I am currently in the process of evaluating my collection of sports cards, mainly baseball cards that I collected in my youth. I am 23 and I planned to someday give the collection to my children, much like my father gave me his collection of stamps. During this process, I have started thinking about how much this hobby has declined, particularly in my age demographic.
In order for me to get more context on the history and status of the hobby, I read this excellent primer on Wikipedia. If you have collected baseball cards or have read the history behind them, you know that they have roots in tobacco products and later, bubble gum.
I remember going to the supermarket with my mother growing up, dying to get my hands on any pack of cards that looked cool. I am not old enough to remember cards prior to the 1990's because that was before my time, but I have many in my collection. I collected cards during the steroid era and while shit was hitting the fan, I was losing interest like many other people. As time gave way to technology, I started losing interest in the collection and put it up in the attic for another day.
So why the decline in this at-one-time immensely popular hobby. Did the steroid era turn people off? Was it technology that made collecting less interesting? Did it simple become uncool? I don't know the answer. It may have been a mix of all three. During the investigations of the steroid era, many fans like me lost complete interest in the game. I gravitated more towards the NBA and NFL as it offered a much more exciting product to watch on TV. I also got a laptop and began my forays on the internet and therefore had less time to collect cards. Also, no one around me was collecting anymore. It seemed like something to do of a bygone era.
I am interested to see if anyone in the community has insights to share on their card collecting. I am also interested in seeing whether it is better to sell my collection somewhere (if anyone actually wants it) or to keep for my future kids (I am still leaning in this direction).