I apologize for the long read.
I started collecting as a grade school kid and was mainly just baseball. It was a way for a kid with no friends to feel involved in something. We didn’t have the money to buy cards, but the LCS owner took pity on me and would let me hang out at the shop and do odd jobs for him, and in return at the end of the night, he would hand me a couple packs for payment. This experience did nothing but strengthen my yearn to collect.
Then TCG started to come around and gain popularity. Again, as an outcast, those games drew me in. I got into MTG at the start, it was amazing! A whole society was created around outcasts, and now I could have friends at least at the weekly tournaments. It was incredible!
I eventually moved away from where the LCS was and there was not another in walking distance from where I was, so the passion slowly died away. I got a friend to take me to a shop and I sold off all my MTG cards to them, and all the sports cards I had, which I’m sure he didn’t want, but I basically gave them to him to be free of it all. I kept my Black/Red deck just for fun, at least for a couple years.
Fast forward several years and I hadn’t thought of cards in a very long time. I was married, had kids and was looking for a way to bring something the kids and I could do together. The memories of cards came flooding back, and I decided to bring that joy to my kids. It worked for a little while, but then they lost interest and never really understood. I kept going with it. I built up a healthy collection filled with a lot of desirable cards and was well on my way to building my collection of high grade key baseball RCs, all PSA/SGC/BGS. I loved looking at the collection, and displayed them proudly! This was a nice collection, 2018 TCU Juan Soto Pink PSA 10, 2018 Gallery Private Stock Shohei Ohtani /125 BGS 10, 1955 Topps Harmon Killebrew PSA 5.5, 1993 SP Derek Jeter PSA 7, 1968 Topps Johnny Bench SGC 3.5, 2014 Topps Degrom PSA 10, 2014 Topps Update Mookie Betts PSA 10, 2017 Topps Aaron Judge dugout SP PSA 10, 2018 Topps Update Acuna Bat Down PSA 10, you get the point, I was going after the big guys, and getting lucky along the way with some good guesses.
Then, I decided to get rid of it all. We needed the room, and instead of just packing it all up, I got rid of it all.
Right before the COVID boom, so I lost probably 10-15k by selling before it all went down, but who knew?
COVID happens, and I get drawn back in. I start slowly this time and focus more low end, even though there really was no such thing during COVID. I still had fun, and tried my luck at some football and basketball too. I’ll admit, I got caught up in the COVID frenzy. Not that I was looking to profit off of buying everything off the shelves and selling it to others, but I bought a few here and there and would be excited to see anything on the shelves and would just buy it to open something! I opened everything I bought, unlike a lot of people during that time, so I ended up with a lot I did not care about.
So, I again I sold off almost everything and refocused, hoping to bring the joy back. I went to focus on collecting one team, and maybe building a couple of sets I like. That worked for a little while, but here I am again. After a 30+ year love affair with the hobby, it is time to hang it up.
To me, here’s why:
1) Box prices are not coming down, but singles prices have plummeted.
This just shows this is now a breakers hobby. They make a killing and the rest of us are stuck not being able to buy boxes anymore. There are those, who don’t do this and make it fun for everyone. @grapler135s keep doing what you do. You are an honest breaker with a love for the hobby who I would imagine loses money on most breaks after shipping. Thank you for all you do for this site and the hobby.
2) Production is crazy right now.
We are not at junk wax era levels, yet, but it is actually really really close to that. For that reason, I’m out.
3) They don’t bring me joy anymore.
I used to stare at my displayed cards and loved telling others why that card was so special, or if they didn’t know baseball, I explain to them why the player is good. Many people I know learned of Shohei this way, by asking why I like him so much.
4) Greed has taken over.
Again, like the 90s, greed has taken over. A monopoly is about to be in place in all sports collecting and I don’t like that. Maybe it will be great, but maybe not.
5) family
My kids are adults, and I want to spend all my green time with my wife. She has sacrificed and I want to spend every moment I can with her.
6) My job demands a lot of me.
I used to love coming home and seeing a few packages for me to open. I know haven’t opened a single package in over a month. I have a bunch sitting there, to the point that I do not even know what is in each of them. I have no desire to open them.
So, with all of that, I am walking away from the hobby.
I am going to spend the rest of 2024, when I have time, turning what I do still have into a handful of cards I consider important to the hobby and then throw them in the safe for the next 50 years.
I have taken the first steps, I gave away a few thousand cards already, and threw another few thousand random base cards into the recycling.
I think I am down to about 200 cards left, (maybe a little more), and then a near complete set of 2021 TCPA, and a partial set of 2022 TCPA.
Not sure what I am going to do from here, but the goal is to get this down to under ten. The hardest is going to be saying goodbye to the Mauer collection!
Thank you to those who have always been kind and helpful on this board!
@grapler135s
@AndyDrummond
@Mechjo16 @kpit1978 @dragonslayer913
@kclj520
So many others as well, keep it up guys!
