The future of autographs in baseball cards

So whats the future of the baseball card hobby? Will the cards we have now go up in value? Will new collectors flock to get that new shiny baseball cards? Or perhaps nobody will care anymore and baseball cards will become a thing of the past only to be forgotten?

I hope that last one won't come true but sometimes I feel we are on the verge. It seems that every time you turn around another shiny card of the same player is been produced. Players like Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter and other stars are signing cards left and right. Its watering down the collectibility of baseball cards. I guess you can also say the same thing about any other sports cards.

So here is what I think is going to happen in the future. Collectors who collects cards by players will start seeing a softer market on their cards. Every time a set is made we have at least one autographed card in that set dedicated to a player if not more. Now baseball card companies produces multitudes of products each year. If this process is repeated we have at least twenty autographs per player, per year.

Now for the people who buys to resell cards I think now might be the time to abandon ship. Not to say there is no money to be made but if older cards keep dropping in value your really just flushing your money down the toilet. Cards from years ago unless severely short printed will probably drop tremendously in value. Now of course there are certain players who just don't sign much and their cards are more expensive. Having said that, this could be an insight and a possible solution to fix the future of our hobby.

When something is limited it makes it more collectible. There is a reason why cards from the 90's are not worth the paper they are printed on. Its because it was overprinted and soon the autographed card market might follow suit. So the simple solution would be to limit the amount of autographed cards.

Perhaps they should limit each player to only one autograph per set per year. I can understand rookies having having multiple autographs across each product since they're still unproven. But the overabundance of not only star player autographs are killing the hobby. I don't mind a great player signing cards but sometimes enough is enough. And we have absolutely no need for players who are doing horrible in the major leagues to sign filler cards.

Who said there was nothing good in retail boxes?

So we've all heard the saying when it comes to buying baseball cards. "If it's not hobby, it's not worth getting." Well I know that retail packs and boxes don't guarantee anything. And even when they do insert something into retail packs it's extremely hard to get. But to those of you who actually read my blog (I know, I can hear the crickets in here) retail stuff is no that bad. Case in point I have pulled an Alex Rodriguez autograph card out of a box. The odds of that card been in there was an astronomical ratio.

Well lately I have been buying up some retail products again. 2011 Bowman Platinum, its not the greatest product but there are chock full of rookies in it. Nothing is guaranteed so when anything nice comes out of it it makes you feel much better.

In about a months time I ended up buying four blaster boxes and four rack packs. Here are some of the hits that came out.

Plus a Alex White autograph, one Bryce Harper rookie and one Bryce Harper Xfractor.

High end vs. Low end Cards

Here is a list of boxes to bust. Just don't expect it to be anything high end. I think I've learned my lesson in that. After busting countless boxes of high end stuff and pulling cards that resell for $10 and $15 I've decided to buy only the lower end boxes. Why you ask? Well think about it this way, say you spend $150 on a box of cards and pull a no name player that sells for $10. How does that make you feel? Want to lie down on the couch and talk about it?
Now say you spend $50 on a box of cards and pull a no name player that sells for $10. See the difference?
Sure there is always a chance that you might pull something great that sells for ten times the amount of a box. How rare is that? If I was going to be that lucky, I'd rather play the mega million everyday. The payout would be much much much more.
Now say you do pull a nice card out of a high end product. And it re sells for twice the amount of a box. ( I say twice because nowadays even a nice autographed card won't sell for much) You are basically getting your money back and another box with two base cards. But say you spend only $50 and get a card that sells for $100. Not only are you making your money back you will probably get 143 base cards including inserts. Get the big picture yet. You pay less but end up getting more.
Now I understand that not everybody is out to collect cards. Some people want to make money out of the hobby. But for the true collectors out there, think before you burn your money.

Baseball Cards. Forward or Backwards?

We've all heard that MLB is giving Topps an exclusive contract to produce baseball cards. Stating that they believe Topps can change this hobby for the kids. So with all due respect lets take a look at the products they have made so far.

Bowman Chrome - Chock full of rookies that kids know nothing about. Who is Lars Anderson? I guarantee that most kids that's not heavily into card collecting already even knows who he is. This product is aimed at the adults looking to make money on the secondary market

Allen & Ginter - Right away look at the price tag, $70-$80. Definitely not aimed at the kids. Also the fact that they have autographs of non MLB players will turn kids away.

Topps - Bland, ugly and boring design. An eight year old can make better looking cards. Autographs are hard to pull and when you do pull one please keep that Justin Ruggiano ($0.99 no buyer) nicely protected.

