why in most instances the last series of a set is always more expensive and harder to find because by the time it was issued the baseball season was almost over and a lot of kids got tired of collecting. I never did.
OK what was you favorite Topps set? Mine was the 1954.
Gary

 

[lancer]

I also had the football game. What a joke. I liked the basketball game better. The ball would roll around the court, fall in a hole then you would shoot the ball at the net. This game actually worked. Back to baseball cards. For about 5 years me and my brother would play baseball games with our cards and keep records of teams & pitchers wins & losses. Real simple we would make line up, flip the card, heads a hit, tails an out. We would do 3 innings to be a game. It took us all summer to do both leagues but it was a fun thing to do at night.
This only a hard, old time card collector would remember. Baseball cards were issued in series, one series at a time. It was always great when you bought a pack of cards and it contained the new series. That's why in most instances the last series of a set is always more expensive and harder to find because by the time it was issued the baseball season was almost over and a lot of kids got tired of collecting. I never did.
OK what was you favorite Topps set? Mine was the 1954.
Gary

Those late series were always short printed, for the reasons you state, thus they were always harder to put together. Of the sets I had, my favorites were the Topps 1960 (not quite complete, but close) and the Topps 1968, which I had complete. Currently own the Mickey Mantles from both sets but the other cards are long gone. -- Al

 

[gk5717]

Al, we can talk about this for a long time!!! How about a few years a few numbers were not issued. But as a kid you didn't know that. Also certain players were not on cards. Being from St Louis Stan Musial was not on a Topps card until 1958. He was on Bowman but not Topps. Again as a kid we knew nothing about contracts etc. We called them "flips". One thing I never, ever did was trade a card if it was my only card. I would only trade "doubles". I had a few friends who also collected and you always knew who needed what cards and they knew what you needed.
I remember like it was yesterday the first set I completed was the 1956 Topps. My friend Gus VonOhsen came to my door and traded me Warren Hacker (Cubs pitcher) as he knew it was the last card I needed to complete the set.
Attended my first card show in 1978. Then that same year while working security at Busch Stadium I got to know one of the groundskeepers. He was the first "dealer" I did business with. He would trade ball park tickets for cards. I remember buying 1952, 53, 54, 55 cards from him for about .50 cents a piece. He had a Topps 1953 Mays for $50 at the time I thought who would spend $50 for a BB card. Still wish I would have bought it. The most I ever spent on one card was $100 for a Topps 1953 Mantle. Don't think I ever told the wife.
Remember Sports Collectors Digest? How about Becketts Price Guide? I still got Volume 1. You should see the prices!
Gary

 

[lancer]

Al, we can talk about this for a long time!!! How about a few years a few numbers were not issued. But as a kid you didn't know that. Also certain players were not on cards. Being from St Louis Stan Musial was not on a Topps card until 1958. He was on Bowman but not Topps. Again as a kid we knew nothing about contracts etc. We called them "flips". One thing I never, ever did was trade a card if it was my only card. I would only trade "doubles". I had a few friends who also collected and you always knew who needed what cards and they knew what you needed.
I remember like it was yesterday the first set I completed was the 1956 Topps. My friend Gus VonOhsen came to my door and traded me Warren Hacker (Cubs pitcher) as he knew it was the last card I needed to complete the set.
Attended my first card show in 1978. Then that same year while working security at Busch Stadium I got to know one of the groundskeepers. He was the first "dealer" I did business with. He would trade ball park tickets for cards. I remember buying 1952, 53, 54, 55 cards from him for about .50 cents a piece. He had a Topps 1953 Mays for $50 at the time I thought who would spend $50 for a BB card. Still wish I would have bought it. The most I ever spent on one card was $100 for a Topps 1953 Mantle. Don't think I ever told the wife.
Remember Sports Collectors Digest? How about Becketts Price Guide? I still got Volume 1. You should see the prices!
Gary

Gary, sure do remember SCD and especially Beckett's. Still have some of those in storage. Bought each of my boys the Beckett's Basketball #1 issue, with Michael Jordan on the front. They still have those. I also remember my brother and I buying the old T-206 tobacco cards by the dozen from a wholesaler back in the 60's when they didn't cost more than pennies. Never had the Wagner card (duh), but we had several versions of Cobb, Mathewson, and other HoFers. My brother took them all when I hit college and somewhere along the line he sold them all. I managed to hold onto a Christy Mathewson but that is the lone survivor. Like you, I had a circle of friends and we were always buying the 5c bubble gum packs, trying to complete teams, or sets, and we traded them back and forth all the time. I'm afraid to admit that more than a few of the multiple common players ended up in our bicycle spokes! Great days and it WAS a great hobby that could be shared. -- Al

 

[theBaron]

Speculators ruined the former kids hobby in the 80's. The hobby has changed to the point where I have seen kids buy a pack of cards, open it, thumb through it looking for the special 'Limited Edition' insert cards, and then discard the whole pack of cards upon success or failure in finding an insert card. It seems few collect the cards for the sheer joy of getting their favorite players anymore, it is all driven by the LE inserts. Money rules, a sad fate for what was once a great kids hobby. -- Al

Baseball & hockey cards were my hobby from 1977 until 1991. Lucky for me I still had my cards from the 50's and 60's. In most cases complete sets. When I got into the hobby in 1977 it was not main stream and I was able to fill in the cards I needed for practiclly nothing. Example I bought a mint Nolan Ryan rookie card for $5, it later booked in the price guide for $800. As mentioned above in the early 80's the hobby went main stream and everyone began buying. Those cards are next to worthless. When I discovered K&C in 2002 I sold off my entire collection within 2 years to fund my new hobby. Needless to say I made a very nice profit. I do at times regret selling especially, the older cards from the 40's & 50's. It was a fun time.
Gary

I recall an article years ago, maybe in the late '90s or early Aughts, that chronicled this development. The author argued that the trigger was the stock market crash on October 19, 1987-"Black Monday". Many investors were of the right age that they had collected baseball cards as kids--see any parallel to toy soldier collectors?--and as their more traditional investments lost value in that crash, a trend began towards buying cards as investments. Then we really saw the explosion in card manufacturing, with Topps and Fleer extending the scope of their catalogs, joined by a horde of newer printers. I think, too, that it was part of a general expansion in sports collectibles. All of a sudden, instead of one or two mail-order vendors who sold team memorabilia, eg, Manny's Baseball Land, there was a proliferation of newer vendors. And the teams hopped on the bandwagon, too, taking a cue from the NBA on marketing. So instead of offering the home and road unis, all of a sudden, a team came up with home BP jerseys, road BP jerseys, spring training home, spring training away, Mother's Day caps, Father's Day caps, Irish Heritage, Jewish Heritage, Latino Heritage (or Cuban, Puerto Rican, etc, etc) and today, even days and items for alternative lifestyles. A bobblehead for every occasion, and on and on. And figures, too-Heartland plastic figures were already around, but remember the emergence of Starting Lineup?

I settled in with a collecting philosophy, like my toy soldier collecting philosophy: I have items I like, because I like them, not because they might be worth something someday. I haven't bought cards since the mid-80s, and I was only buying Phillies cards, anyway. Anyone wanna buy a Porfirio Altimirano rookee card? How 'bout Von "Mister Five-For-One" Hays, aka, "Hey, Stupid! Lift the bat off yer shoulder, ya bum, Mister Five-For-One!!"?

Prost!
Brad