The 1980s movie "Big" and card collecting

RookieWax

I enjoyed watching this movie again a few nights ago on one of my satellite channels. The boy Josh and his buddy were typical kids like myself growing up in the 1980s. In one segment, Josh played his video games, then went up to the school yard to play strikeout (with the strike zone box painted on the brick wall of the school), then stopped by the candy store to purchase baseball cards. Growing up, that was a typical day for me during the summer months along with my newspaper delivery route. If we had time to play sports all day, and also had video games to occupy our time and money (I had all the Atari games....and those things were $30 to $40 a pop at that time), yet still manged to find time and money to collect baseball cards....why don't kids today?

Foo3112

Because a pack of cards doesn't cost 50 cents anymore. Also, collecting cards were accessible everywhere back then. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon to sell them, ice cream trucks to drugstores. I even remember teachers would give packs of cards to students who did good. It was a fad and it past. Today the enjoyment isn't found in building modern sets but more about pulling the money cards.

Good movie btw, I just saw it myself about 5 months ago for the first time in probably over ten years.

itzagoner

kids used to socialize. they actually left the house to go do stuff. now they communicate through devices.

there is precious little to compare today to what we knew as kids. it may have been cool to have a paper route and a candy store and a summer to play all day, but that was then.

MiniDuff

it was also simple. one brand, 660 cards.

LodiBrewFan

80's = 3 sets, 1 at 792 and 2 at 660

Even with 3 sets it was still simple.

Upper Deck ended the simple age and ushered in the shiny age

RookieWax

You make some good points, but I am not sure I'd call something that went on for 50 years a "fad". Collecting cards was a part of every kid's youth since the 1950s and up until about 10 to 15 years years ago. I have been a teacher for 16 years, and I remember having conversations with students about their card collections in my first 5 or 6 years of teaching, but when I try to bring it up now....none of my students collect.

Pittfan

My youngest is 11 and he's not into the new stuff. We just busted a 1987 donruss rack case together. He really enjoyed that and asked me when could we do a 1975 rack case!!! I just told him when we hit the lottery or you become a doctor!!!!

MeteoriteGuy

<< <i>Because a pack of cards doesn't cost 50 cents anymore. Also, collecting cards were accessible everywhere back then. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon to sell them, ice cream trucks to drugstores. I even remember teachers would give packs of cards to students who did good. It was a fad and it past. Today the enjoyment isn't found in building modern sets but more about pulling the money cards.

Good movie btw, I just saw it myself about 5 months ago for the first time in probably over ten years. >>




Packs were like $0.25 and $0.35 through most of the 80s...however min. wage was like $2.50....it's all relative. Base card pack prices are almost unchanged I imagine when considering all.

However, this ignores that card companies have tried kid friendly for years. Such as Collector's Choice, MVP, and Topps Total. Do you know the last time I seen a collector post trying to complete a CC set...never.

Frozencaribou

Meteoriteguy makes a great point about the crap sets that have been created as an cheap alternative to $5/pack and up "hobby" sets. I am offended that on many of those sets, companies don't even put date of birth, full statistics, or any bio. When I was a kid I liked the backs just as much or more than the fronts. Learning about how many hits Luis Medina had in Peoria in 1986 was really interesting to me as a kid, as were all those little topps cartoons. I must admit that o-pee-chee sometimes was out of touch, reverting many times to statements like "Paul is a bachelor." No kidding, Paul is 19, I used to think.

Long live lifetime statistical information on the back of cards. Sy Berger is my kind of card executive.

-Nathanael

addicted2ebay

A pack of cards is now like a scratch ticket to a kid, get a Auto, low number ect and it equals bucks. Just the way it is. Most Kids I know want a 33 Ruth or a Gem 93 SP jeter Gem 10, It's about $ and that's cool whatever keeps them in the hobby. They know now that most of the cards printed will be "Junk Wax" unlike us who made our parents blow $ in the late 80's early 90's.

KennytheRat

"it was also simple. one brand, 660 cards." Miniduff, those were the days. Of course, I collected baseball, football, and hockey but 3 sets each year was still simple. I still have my Atari but only played with it when I didn't have anyone to play ball with. Remember when your parents and grandparents talked about the good old days. Now we know what they meant.

RynoandBo

I grew up in a suburb of Chicago....not a new sub-division, rather a block grid system made of side streets. It was much safer to ride your bike to a small business like a card shop or 7-11. Now, we live in sub-divisions bordered by 50 mph roads. It is more like a game of Frogger trying to get across.

Born in 1975, hit the baseball card collecting prime in 1985. The typical summer day was a little breakfast (Peanut Butter Captain Crunch....even better if it was a fresh box with a prize), then off to my neighbors house to play a little wiffle ball. We would have about 7-8 guys and find a way to get a game going. We used the yellow plastic skinny bats, but we also had a homerun derby when we used the fat red plastic bat. Made an awesome thug when you really got into one. We played until it was lunch or the ball fell apart.

At lunch, it was into the nice AC of the house and maybe a 12:05 or 01:10 start time of a Cubs Home game. Then maybe a little swimming or more baseball.

Cards: We had a local 7-11 that we would ride our bikes to. They had Topps of course, but in 1985 they also carried Fleer. That 1985 Fleer set was awesome! A different look to the usual white bordered Topps cards. I never did find any Donruss at that period of my youth. We also had 3 Baseball Card shops within about a 2 mile diameter. RBI (Riverside baseball cards) in Riverside, Hall of fame, and Flying Eagle, both in Berwyn. Talk about spoiled! None exist anymore.

llafoe

Thanks to RookieWax I'm lying on the floor of my barracks watching "Big".

cpamike

<< <i>He really enjoyed that and asked me when could we do a 1975 rack case!!! I just told him when we hit the lottery or you become a doctor!!!! >>



My heart skipped a few beats when I read this.

