I was asked recently WHY I love baseball cards (and doing sets) so much; perhaps the challenge of th

Estil · April 27, 2007 3:56AM

I was recently asked by a teammate at work why I love collecting cards so much (I believe the discussion involved whether I should get a Nintendo Wii instead of cards for the moment). Well, I for one think the best reason is simply the challenge of the hunt. For example:

Vintage sets (70s/80s): For these it's realtively easy to find sets; the hard part is then upgrading them to be as solid NRMT or better as possible (especially all those damn miscuts/hairline borders). So the challenge there is to find all the neccesary upgrades.
Modern sets (90s/00s): For these it's also realtively easy to find the most popular basic sets (like Topps), but if you want to make MASTER sets with all the inserts (besides Heritage) or finding complete parallel sets (like Ultra Gold Medallion), that can be a challenge just to find at all.

And in the case of my Topps run (currently 1976-2004; I want to get at least 1974-present), it's like having a yearbook of sorts for each year and perhaps I should also print out and include a cover sheet showing each year's final standings/awards/All-Star game/playoffs to make them even more interesting?

So what do the rest of you find to be the most enjoyable aspect of this hobby?

baseballfanatic · April 27, 2007 4:47AM

Having been smart enough (and lucky enough) to aquire the bulk of my cards before 1985, the challenge of card collecting is finding that hidden gem for a price you feel comfortable paying.
The PSA set registry has brought people and prices into card collecting that would make even Jefferson Burdick cringe.
When the prices became ridiculous, I decided to go on to finding flexichromes, original art and negatives that were used to make the cards.

The financial aspect of the hobby wants to keep kicking me out and locking the door, but the love of cards has kept me finding new ways to keep enjoying the hobby.....

TNTonPMS · April 27, 2007 5:19AM

For me , it has always been the hunt as well .
Pulling the autos , pulling the more rare card .
I love the autographs because I know the player actually touched the item .
I never thought I would ever meet a woman that could possibly understand , But I got lucky there , I have a woman that goes as crazy over it as I do .
Now it has become a different challenge for me in finally realizing after all the cases and packs I have cracked , that I can be very close to completing a few sets , which I am having an absolute blast in trying .

Publius · April 27, 2007 9:44AM

Nostalgia man, plain and simple.

I love to have the best cards possible of the great players I looked up to when i was a kid.

joe

perkdog · April 27, 2007 9:57AM

<< Nostalgia man, plain and simple.

I love to have the best cards possible of the great players I looked up to when i was a kid.

joe >>

Exactly! Except I buy cards that were before my time, I always give a thought about some kid in the early fifties opening up a pack and pulling the card that I own or just bought.

Publius · April 27, 2007 10:00AM

<< 

<< Nostalgia man, plain and simple.

I love to have the best cards possible of the great players I looked up to when i was a kid.

joe >>

Exactly! Except I buy cards that were before my time, I always give a thought about some kid in the early fifties opening up a pack and pulling the card that I own or just bought. >>

Can you imagine the kid with a Bart Starr or Mickey Mantle RC in the spokes of his bike tire. I love the oldies too, but the 77 topps is my favorite set, thats when I started collecting.

perkdog · April 27, 2007 10:03AM

<< 

<< 

<< Nostalgia man, plain and simple.

I love to have the best cards possible of the great players I looked up to when i was a kid.

joe >>

Exactly! Except I buy cards that were before my time, I always give a thought about some kid in the early fifties opening up a pack and pulling the card that I own or just bought. >>

Can you imagine the kid with a Bart Starr or Mickey Mantle RC in the spokes of his bike tire. I love the oldies too, but the 77 topps is my favorite set, thats when I started collecting. >>

Man I think about that all the time, bike spokes, the sweaty baseball cap! Pitching cards against a wall, mom tossing out shoeboxes filled with treasures, cards that stand the test of time, you cant beat 'em!

