Lately on Twitter I feel I have turned into the old man with a hose trying to hose the kids off my lawn when it comes to talking about the hobby.
The hobby is no longer what it once was as it has transformed from a hobby to business. We all can see it. Fanatics is leading the charge.
There have been some comments on Twitter that seem silly to me recently, so I drag out my hose and spray those comments off my lawn. I have taken to defend my stance that I will never change with the new hobby evolution of being on the business side.
NEVER.
I plan to keep collecting and enjoying the hobby like I always have since the good ole days. Which speaking of which, someone made a comment about guys like me that I didn't take lightly and I quote "I get the sentiment about seeing a few dealers at The National who are just old guys w/ stacks of junk cards. I've seen them. There's a few there, but not a ton. But it's wise to remember that many of those old guys were in the hobby ages before the hobby blew up to what it is now." Okay, here's the kicker part that got me....."Whether we like it or not, they were the ones who kept the hobby going when there was no excitement, no crazy chases, no 1/1's. We stand on their shoulders. They more than deserve a seat at the hobby table" (@joshjreynolds).
NO excitement? No crazy chases? No 1/1's? First off, if we weren't having excitement in those days, why did we keep on collecting. It was very exciting and fun. Something that today's hobby, well business lacks. No crazy chases? There were plenty of crazy chases. Remember trying to pull a Ken Griffey Jr rookie out of 1989 Upper Deck? I do and never did. No 1/1s? Well, we didn't need those. Every card we added to our collections were a 1/1 to us and still is.
Why does everything about the hobby now have to do with money, big pulls and flips? Even Fanatics is making it obvious. At Fanatics Fest, they had celebrities going around buying cards you know they were paying to do so. There was even pyramid scheme level. Fanatics pays celebs to buy or pull cards. Celebs make the market go up by influencing it grabbing people to buy in because of it. Fanatics sits at the top even richer. Seems like a triangle/pyramid to me.
I will continue to step on my soap box and stand up for the hobby as a hobby. Can you imagine how fast everyone would leave if the bubble popped? But, guess who would be standing, you got it, us. The collectors. The ones who are a dying breed but still trying to hold on by threads.
Fortunately for us, we may not have the stacks of cash I see pictures of on Twitter being used on cardboard, but we have unity and we like to help each other out with RAK's (random acts of kindness) and trading. Yes, trading does exist still. It's not like it once was as it's getting harder and harder to find people to do it, but it's there.
Trading is a simple act of sending cards you don't need for yourself to someone who would appreciate it more and reciprocate it back to you. There is no pyramid scheme to that.
I recently sent the legend Night Owl Cards some cards I thought he would enjoy and then he did the same for me. Here they are,
What a concept to introduce to those who may not know this.
The change of the times is here and there is no going back to the hobby we once knew. But, for the small number of us still chugging at it like we used to, we still have each other to enjoy our part with.
I don't plan on changing my course. I don't plan to adapt with the times like others commented on Twitter. I am me. This is a hobby for me. This is something fun I do. Whether I own a card worth .10 or a card worth $500, every card is valued equally in my collection. I am not going to sell cards. I am not going to flip them. I am going to collect them. Hoard them. Enjoy them.
Thanks, Greg, for the awesome cards. That was a nice surprise in the mailbox and also a nice reminder of what the hobby is for me.
Hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday.
*Coffee Card Blogger Out*