Foo3112

Packs were like $0.25 and $0.35 through most of the 80s...however min. wage was like $2.50....it's all relative. Base card pack prices are almost unchanged I imagine when considering all.

I have to disagree with that statement and heres why.

Minimum wage is 1986 was $3.35 an hr. Today the National average in the U.S. is at $7.25.

A pack of 1986 Topps was at .35 cents. Todays it at about $3.00.

As you can see, minimum wage has doubled in price with an axtra .55 cents ad on - however Topps packs have increased more that 8x what they were back in 1986. That shows that its really not relative. Packs are just more expensive overall. With the cost of paper it gets printed going up (higher quality) along with better equipment to make and distribute these cards - Its understandable.

Brock21

Baseball is now no longer a sport that kids follow as much.

My son is 10 and plays basketball/football/soccer before baseball
with the neighbor kids or just rides bikes or does other things.

We live in a small town and I also know there are no stores other
than probably Wal Mart which is 5 miles away that even sells any
cards, where in the 70's and 80's every dairy store/dime store/gas
station/ice cream stand/discount store/grocery store sold them.

We used to walk or ride bikes through neighborhoods and subdivisions
picking up discarded milk and soda bottles for the deposit and then
bought cards at the grocery store with the change we got, can't do
that anymore.

MeteoriteGuy

<< <i>Packs were like $0.25 and $0.35 through most of the 80s...however min. wage was like $2.50....it's all relative. Base card pack prices are almost unchanged I imagine when considering all.

I have to disagree with that statement and heres why.

Minimum wage is 1986 was $3.35 an hr. Today the National average in the U.S. is at $7.25.

A pack of 1986 Topps was at .35 cents. Todays it at about $3.00.

As you can see, minimum wage has doubled in price with an axtra .55 cents ad on - however Topps packs have increased more that 8x what they were back in 1986. That shows that its really not relative. Packs are just more expensive overall. With the cost of paper it gets printed going up (higher quality) along with better equipment to make and distribute these cards - Its understandable. >>



Topps basic packs are not $3.00. However, the exact numbers do not really matter. Just as if we moved earlier in the 80s the numbers change, however our comments are still the same.

And it doesn't change the fact that lower priced packs have been sold in plenty the last decade....kids do not want them. In almost all cases, you can buy these cards for less then release, as adults dont want them either. Maybe you want the kids to want to desire cards, but the fact is, they don't. Just like stamps and other collectibles that were cool in the 80s....the market is not in the under 20 group.

Kids however have no problem dropping $60 on video games and every one of my friends kids has an ipod. They have different interest just as we had different interest from those a generation or two before us.

jmmiller777

Yep,the dynamics have completely changed, and 15 years from now or less, they will change again. As kids, there were always bottles to find, and three or four of us would be out on the hunt. We always seemed to get enough for a 5 cent soda and 1 or 2 packs of cards. It was safer, less chaotic, and just overall lighter times. I opened a lot of those 66 packs looking for that #1 card. The silver ages with golden memories.

RookieWax

<< <i>Thanks to RookieWax I'm lying on the floor of my barracks watching "Big". >>



LOL. Pretty good 80s movie, isn't it?

JJacks

Yep, it was simple - and kids weren't worried about getting the rare insert card or the autographed card or the parallel set or whatever. I mean what would it cost to complete every set out of the market today, even in just one sport? Probably about $100K or something! Maybe not, but its insane compared to back then.

When I was growing up, I was into FB cards and as I got a bit older, I completed the sets too quickly and easily as I was making a bit more $ (this was around 85-86). I didn't even really like BB, but I started buying those cards as well just to have more to collect. Then, I started learning about BB and started liking it more.

So yeah, back then to get the complete set in FB and BB was probably $10-$20 - something alot of kids could do. Now you have to be a millionaire to complete all the sets and there is new stuff coming out every week to make a persons head spin.

JJacks

RookieWax

agreed JJacks. Which is the reason I and most others stopped buying new product. Topps needs to come out with something called "Topps Classic" with cards printed in series like in the 1970s and prior. It needs to be printed on classic Topps cardboard and sold with a stick of gum. And unlike Topps Heritage, no inserts, no jersey or auto cards, and no foil stamping. Also unlike Heritage, the designs need to be original but have a simple, classic look like the 1950s through 1980s. And the collation needs to be unpredictable like it was back in the day when you could pull 4 or 5 of one card from a box and 0 of others. They would also need to save SOME of the top rookies for this set only. They could do all of this and afford to sell it at a reasonable price of $1 per pack (unlike the $3 per pack for Heritage). I guarantee this would bring back a majority of the collectors who stopped buying new product.

TheCARDKid

Funny, I was watching Big recently (also, Mask, Rocky Dennis collected the '55 Dodgers).

-Things were staggeringly different in the 80's. You had the 4 big sports, and that was about it. No UFC, no X Games. Who was golfing then? It wasn't anywhere close to Tiger Woods. Wrestling was minor. The first Wrestlemania was in 1985? It took years for there to be many wrestling ppv's.

Baseball was *It* basically. A lot of good american role models for kids....boggs, ripken, sandberg, mattingly, dale murphy? It isn't the same now with so many players foreign born, right or wrong. I think 30% of players now are foreign born. In the 80's I bet it was no more than 12 or 15%.

-Real inflation since then would probably make you sick. You could buy a lot more for 25 or 50 cents. There was a larger economy under a dollar than there is now. Baseball cards were a natural outlet. The lack of information overload helped keep the hobby innocent. The back of a card was your primary source of information about a player. It all had value.....the stats, "Did you know", trivia, etc.

The relationship between minimum wage and groceries since then must be shocking. Similar with other items. The 80's were a good time to be a baseball fan.