Publius · April 27, 2007 3:39PM

Perk
funny, about a month ago there was a thread that was about your "space" where you keep your cards

As you scan the pictures people sent in, there are certain cards that you just recognize. They are internationally known. Its like when you look at someones CD collection and you immediatlely are drawn to that Police Synchronicity album and its colors, the mantles, the Starr, the largent.... there are certain cards you just recognize, they do indeed stand the test of time

joe

Stone193 · April 28, 2007 12:25AM

<< So what do the rest of you find to be the most enjoyable aspect of this hobby? >>

Estil

It's a little bit of a lot of things:

The hunt and acquisition, intellectual curiosity, the enjoyment of cataloging/organizing, a little bit of showing off, a feeling of nostalgia and the sheer pleasure of learning about the collectibles.

No matter how bad of a day I've had - coupled with potentially negative world affairs and personal
conflict - I can go into my room - work on a set or pop open a binder - open my mail - and I'm transported into another world - assuaging all the pain.

My fear? In the hobby I have learned there's a big difference between a passionate collector and a fixated eccentric!

mike

stown · April 28, 2007 12:28AM

<< 

<< Nostalgia man, plain and simple.

I love to have the best cards possible of the great players I looked up to when i was a kid.

joe >>

Exactly! Except I buy cards that were before my time, I always give a thought about some kid in the early fifties opening up a pack and pulling the card that I own or just bought. >>

Yuppers, that's me too.

I get a rush every time I take a step closer to completing a set

Stone193 · April 28, 2007 12:32AM

<< 

<< 

<< Nostalgia man, plain and simple.

I love to have the best cards possible of the great players I looked up to when i was a kid.

joe >>

Exactly! Except I buy cards that were before my time, I always give a thought about some kid in the early fifties opening up a pack and pulling the card that I own or just bought. >>

Yuppers, that's me too.

I get a rush every time I take a step closer to completing a set

>>

Me too Stown

But ya know - when it's done - I feel kind of bad - like not wanting to finish a good book because I'll miss the characters and stuff - if ya know what I mean?

One thing that might be said in the hobby about doing a set: the means IS the end - since for many the search and acquisition plays a major roll.

mike

Goot · April 28, 2007 12:40AM

<< 

<< 

<< 

<< Nostalgia man, plain and simple.

I love to have the best cards possible of the great players I looked up to when i was a kid.

joe >>

Exactly! Except I buy cards that were before my time, I always give a thought about some kid in the early fifties opening up a pack and pulling the card that I own or just bought. >>

Can you imagine the kid with a Bart Starr or Mickey Mantle RC in the spokes of his bike tire. I love the oldies too, but the 77 topps is my favorite set, thats when I started collecting. >>

Man I think about that all the time, bike spokes, the sweaty baseball cap! Pitching cards against a wall, mom tossing out shoeboxes filled with treasures, cards that stand the test of time, you cant beat 'em! >>

Whenever i here this story I begin to cringe now. My dad says that he used to have so many great cards. Mainly football, a lot of Namath, and a lot of Dolphins since they were his favorite team and his favorite player (don't know how that happened). He said he used to have a few baseball mostly coming from the late 60's to early 70's. And then he went to college down here in Florida and didn't have the space. Unlike most times, his mom didn't throw them away and kept them in the basement. I forget the exact time, but in the late 70s early 80s there was a flood in PA resulting from a hurricane. It flooded his whole basement and he lost all of his cards. I just think about what I could've inherited if the flood would not have happened.

bjork73 · April 28, 2007 7:13PM

I'm a big nostalgia person as well... for me, it was all the crazy youth-oriented basketball sets in the 90s... the brighter, shinier, sparklier, more die-cut, colorful, or gimmicky, the better

Heck, even the higher-end sets had a nice pop-art element to them (one word: Jambalaya!) I guess it fits that my personal collection focus, Shaquille O'Neal, symbolizes the whole bigger/better/moremoremore thing so well

I only wish more sets would be a little more daring from an artistic perspective

Estil · May 7, 2007 11:19AM

Perhaps that's why the first basketball Topps Finest set was even more colorful/flashier than the baseball one?

I was asked recently WHY I love baseball cards (and doing sets) so much; perhaps the challenge of th

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