Sterling - $195 a box. Nuff said

If you look back towards when Topps was the only company making baseball cards you can clearly see what they made. Off centered, bland, boring and overproduced baseball cards. Clearly they were aiming for the kids.
At least Upper Deck has made products aimed towards the younger collectors. UD Heroes. Upper Deck and among others. I say competition is good. It keeps other companies on it's toes and makes sure they are producing quality products.
Truth is the only thing that will make collecting fun for kids is the adults who collect baseball cards. They are the ones teaching the next generation the beauty of collecting sport cards.
I don't think this is a step forward. I think this is a step backwards for this hobby.

A look back at Baseball Cards

I remember when I first got into collecting baseball cards as a kid. It was 1989 and wax packs and boxes littered the hobby shop walls. At this time the main cards to buy was products like Score, Donruss and Topps.

Then a company called Upper Deck came along and made premium baseball cards. I remember staring at the packs and wondering if I can ever afford packs of Upper Deck which I believe were $2.00 at the time. This compared to the other dollar or cent packs of baseball cards were obviously more enticing to a young collector.

My friends were all into it and raving about some player named Ken Griffey Jr and Frank Thomas. I as a passionate collector still bought the old single cards of Nolan Ryan, Ryne Sandberg and many other old time players. I still bought these well into the mid 1990's.
Fast forward to the 2000's and I'm still an avid baseball card collector. But something has changed, the hobby has changed. No longer were cards selling for one to five dollars. Cards began to sell for ten to hundreds of dollars. Cards with jerseys, bats, gloves and autographs were everywhere.
Then came the collectors that began trying to beat the system. Pack searching through boxes pulling all the "money" cards and leaving junk for the honest collectors. Collectors opening packs and resealing them with unwanted common cards. Dealers trimming and coloring borders of vintage baseball cards. Looking at all the mayhem I simply stopped buying waxes.
At this time Upper Deck and Topps began making ultra high end cards. Ultimate, Exquisite and other products which guaranteed autographed and game used cards in each pack. The catch? Outrageous price tags. You can spend $100 to $700 on one pack of cards which had three cards in it. And get back about 25% value of cards. Of course there were also the money cards that are next to impossible to pull. Taking a look at the price tag of baseball cards I decided to put my money to better use. Paying my bills.
I remember in the early 1980's collectors were thrilled when they pulled a Carlton Fisk. Today when somebody pulls a Carlton Fisk they wonder how much money they can make by putting it on Ebay.
Whatever happened to that baseball card shop I used to go to you ask? They're out of business. Along with at least five others in my area.
So, what do I collect? I've given up on wax packs due to the outrageous odds and the pack searchers. I've given up on the boxes since putting food on the table is more important. Now I'm just a wandering collector buying single cards that catches my eye. And they have to be graded so I won't be scammed by a untrustworthy dealer.

Baseball card: To Collect or Not to Collect

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So I hear the baseball card collectors complaining.

“The hobby is not what it used to be.”

First they are complaining that companies are overproducing cards. Now they

complain they are producing too many one of ones. So which one is it? They say that the baseball card hobby is no longer for the kids.

While I have to agree to some extent I also have to disagree. There is plenty of cheap baseball cards aimed for the young collectors. Topps produces boxes of cards that retails from forty to fifty dollars. Upper deck also produces cards in almost the same range. While both companies make boxes of cards that retails for up to hundreds of dollars they also make boxes with harder hits that retails much cheaper.

           Prices of cards seem to be too much? I have seen cards from 1970’s sell in the range of one dollar to twenty dollars. Carlton Fisk, Robin Yount, George Brett, Nolan Ryan the list goes on and on. Then there is the graded beauty of these cards. A PSA 10 of any of these superstars will set you back a grand or two.

           There are always people that have that nostalgia of looking at their old baseball card collections. The cards are all in order neatly tucked into a binder hidden away in a dark corner so the sunlight won’t damage it. They have the sets made from Topps dating back to the 1950’s all the way to the 1990’s. These are the same collectors that started at a young age. They bought the cards for the bubble gum. They didn’t care about the cards, it was mommy and daddy that taught them the value of keeping their possessions in good condition. Or perhaps it was their mom that tossed out those thousands of dollars worth of cards in which case. I feel for you.

Then there are the player collectors. Perhaps you grew up idolizing Cal Ripken? A player collector will have thousands of cards of Cal Ripken. There will be one of ones that are impossible to get, but that is what collecting is all about. It’s a challenge, if we had everything handed to us and all we had to do was open our wallets and pay for it, what fun would would that be? That would be like paying the water bill. Doesn’t sound too fun does it?

What will the collectors complain of next? Oh I’m pretty sure they will find something to complain about. So what should the collectors of today buy? Anything they like to buy. I have seen people collect their childhood heroes and I have seen people collect a one of\one autographed card with a swatch of jersey that has five colors on it. As any arguments and complaints, we have to look at both sides. Just remember, you collect what makes you happy.