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Baseball Card Death

Posted by on Jun 22, 2006 | 5 Comments

Any male that grew up in the late 1980s – early 1990s knows all about the phenomenon known as “Baseball Card Death.” The problem is, he doesn’t know that he knows this. And who can blame one’s selective memory loss here? Think of the large percentage of your disposable income that you blew on baseball cards, which likely have little utility for you right now as they sit in your basement amongst the spiders, centipedes, and mice. Do you really want to be reminded of the colossal investment mistakes you made? Well, we will play the role of Alanis Morrisette, “and I’m here to remind you…”

In the early 1990s, baseball cards were better than money, better than gold, Hell, they were supposed to pay for college tuitions because they were such a solid investment. As everyone knows, but few can bear to admit, nothing could have been further from the awful truth. We’ve scoured the Net for articles or postings… basically anything we could find with a negative slant on baseball cards. We can’t find anything! People seem very keen on talking about their successes, and we all know that back in the day everyone was talking about how much everything they owned was worth. But did anyone recall cash in on their baseball card riches? Did anyone bail at the right time and actually pay for their tuition, buy a second home, or re-invest in the stock market? Our instincts tell us the answer is, for the most part, “no.”

This site was created mostly as a beacon of objectivity… and negativity, if you will, towards an institution that seems focused on “talking about the good old days.” We are tired of hearing about “what your cards were worth” or “how they will come back in value if you just hold them.” Let’s hear some objectivity and reality for once and report what is going on now and not what was in the past. Let’s explore the sad state of affairs that has engulfed anyone who has a shoebox (or many shoeboxes) full of cards like ourselves.

By W.U. of Baseball Card Death and I Complain. All rights reserved. Content may not be duplicated without proper crediting. All content is the original, registered trademarked content of the aforementioned Web sites, subsidiary companies of IComplain.net. Unlawful use of this content will be prosecuted.

[tags]disposable income,baseball card,collectible market,investment mistake,value[/tags]

  • Matt

    I am exactly the demographic you describe in your article. Grew up in the late 80′s early 90′s. I got into baseball cards around 1987. It was a great time, and I have very fond memories.

    I hadn’t thought about it until I read your paragraph, but I do now remember how people treated them as a “longterm” investment. I was not of that sort.

    Around 1993, I seemed to lose interest in baseball cards. I think this was for 2 major reasons. The first being my age. I was 15 years old, baseball cards were no longer cool, as other interests took over my attention.

    The second reason, and the one I clearly remember, is that baseball cards went from 5-6 choices, to about 100, overnight. For so long, it was Topps, Donruss, Fleer, and Score. That was it, end of story. Upper Deck came along and revolutionized things, followed by Leaf. Then all of a sudden, there are 3 versions of every brand, sets, subsets, specialty sets, etc etc. Things got overwhelming……..and expensive, especially for the target demographic….kids.

    I remember the day of riding my bike down to the nearest card shop (which was never to far away during this time, it seemed as if there were 4 or 5 shops, even in the smallest of towns) and just being memorized by all the things the shop owner had. I even took a job in 7th grade, sorting commons for one of the shops, and for pay, you got it, i got packs of cards.

    As I got a little older, my parents let me work the card shows with my favorite local dealer. Again, payment would be in the form of whatever cards I was into at that particular time. It was great though. All my friends would be at the show, and I would be behind the counter. I thought I was legendary at the time.

    So here’s the great part of this story. I have since, now 29 years old, fallen in love with them all over again. When I found wax boxes of the card I used to buy (1989-1993) going for 5 or 10 bucks on ebay, I couldn’t resist but to buy. I seem to be buying 2 of each, 1 to open for fun, and 1 to keep sealed. There is still clearly that part of me that won’t die, the fact that unopened boxes are like gold, because you never know if you are going to get 5 griff jr’s in that box of 89 upper deck, or non at all.

    So now I’m buying boxes, enjoying them, and could care less about the investment, or even what this card might sell for at the next card show. I totally mark out when I open a pack, and see that “HOT” rookie card that I always wanted back in the day, but we now now, never amounted to anything. (see Eric Anthony circa 1990).

    So today, in 2007, I find great fun, and love, collecting the cards that I once had, in the late 80′s and early 90′s. I enjoy finding the hard to find ones, and I still get a huge smile, when I open that pack, and find the sought after rookie in it. Keep in mind, I’m only staying in the years 1987-1993. I haven’t (and won’t) be buying anything newer then that. It doesn’t serve my purpose. My collecting now isn’t for money, investment, or anything that it might of been for people during the boom (or death as history might remember it) time. It’s for the sole purpose of reliving one of the great periods in my life. The fact that something that brought me happiness and joy at such a young age, can again, at 29, well that’s enough for me.

  • Brandon

    They are absolutely a good investvent if you find the right buyer. My uncle PAID THE MORTGAGE on his house by selling his cards. I am holding on to my cards forever so I can pass ‘em on to my kids, but their worth will always come around in due time.

  • STEVE

    I grew up in the 80′s and 90′s as well. I got into baseball cards around 1990. I had a good time collecting them and enjoying baseball in general. Then in the ealry 90′s Baseball players went on strike and in turn my fun collecting thier cards went out aswell, but I did hold onto my collection. I recently took them out of my fathers place and have had a nice time flipping threw them and remembering the good times I had collectiong them. While I have been flipping threw them I have also bought a prce guide to check thier value. In the BB hobby scene the late 80′s and ealry 90′s are reffered to as the over production era. Most of my cards fall in this bracket. Alot of cards are common, BB stars have had bad press and thier cards have dropped in value, and ofcorse the mass abondence of the over production are all reasons for the value of cards not being as high as they once were. There are some diamonds in the ruff. So I wouldnt suggest just dumping you “memories.” There are some cards that as still holding thier value. As the gentalmen above stated you just need to find ther right buyer. I also agree that baseball cards will become valueable again. I believe the baseball card comapines have learned from thier mistakes and are taking action to create cards that hold thier future value and interest. I myself have recently bought another box of current cards and some of the fun of collecting is returning to me.

  • john

    Baseball/Football cards have taken an interesting swing over the pase decade or two.
    I actually started collecting in the late 70′s, and then started when the hobby “boomed” again in ’87. I got out of it around ’91…due in large part to the sheer over-availability of everything.
    Starting in ’05, I kind of half heartedly tried out the new Auto/Jersey phase that is currently the rage….stopped, and then restarted recently.
    For investment purposes, many players of the overproduction era also happen to be linked to the steriod era of baseball….a double whammy if you will. There are some exceptions (Griffey, Thomas and Maddux to name three), but overall, many of the players in that time period who had cards on their way to being very high values came crashing down to earth.
    Before even the steriod scandle, the preceived value of cards form the 80′s and 90′s were suffering…yet the industry was producing cards like a group of rabbits at a frat party…therefore something else need to distinguish one card form another….grading.
    I find the grading business interesting. On the one hand, I sort of understand the need for it. With so many cards of one player (and just from one of the card manufactureres) how does one value a card.
    On the other hand, the preceived value of a perfectly graded card is just….crazy. Couple that with the fact that not grading companies may agree with that evaluation, and you have potential falicies.

  • Josh

    Baseball cards popularity won’t return, especially with the younger generations. What’s the point of baseball cards now? Just go online and get the stats and whatever image you want of the player. There you go.

    Kids would rather have Yu-Gi-Oh Cards now.