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"Why I Collect" reminder

HoofHeartedHoofHearted Posts: 2,537 ✭✭
in Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum
A little bit ago Loth wrote, among other things:

<.....heck i even like 5's now...no need for a expensive 8...> ; and

<..if a 5 makes ya smile as much as an 8...and it does for me...let someone who must have the 8 have it. Thats my philosophy...>.

Thanks for the words of wisdom. I was getting the impression everyone was only collecting high grade cards -- something I can appreciate but can't afford at this point of my life, or if ever. I may go ahead and stick with my first love in cards -- the '62 Topps baseball -- even with all the potential 5s and 6s.

I've copied your posting and saved it with the title, "...Why I Collect.doc".

(For the complete posting, see the thread named, "I know this dont belong here...BUT...." and the entry dated Thursday May 26, 2005 6:35 PM (Pacific time).

Thanks again,

hh
imageimageimageSenators/Twins Type Collection

Comments

  • softparadesoftparade Posts: 9,276 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I collect because I am a fool. You know what they say about a fool and his money!

    ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240

  • BigRedMachineBigRedMachine Posts: 2,563 ✭✭✭
    well said hoofhearted

    I'll save this thread myself for the next time I can't afford a psa 8.

    I got back to the card world recently (after a time when I was "too cool" to collect) because of my young son. I wonder if my 8 year old really cares about the difference between a psa 5 and psa 8?
  • PeetiePeetie Posts: 627 ✭✭
    Nice thread!
  • Lothar52Lothar52 Posts: 2,664 ✭✭✭
    image
  • Carew29Carew29 Posts: 4,025 ✭✭

    I have bought many a card that i don't need just because of the eye appeal of the card to me. There was a thread earlier about the 53 Color Bowman PEE WEE REESE card. I would love to own that card in high grade.
  • RipublicaninMassRipublicaninMass Posts: 10,051 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I have bought many a card that i don't need just because of the eye appeal of the card to me. There was a thread earlier about the 53 Color Bowman PEE WEE REESE card. I would love to own that card in high grade. >>



    DITTO!!!image
  • Mac53Mac53 Posts: 805 ✭
    Hoof, good thread. And I missed Loth's comment, but it is wise. I think we collect sports cards because we are naturally competitive, and like stuff associated with top competitors. The registry has made this competition much more concrete. You can stack your collection up to others by points, percentages, and standings. Sure, I'd like any Ernie Banks RC. But to have one of the very best . . . you know what I mean.
    "Charlie, here comes the deuce. And when you speak of me, speak well."image
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,407 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Great thread

    I have had this conversation many times over the last 25 years - we have had the investor vs. collector debates more times than I can remember.

    Some of my thoughts:

    1. Collect what you like and because you truly enjoy it.

    2. Collector grade stuff in this economic environment will bring the most joy IMO. That's why all my sets are raw except my 63F set. Now, if you have a boat load of money? I'ld hit it!

    3. As a long time collector, I have learned - the collecting road is best challenged as if one were running a marathon instead of a 100 meter sprint.

    4. When you see your blood pressure rising above the Dow, it's time to take a break!

    5. If you can honestly look in the mirror and say: I'm not having fun - it's time to take a break!

    6. If you wake up in the middle of the nite or in the morning with flashbacks about bad ebay purchases or thoughts that you spent too much, etc. - it's time to take a break!

    7. Whatever sport you collect - if you "love the game" - the collectible will most likely have more meaning.

    8. If you collect for investment, IMO, it's a business and not a hobby and I already have a job.

    mike
    Mike
  • Lothar52Lothar52 Posts: 2,664 ✭✭✭
    yeah...i dont collect this stuff for a profit...i just want my money back that why i hope my mantle goes for SMR or a little above to cover ebay cost, paypal cost, etc.

    loth
  • Mac53Mac53 Posts: 805 ✭
    Mike, can I talk you into running for president? Well said, friend. Happy Memorial Day!
    "Charlie, here comes the deuce. And when you speak of me, speak well."image
  • HoofHeartedHoofHearted Posts: 2,537 ✭✭
    Neat. I appreciate hearing what you all had to say on the subject. Stone, now that I see your points in outline form, I recognize some of them from your posts over these past couple weeks I've been registered. Thanks for doing that.

    I'll be appending a copy of this thread to "Why I Collect.doc".