I started collecting as a grade school kid and was mainly just baseball. It was a way for a kid with no friends to feel involved in something. We didn’t have the money to buy cards, but the LCS owner took pity on me and would let me hang out at the shop and do odd jobs for him, and in return at the end of the night, he would hand me a couple packs for payment. This experience did nothing but strengthen my yearn to collect.
Then TCG started to come around and gain popularity. Again, as an outcast, those games drew me in. I got into MTG at the start, it was amazing! A whole society was created around outcasts, and now I could have friends at least at the weekly tournaments. It was incredible!
I eventually moved away from where the LCS was and there was not another in walking distance from where I was, so the passion slowly died away. I got a friend to take me to a shop and I sold off all my MTG cards to them, and all the sports cards I had, which I’m sure he didn’t want, but I basically gave them to him to be free of it all. I kept my Black/Red deck just for fun, at least for a couple years.
Fast forward several years and I hadn’t thought of cards in a very long time. I was married, had kids and was looking for a way to bring something the kids and I could do together. The memories of cards came flooding back, and I decided to bring that joy to my kids. It worked for a little while, but then they lost interest and never really understood. I kept going with it. I built up a healthy collection filled with a lot of desirable cards and was well on my way to building my collection of high grade key baseball RCs, all PSA/SGC/BGS. I loved looking at the collection, and displayed them proudly! This was a nice collection, 2018 TCU Juan Soto Pink PSA 10, 2018 Gallery Private Stock Shohei Ohtani /125 BGS 10, 1955 Topps Harmon Killebrew PSA 5.5, 1993 SP Derek Jeter PSA 7, 1968 Topps Johnny Bench SGC 3.5, 2014 Topps Degrom PSA 10, 2014 Topps Update Mookie Betts PSA 10, 2017 Topps Aaron Judge dugout SP PSA 10, 2018 Topps Update Acuna Bat Down PSA 10, you get the point, I was going after the big guys, and getting lucky along the way with some good guesses.
Then, I decided to get rid of it all. We needed the room, and instead of just packing it all up, I got rid of it all.
Right before the COVID boom, so I lost probably 10-15k by selling before it all went down, but who knew?
COVID happens, and I get drawn back in. I start slowly this time and focus more low end, even though there really was no such thing during COVID. I still had fun, and tried my luck at some football and basketball too. I’ll admit, I got caught up in the COVID frenzy. Not that I was looking to profit off of buying everything off the shelves and selling it to others, but I bought a few here and there and would be excited to see anything on the shelves and would just buy it to open something! I opened everything I bought, unlike a lot of people during that time, so I ended up with a lot I did not care about.
So, I again I sold off almost everything and refocused, hoping to bring the joy back. I went to focus on collecting one team, and maybe building a couple of sets I like. That worked for a little while, but here I am again. After a 30+ year love affair with the hobby, it is time to hang it up.
To me, here’s why:
1) Box prices are not coming down, but singles prices have plummeted.
This just shows this is now a breakers hobby. They make a killing and the rest of us are stuck not being able to buy boxes anymore. There are those, who don’t do this and make it fun for everyone. @grapler135s keep doing what you do. You are an honest breaker with a love for the hobby who I would imagine loses money on most breaks after shipping. Thank you for all you do for this site and the hobby.
2) Production is crazy right now.
We are not at junk wax era levels, yet, but it is actually really really close to that. For that reason, I’m out.
3) They don’t bring me joy anymore.
I used to stare at my displayed cards and loved telling others why that card was so special, or if they didn’t know baseball, I explain to them why the player is good. Many people I know learned of Shohei this way, by asking why I like him so much.
4) Greed has taken over.
Again, like the 90s, greed has taken over. A monopoly is about to be in place in all sports collecting and I don’t like that. Maybe it will be great, but maybe not.
5) family
My kids are adults, and I want to spend all my green time with my wife. She has sacrificed and I want to spend every moment I can with her.
6) My job demands a lot of me.
I used to love coming home and seeing a few packages for me to open. I know haven’t opened a single package in over a month. I have a bunch sitting there, to the point that I do not even know what is in each of them. I have no desire to open them.
So, with all of that, I am walking away from the hobby.
I am going to spend the rest of 2024, when I have time, turning what I do still have into a handful of cards I consider important to the hobby and then throw them in the safe for the next 50 years.
I have taken the first steps, I gave away a few thousand cards already, and threw another few thousand random base cards into the recycling.
I think I am down to about 200 cards left, (maybe a little more), and then a near complete set of 2021 TCPA, and a partial set of 2022 TCPA.
Not sure what I am going to do from here, but the goal is to get this down to under ten. The hardest is going to be saying goodbye to the Mauer collection!
Thank you to those who have always been kind and helpful on this board!
@grapler135s
@AndyDrummond
@Mechjo16 @kpit1978 @dragonslayer913
@kclj520
So many others as well, keep it up guys!
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