Who buys modern

craig44

So normally I collect 1960's through mid 90's cards. But a few weeks ago I picked up a blaster of archives and loved it. I like the card stock, the vintage design and the inclusion of retired players. Now I am nearing completion of the set. Just totally different than my normal collecting tastes. Anyone else open modern cards? I guess archives is my guilty pleasure

Gemyanks10

Like you, I'm mainly a "1990 and earlier" collector. Last year, I decided to try modern, as the cards I needed for my graded sets were getting harder to find and I was getting a little bored waiting for the cards I needed to come around. I choose Topps Heritage and Archives as like you, I loved the design, new players on vintage Topps designs etc. After awhile, what I found myself doing was getting addicted to the inserts and autographs. I would go to Wal-Mart or wherever, buy a couple blasters, bring them home and rip them, but if I didn't get a "chase card" or an auto, I wasn't happy for some reason and I wasn't enjoying the cards themselves. For me, it was kind of like playing lottery scratch off tickets lol. I decided to slow down and focus more of my attention in other areas of the hobby like older unopened etc, because I wasn't as tempted to rip knowing that older releases didn't have these auto's and other things in them. I will maybe give certain modern issues a try again someday. I know for me, when Topps Heritage is on to the 1980 Topps set year, I will be all over that as 1980 is my personal favorite Topps set at this point in time lol. Good luck with your modern collecting, but I feel that when I tried it, I lost focus of what really mattered and that's the happiness of just collecting and enjoying all of the cards instead of throwing base cards to the side, and looking for the next hit (which never seemed to come for me haha).

Indy78

I primarily build/collect baseball and football sets from the 1970's and 1980's, with 1975 Topps Mini's as my main focus. However, I also collect modern, boxed, Topps sets. I don't build modern sets by opening packs, as to me, it's not worth the cost per pack with all the modern inserts (I tried and succeeded in building the 2010 Topps baseball base set this way, but never again). I find these inserts to be a nuisance/obstacle to my goal of having a complete, basic set. This year for example, I bought two, 2015 Topps baseball complete boxed sets from Target - one for me and one for my boys. We'll be doing the same with 2015 Topps football. IMO, the quality of the modern cards far surpasses anything from the 70's and 80's in terms of manufacturing (i.e., card stock, printing, color, and photography). No miscuts, fisheyes, print snow, etc., for the most part on these cards. They are very nicely produced, and I really like the unique design this year. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate 70's and 80's cards - I do very much. But, I appreciate modern as well. I'm a collector, not an investor, so I don't really care that the modern base cards are worth (monetarily) relatively little compared to my pre-1980 cards or that they are more abundant. But, to each his own.

bishop

Bowman 1948 to 55
Fleer 1923 and 1959 to 2007
Topps 1948 and 1951 to 2015. Have also done all the Heritage sets while continuing the base set run. I quit doing the Topps test, insert and supplemental issues in 1995, when the number of Topps issues doubled and then proliferated from there.

Stingray

If anything I just buy a few packs to see what the cards look like in person. Though I was collecting 2008 Topps baseball for a while, thought that really had a nostalgic look to it.

jay0791

I will buy any RC that could be a HOFER. Such as basic Mike Trout but no autos or fancy parallels.

I buy N Y Yankees in basic topps and will always do so.

I like modern buy stick to a few players I like and looking to get all the Derek Jeter heritage type cards that look like a vintage card.

With and for my son I buy modern topps to put together a BB set and put in pages/binder. We enjoy the pack openings, sorting and talking about the player he likes.

I don't care if the set is worthless in a few years.

slum22

I have player collections going on a few modern players. When I buy modern, I usually buy already graded PSA 10 cards unless I see a good deal on a raw card that looks gradable. When I rip modern products it is usually with my son to see if I can get him into collecting. I generally rip modern basketball because he doesn't really watch football or baseball so basketball is the only sport where he knows the players. I do find that his focus is on the autograph and patch cards and I wish he would be more interested in making the set from the base cards. It can make for an unfulfilling break when your focus is on 2-3 cards in a box and they end up being autos and patch cards of non-rotation players. I remember opening boxes with my brother as a kid and getting hours of fun sorting the cards and making a set. I wish that for him, but I suppose that is my fault as I was the one who made a big deal about the hits (autos and jersey cards) so I don't know what to do to reverse course now. I agree that Topps Archives is a very fun break. I actually bought a blaster of that back in 2012 and liked it so much that I ended up buying a couple of hobby boxes just to try and build the set. I like the design of the cards and I think the inserts are great. I had never seen the 77 Topps Cloth Stickers before or the Deckle Edge, so seeing those retro inserts were a good history lesson for me. It was a relatively cheap break and a fun set to build with my son (even if he had no idea who the players were outside of the SF Giants). We still have it in a binder and pages. I may even try to complete the SP high number portion of the set someday.