    Time for a shower and a good night's sleep...

    hh
    imageimageimageSenators/Twins Type Collection
  • StingrayStingray Posts: 8,843 ✭✭✭
    We all collect for some of the same reasons and some different. Some, though I wouldn't say collect, might be in it just to make a buck on have people like us buy their cards. That is fine with me, they are making cards available for me to be on and I know what I can afford and can not. Some collect for the nostalgia of our youth. As of prior to starting my current set, I would go to cards shows about once a month and never could decide what to buy so I would end up buying a few packs of some new junk ripping them open and getting nothing very appealing. I do not like the new stuff anymore, feels like I am playing the lotto and looking for that big payoff card, so I got off that bandwagon I decided to do one year, one set, no matter how long and if I do not get it done at least I am focused. I collect 67s and wasn't even old enough to collect back then, I start buying cards in 74. I just like the 67s best and now that I can afford to purchase some here and there I went with them. I was never one to buy graded, I did not think that I should pay extra for that piece of plastic, heck I would never be able to even touch the card again. But now when one comes in the mail and even though I seen a scan of it, I still have that anticipation of seening it in person for the first time. For some reason the cards look larger in that PSA holder. Gives me the feeling of opening those 74 packs. I do not know if I would have started collecting PSA cards if it weren't for all the great people on this forum, enjoying the same passion.

    Thanks,

    Stingray
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,407 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>I do not know if I would have started collecting PSA cards if it weren't for all the great people on this forum, enjoying the same passion. >>


    Kind words Sting

    I do collect graded individual cards from time to time - especially the 52T's in 7. If I were to do a graded set that is large - for the pure fun of it - I would probably look at the "supreme" collector grade IMO - the PSA 5-6. If you find centered ones, they look great and won't totally break the bank.

    I think a lot of stress has been put on the high end 70s set collectors since they have been going down in value as more stuff is being graded. Some say PSA 'lowered' their standards - I don't think so - but when someone has 10-20 grand tied up in them - the "conspiracy" theories can't be far behind?

    Buying on ebay is easier due to graded cards IMO.

    mike
    Mike
  • StingrayStingray Posts: 8,843 ✭✭✭
    If anything I would say that PSA has raised there standards. Look as some cards in the older flips, paticularly those with the zeros with slashes, and I think that if some of those were regraded today, they would not get the same grade. I guess it will come down to a supply and demand issue on the 70s stuff, if more is out there being graded and not enough people to absorb it, pricing will go down. Good for the 70s collectors. I myself wish that there was a "find" of 67s High #s so that there would be more out there.

    Stingray
  • baseballfanaticbaseballfanatic Posts: 2,415 ✭✭
    Great thread. In my almost 50 years, I have always been fascinated with cards. I must have read every baseball book printed before 1965 as a child, and will always remember a passage in a Richie Ashburn biography of how he had invited a bunch of his friends and family to a game, and fouled off 18 consecutive pitches into the area that they were sitting. That to me was the true essence of baseball. I even read the Card Collecting catalog and dreamed of one day owning Kalamazoo Bats or L1 leathers, or issues that just looked so cool but were not available in my area, like the Hires set with tabs. It looked like the perfect card, as if you were peering at your favorite player through a knothole in a fence at an old stadium or park. I remember when the Woody Gelman ads would appear for all those vintage sets for 5 and 10 dollars, and when the fore-runners of the hobby would set up in local hotel rooms in certain areas after posting a "buying sportscards" ad in the local paper, and wait for numerous 40-50 year old men and women to bring in bricks of rubberbanded Bowmans and Goudeys to gladly hand them over for 50-100 dollars.
    The hobby has seen its ups and downs, but when you collect what you want, it doesnt matter what anyone says or does. A person can be as passionate for a 1990 Fleer set as someone can be for a full set of Allen and Ginters.
    If you truly love what you collect, thats what it is all about. I really dont care if I'm ever number 1 in any set registry because I dont have anywhere near the money that some people are emptying into some of the sets I see posted.
    Most of the really old original collections were cut to fit the size of a piece of notebook paper and then pasted into place with someone even writing the name of the player in ink on the front of the card if it was only printed on the back.
    PSA and SGC cards are nice also, but one must remember if someone like Larry Fritsch ever decides to get his cards graded, the "X" amounts of low population cards which people have been paying tens of thousands for, would have to start to be advertised as "one of only 53 graded PSA 9".
    Keep money out of the main purpose of collecting, which is tough to do in a capitalistic" society, and just enjoy what the cards were originaly printed for. To get a view of your favorite ballplayer, athlete, comic hero, or flower. Take them out once in a while and remember back to a simpler time when a general admission ticket was 25 cents, the uniforms were made of wool, and people like Dizzy, Specs, Rajah and Babe would be providing your entertainment for your quarter. A quarter well spent.................
  • StingrayStingray Posts: 8,843 ✭✭✭
    Well said!!image


    Stingray
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,407 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Baseballfan

    Good words.

    I think there's a lot of people who can benefit from those words about the past with an eye to the present and future.

    Everytime you think about the sport - whether it be hockey, baseball, basketball or football and think it is cluttered with a bunch of egotistical, insensitive over paid players - it wouldn't be a bad idea to retool ones thinking and see the game from a point of view that we can all live with:

    Love the "Game" - not the players

    Whether vintage or modern - take out a binder on a rainy saturday when there's not much to do and just look at the pics and read a few cardbacks - and just dream.

    mike
    Mike
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