ARTICLE: How we can save our hobby; an article by the "Mike's guide to.." guy
By: Mike (soxfan445)
It's been a couple of months since I wrote my acclaimed Mike's guide to series. A month ago I got a PM from BlackDiamOnd66, asking me to write more. Well, a month later, Rima, here you go! I'm trying to do this at 9 PM EST, with only a bottle of Poland Springs water and my trusty keyboard. I'm a little washed up, but I think I can do it. (I should be sleeping, I have an early chess tournament tommorrow).

Anyway, while my past articles were informative, this will be more of an opinion article. Our hobby is making some bad decisions, and I'm going to underline what they are, what I think of them, and how they can even be addressed by the average collector. This will probably be easier than my other articles, because I'm just rattling it out in my head instead of making a logical plan :D.

However, I should point out a few things here. I write this as a 14 year old making observations. I am in no way (obviously) associated with card companies, card stores, or whatever. My observations may and probably will be different than yours, as this is an opinion article. Just please don't give me any grief about it :D.

OK, here we go.

Baseball cards have been around for a while. Obviously, the hobby picked up in the 50s, when more than one brand started producing cards to go with bubble gum. However, I, being 14, am not old enough for all that. I started about 7 years ago, picking up singles and cheapo 1990 packs at my local card store. I remember going to a show and getting some $1 grab bags of crappo 1990 commons, which I still have in a showbox over my bookcase. However, my collecting picked up when my grandfather picked up a box of 1999 UD MVP for a steep $50 for my birthday. I busted it, and got an Abraham O. Nunez auto. I was THRILLED.

Around that same time, I started collecting TTM, and was so happy when all my successes came in. That was in 2000 or so. I went to my card store and saw packs of 2000 SP signature, only $17, but too expensive for me, on the counter. One auto per pack, WOW! I never got any of that product.

Now, it is 2004. The average retail price of a hobby pack is probably about $5. I, myself, haven't bought a hobby pack for a year, I think. I see people paying $300, $500, $1000 at a card shop and think "wow, I could never do that". I found eBay which has been great for me, especially as I begin to collect Rocco Baldelli, but I miss packs. So I buy retail. Lots and lots of retail. In fact, if I saved the retail money from the last two months, I could've bought some nice hobby from DACW. But, I continue on buying retail.

That is the perspective of a 14 year old collector. I feel that the hobby is slipping out of reach to kids, and that corrective measures can be made, by the companies, but also by us, collectors. However, to correctly judge this, you need to see the world not as a collector, but as a newbie. THE HOBBY NEEDS TO GET AND RETAIN NEW COLLECTORS TO STAY ALIVE. I DO NOT SEE NEW COLLECTORS BEING BROUGHT IN AS MUCH ANYMOREI know someone named "John" (real name not used, for privacy's sake). John is about my age, and he loves baseball. I do a fantasy baseball league with him, and he really enjoys it. He also collects a few baseball cards. He has probably never been in a card store in his life, and probably gets his packs from a local CVS. John likes Jason Schmidt, his top fantasy pitcher, and asked me to get an auto for him. He will pay $10-$14 for it. John has never read a Beckett in his life, has no clue what BV is, and doesn't know what an insert is. John, like everyone in "Baah-stin", is a Red Sox fan. He tells me, with the same excitement that I would have if I pulled a GU, that he was thrilled because he got a pack with a Manny, Nomar, and Pedro common in the same pack. He tells me that he once got a Sosa and a McGwire in the same pack, and he left it on a table and he thinks his cleaning lady took it. He is as mad as I would be if I had lost an autograph.

The difference in opinion between people who know the hobby and people who dont are astounding. Newbies would not even contemplate buying a pack for above $3, so they go to retail stores, and get moderatly lucky. That's OK with them, because they don't find hobby packs, or Becketts. They are just mild collectors, and value to them is the players on the card. CARD COMPANIES NEED TO ADDRESS THE FACT THAT A GOOD CHUNK OF THEIR BUYERS ARE LOW DOLLAR KIDS, WHO DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE HOBBY. Upper Deck took a good step at this, with retail only products like Diamond Collection, and the best kid-friendly product in a while, PowerUp. The retail only product allows kids to play fantasy games with their cards, with the winner getting to meet Ken Griffey. Perfect. This is just what the hobby needs.

What the hobby doesn't need are people like this one dealer I saw at a show. I still am not really taken seriously around here at shows, because of my age, but this guy took the cake. I go through his stuff, and we start talking about great pulls, and he says he pulled a Uylesses Grant cut sig, and traded it for 5 Mantles. Whatever. I pull out a 2004 Skybox autographics Kerry Wood auto /134 or something, and ask the price. The guy says "$150". My jaw almost dropped to the floor. I tried to contain myself from shouting "MORON! IT SELLS FOR $30 ON EBAY!!!!" and I walked away. As I was leaving, the guy said "Don't be disappointed, unnumbered Piazzas go for $400!". This was OK (kinda) for the guy to do this to me, as I was experienced and knew that that price was crap. However, what the guy did to others really was astounding to me. A 9 year old went up to his table, looked around and pulled out an auto he liked. Not sure what it was. Anyway, I hear the kid ask "how much." The guy, without even blinking, said "I can let you have it for $80". This was to a 9 year old. I think it was an auto that goes for about $30-$40 ebay, and BV around there. Dude, this is a KID with $30 at most in his pocket! These guys are the ones that wreck the hobby.

Same show, different dealer. Same aged kid walks up, picks up a Todd Helton GU, asks for the price. $5 is marked on it. Dealer says $3. Kid hands him a $5. Dealer says "I'll give you this (Jim Thome GU) with the Helton for the $5". Kid walks away happy as ever, and I would've been too. He got a great deal! This is what dealers and card shop owners can do MAKE IT EASY FOR NEWCOMERS AND LOW $ CUSTOMERS TO GET GOOD CARDS. THEY WILL START BUYING PACKS, AND THEN THEY ARE COLLECTORS. That guy probably made that kid have the best collection in his age bracket, for only a $5 note.


One more thing, and then I'll wrap it up. With all the thousands of products, newbies are confused. To get newbies in, they need to know about the hobby. Here's what you can do to save the hobby. MAKE SURE EVERYONE YOU KNOW THAT HAS EVEN AN INTEREST IN COLLECTING KNOWS HOW TO DO IT, SO THEY CAN START EXPERIENCING OUR HOBBY TOO. You can explain it to them, or, if you need help, give them a copy of my Guide to collecting. Ask your card dealer to put out a free guide to collecting of some sort in their store, so newbies can know how it's done. The hobby can only get stronger with each new collector, whether they spend $10 a year or $10,000. Emphasis should be put on retail, friendlyness, and education. If we work hard, we will be able to enjoy this hobby for years to come.

Thanks for reading, and have a good day.
Regards,
Mike