12 year old collector on why kids should collect cards

[Stewman]

Awesome post! I started collecting around 6, my parents started getting me cards when I started baseball, and I will admit, I have some banged up cards from not understanding BV but those cards were the ones I liked. I am 32 and have 4 kids. My oldest is 6 and I am teaching him how to handle cards and hope to help him build his own collection some day.

[sschind]

Awesome post! I started collecting around 6, my parents started getting me cards when I started baseball, and I will admit, I have some banged up cards from not understanding BV but those cards were the ones I liked. I am 32 and have 4 kids. My oldest is 6 and I am teaching him how to handle cards and hope to help him build his own collection some day.

This is one reason why collecting still means something to you, because you enjoyed the cards you had. I somehow doubt you would still be in the hobby if your parents had said "Here are some cards but you can only look at them and not touch them" You are right about teaching your kids how to handle them but be careful about explaining to them why they have to handle them in a certain way. Most people will tell their kids that being careful how you handle cards is important because if the cards are damaged they are not worth as much money and that sends the wrong message.

[Stewman]

Oh yeah, I agree. I will let him buy some of his own cards and he can handle them however he wants and I will secretly have a collection for him on the side. I tell him that he has to handle my cards carefully and when he gets his own, he can handle them anyway he wants and show his friends the cool players and what not.

[sschind]

Oh yeah, I agree. I will let him buy some of his own cards and he can handle them however he wants and I will secretly have a collection for him on the side. I tell him that he has to handle my cards carefully and when he gets his own, he can handle them anyway he wants and show his friends the cool players and what not.

Sounds like a great way to get him started and keep him interested. Good Luck.

[jmarino76]

interesting article. this hobby is quite expensive for kids, good thing all you parents are there to get your kids into collecting

[Chaddie84]

I was into collecting as a kid around 6 years old burning through allowance money buying up packs of Topps or Score priced at 3/$1.00. If I wanted something "high end", it was usually UD or Leaf which would run me closer to $0.75-1 per pack. I started to lose interest around middle-school/highschool age when it wasn't the "cool" thing to do. I still kept my old collection, but over time I discovered what I thought I had as treasures were probably more useful as kindling.

Fast forward 10-15 years, I'm at the mall with my wife and wander into the LCS to get away from the hubub of the mall traffic and discover what cards had transformed into...cards were chrome/autographed/numbered. A pack of 4 Chrome cards cost $5. At this point in my life, I had the means, so I splurged on a box. The cards look amazing, there are refractors, an uncirculated box topper and an autograph of a rookie. One of the packs had an Orange Refractor /25 of Reggie Bush (his Rookie Year), which was a $200+ card at the time. I was hooked again. These kinds of cards/products never existed when I was a kid. I see this as the market adapting to the market of aging collectors from 20-30 years ago.

The beauty is, there are still those $1 packs to be purchased and enjoyed by kids on a limited budget. On the flip-side, if these higher end products existed back when I was buying $0.33 packs of Topps baseball, I'd probably be saving my money for the higher end.

[Stewman]

I actually traded a friend for some 67, 68, and 69 Topps for one card of Jose Canseco and I think I wound up with the better deal as I now have a 68 Tom Seaver and a 69 Carl Yastrzemski. I believe there is also a Johnny Bench card in there too.

[xpucksx]

I was into collecting as a kid around 6 years old burning through allowance money buying up packs of Topps or Score priced at 3/$1.00. If I wanted something "high end", it was usually UD or Leaf which would run me closer to $0.75-1 per pack. I started to lose interest around middle-school/highschool age when it wasn't the "cool" thing to do. I still kept my old collection, but over time I discovered what I thought I had as treasures were probably more useful as kindling.

Fast forward 10-15 years, I'm at the mall with my wife and wander into the LCS to get away from the hubub of the mall traffic and discover what cards had transformed into...cards were chrome/autographed/numbered. A pack of 4 Chrome cards cost $5. At this point in my life, I had the means, so I splurged on a box. The cards look amazing, there are refractors, an uncirculated box topper and an autograph of a rookie. One of the packs had an Orange Refractor /25 of Reggie Bush (his Rookie Year), which was a $200+ card at the time. I was hooked again. These kinds of cards/products never existed when I was a kid. I see this as the market adapting to the market of aging collectors from 20-30 years ago.

The beauty is, there are still those $1 packs to be purchased and enjoyed by kids on a limited budget. On the flip-side, if these higher end products existed back when I was buying $0.33 packs of Topps baseball, I'd probably be saving my money for the higher end.

I am in the opposite camp here, where I really have no desire to spend $5 on 4 cards, and am still into the collecting the "cheaper" wax pack type cards in order to complete the set so I am gald they are still out there. Not that I WON'T buy some of the upper end cards, but my definition of fun is the random pursuit of the full set, and the chance in that pursuit to get cool, valuable cards...or at least cards with meaning to me. I totally value my Eric Davis and Paul O'Niell Reds cards more than some of my higher value cards because those were my two most favorite players.

to each his own in the activity, which is why it is so cool...

[xpucksx]

I actually traded a friend for some 67, 68, and 69 Topps for one card of Jose Canseco and I think I wound up with the better deal as I now have a 68 Tom Seaver and a 69 Carl Yastrzemski. I believe there is also a Johnny Bench card in there too.

I am going through my ols collection and have found these cards plus many others! That is sort of the cool thing about collecting...forgetting what you have, and then rediscovering stuff....sort of like Chrsitmas in...well January I guess