I'm still having "technical difficulties" with my home computer but I was reading my daily Orioles links at work and I ran across this article about baseball cards on SB Nation:
Requiem for the 00's: The Decline of Topps Baseball Cards
I agree with some of the topics covered such as the Topps Monopoly, competition causes innovation, and kids are more attracted to video games than collecting cardboard.
The author does harp on the fact of the numbering of the flagship set a little bit. It never really mattered to me if Cal Ripken or Ken Griffey Jr. or Frank Thomas had a nice "round" card number like 100 or 555. I haven't grabbed many packs of 2013 yet but the numbering of the cards doesn't really mean a whole lot. It's just how you put the cards in order, not some hierarchy of a player's worth.
The author does tend to appreciate tradition over present but makes it seem like a person interested in cards is only allowed to buy the latest and greatest. For hardcore collectors (yes, if you are reading blogs and collecting, you are hardcore!) we know that you can still buy vintage cards online or at shows. If you're only buying cards at Wal-Mart or Target, you're only going to be able to buy the latest and greatest!
Sure baseball cards aren't as popular as they used to be but Topps is still making money or they wouldn't be doing it anymore. I don't really appreciate the article's author putting my hobby 6 feet under! It's more of niche hobby now instead of mainstream and that's ok. Roller skating was huge at one point in time and it surely declined but they are still around! Not as many people snowboard as they used to.
Our hobby is not dead or dying.
Here's my only story from Orioles Fan Fest that I am going to share. (I basically stood in the same lines and William from foul bunt and ended up with the same results, so check his blog for the blow by blow details).
I was standing in the kids only line with my friend Scott and his kid Austin. Behind me were 4 boys that were probably from the ages of 8 thru 12 and they were rabid baseball fans. I was talking to them and they were really knowledgeable about the game and the players. I offered to send them a bunch of extra cards that I had (since I'm downsizing a bit) and they thanked me over and over. I sent the cards last week and a few days later, the mother of 2 of the boys sent me an email thanking me for making the kid's days! She said it was like Christmas at their house when the cards arrived. It made me feel good to do something good for people I only met one time. Maybe I sparked one (or maybe all 4) of the boy's interest in the hobby by giving away some cards.
So the hobby is not dead or dying, it's only what you make of it!
Great gesture on your part, Ryan. I've been looking to do something similar (I tried on Halloween, but we had no trick o' treaters!) but I just don't see any of the kids that have some, if any, interest in the hobby.
ReplyDeleteFinding kids that are interested are few and far between, but they are out there somewhere.
DeleteArticles signalling the death of the hobby seems to be the "in thing" lately. I don't see as many kids with an interest in the hobby, but the ones that do are really in tune with it. Kids often times are priced out of the hobby, but they find ways to make it work (as we all seem to do).
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for getting youngsters more involved.
Yeah, "they" have been signalling the end of the hobby for years but it still trucks right along.
DeleteYou're right, if kids really want to get cards, they will!
Always awesome to get kids interested in collecting. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteThanks, and like I said, it felt really good to make the younger generation happy!
DeleteI also read this article and she lost me when she started talking about collecting cards as an investment. I, personally, am glad that most of the 'speculators' have gone because I feel that they were the ones responsible for a lot of the issues with collecting, you know, driving up prices, assigning value to certain players, etc. I have tried really hard to distance myself from 'book value.' Yeah, I know I use it when I sell at shows and all, but as far as picking up what I want, or making a trade with someone, BV really doesn't mean much to me at all. She also panned the 2012 set and said it had terrible photography. I didn't notice any terrible photography. Oh well, can't please everyone.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The speculators really hurt the hobby. When investors come into anything they help build it up and when that bubble bursts they head for the exits. Personally the hobby is probably better now because those turkeys are gone and the "real" collectors like us are still around.
DeleteI didn't think that 2012 as a whole was as bad as she made it out to be. Sure there were a few photoshopped cards but I thought as a whole the pictures were just fine.
She lost me when she mentioned the Schumaker card like it was his standard base card. It's sad when folks who are so uninformed on a topic decide it's theirs to write about.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one that read that section and thought the same thing. I pulled up the Alex Avila and Alfredo Simon card and personally didn't see anything wrong with them. Am I missing something?
DeleteIt seems as though the author is more of a casual collector since she only gets a few packs a year. I wouldn't call this person a Subject Matter Expert! In that regard, I don't think this person is informed enough about the subject to write an obituary for the whole hobby!
There were a lot of random, uneducated things said in the article. I don't think the numbering system matters to most people (it's certainly not marketed to anyone), and the "integrity" of the base set could be argued long dead if you're talking no manager cards, no 792 card set, the change in card stock, etc.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I also don't agree with the monopoly argument at all. It's not like Topps is resting on their laurels. If MLB didn't like what Topps was doing, they'd reverse course in a snap. Plus, if Topps was "lazy" then why do we see ads for cards on MLB network, or why bother with these giveaway codes and million dollar contests? I can't think of anything that they're doing now that they didn't do when they had competition in the baseball market, and I'd argue they do more now. I'm ranting to the point that I should write my own post, but yeah. Bad article by a good writer. It's tough, because the collective knowledge of the group will always be greater than the individual and she's seeing the criticism fly because of it.
--Jon
While I don't think that the Topps monopoly is a good thing, I definitely with your point that they haven't done too bad a job with their exclusive license. It would be nice to see another licensed manufacturer or 2 to increase the selection for the consumer, though.
Delete