Was Pokemon responsible for the death of sports cards collecting?

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I don't get it...who remembers back in the day, checking Beckett to see how much your baseball/football/hockey/basketball cards were worth? I threw Pokemon out there, because I really don't know what contributed to the death of sports card collecting.

I mean, gone are the days of going to 7-11, buying a pack of Upper Deck or Topps cards (with stale gum) and finding gold. And gold could be a desired rookie or error.

I think, in my parents' house, I have a few cards left over that are protected in those hard plastic sleeves. It's too bad, because that Frank Thomas rookie probably isn't worth **** :lol:
 
i want to say ebay and fakes killed the hobby

the last rookie card i chased was vince carter's. i was in the card shop every week trying to get that tops chrome rookie :evil:
 
No, the internet killed card collecting.

/thread

I dunno, bro...kids seem to be big into pokemon cards.

i want to say ebay and fakes killed the hobby

the last rookie card i chased was vince carter's. i was in the card shop every week trying to get that tops chrome rookie :evil:

That's another thing...I can specifically remember going into the mall, into memorabilia stores, and they'd have HUGE displays of cards for sale.
 
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Theres an element of play with pokeyman and magic the gatherings.

All dem cards cats looked up in beckett magazines....dudes realized they was just pieces of cardboard.

I will say tho...i still have a book full of only jordan cards at my moms crib.
 
No. The economy and greed killed the business.

1.) when the economy falls flat, people simply don't collect things like they used to. Sneakers didn't really take a huge hit, but everything else did. Cards, hess trucks, trains etc. They're not worth a 1/4 of what they were once worth.
ex.) I had Peyton Manning's rookie SLU. At one time it was way past $100, I could barely get rid of it a year or so back for $25
I had a rare Dan Marino Fleer Metal card. Out of the box it was worth $100, prob worth $20 or so now.

2.) Company greed. When I was a collector an "insert" was a very rare card and you searched pack after pack for them. Rookies the same. There were one, maybe two rookie cards for every player. After awhile every single maker had their own rookie card and every pack came with a special insert. They also mass produced EVERYTHING. Things aren't worth squat when every collector can have one.


The internet was great for real collectors. It gave you a chance to acquire things you never could have without traveling to show after show. I used to go to shows ALL the time.
 
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I've always wondered the same. After Pokémon and Magic The Gathering, I just didn't really see much collecting afterwards. Maybe it had something to do with the internet as you can just save anything you want on a USB drive, idk. I still have cases of old sports and Marvel cards
 
No, the industry itself killed itself.

1987 baseball had Topps, Fleer, and Donruss.

5 years later, there was Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Upper Deck, Score, Topps Finest, Stadium Club (owned by Topps)

10 years later, there were probably 120+ brands, one sport. ONE. SPORT. What if you collected Basketball and Football too? :smh:


Late 80's, you could buy packs with 16 cards, for 40 cents a pack. 10 years later you could buy a pack, with 1 card, for 10 bucks.


Card companies killed themselves. Over saturated.
 
I have SO many prized baseball rookie cards that probably hold no value anymore. Not even sure if they'll be something cool to pass down to our children because they aren't even relevant nowadays :frown: .

My Pokemon cards are somewhere in storage.
 
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Man i remember vividly looking in Beckett and seeing what I could get for select cards.

Got a binder full of heat at my moms house somewhere.
 
I remember upper deck had a series called spx or sumthin like that.

CRAZY luxurious like 1 card in a pack loool.

Also fleer had these marvel cards that were really thick and came in actual little boxes joints was 4 dollars i think.

Going to flea markets...trading wit ya friends....guessing which pack had that "one" ....all those plastic sleeves and plastic holders lol.

Sadly its a dead hobby kids will never experience
 
the pokemon element doesnt really make since to me... maybe yall can shed light but im 29 i prolly stopped collecting sports cards seriously by like 1999 if not in middle school.

when was pokemon take over?
 
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Timeout.

What was the MLB card game where each player had point value?? Believe Topps manufactured it. I wanna say it was The Show but I think that's wrong.
 
cards were getting too expensive, and there were too much stuff that even the rare cards weren't that special. a player used to have one or two rookie cards, but then it changed to where a player had like 45 rookie cards, so even the rare 1/3 signed jersey cards aren't that special. I also think the grading companies killed it. having a rare card isn't that special due to the high amount of other rares, and then you have to get that rare card to be a PSA 10 or whatever makes it a pain in the behind.
 
I remember upper deck had a series called spx or sumthin like that.

CRAZY luxurious like 1 card in a pack loool.

Also fleer had these marvel cards that were really thick and came in actual little boxes joints was 4 dollars i think.

Going to flea markets...trading wit ya friends....guessing which pack had that "one" ....all those plastic sleeves and plastic holders lol.

Sadly its a dead hobby kids will never experience

SPx was a brand too, yes, but Upper Deck SP Authentic was THEE brand. That's where you get $1,000 LeBron Rookies, or the Michael Vick rookie, etc.


You could get a Topps Vick rookie for 7 bucks. You could get an SP rookie Vick for about $700, and that's because he dropped like a stone after the dog fighting. At his peak, his cards were in the thousands.

SP is super rare, and highest of high quality.
 
the pokemon element doesnt really make since to me... maybe yall can shed light but im 29 i prolly stopped collecting sports cards seriously by like 1999 if not in middle school.

when was pokemon take over?

I'm 28 and Pokémon and Magic The Gathering were on fire in middle school :lol:, 98-00. I had stopped collecting Marvel/DC cards before then just cause it seemed like they weren't being made. Same with sports cards. I wasn't into Pokémon and Magic, but one of my friends was always stealing them and selling them cheap :lol:
 
This was so fun way back when. Its sad to think kids these days will not know what this hobby is. 
 
Remember I was hyped (forgot the card brand) when I got a Brien Taylor rookie back in the day. Same w/ Todd Van Poppel. :lol: :rofl:
 
No, the industry itself killed itself.

1987 baseball had Topps, Fleer, and Donruss.

5 years later, there was Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Upper Deck, Score, Topps Finest, Stadium Club (owned by Topps)

10 years later, there were probably 120+ brands, one sport. ONE. SPORT. What if you collected Basketball and Football too?
mean.gif



Late 80's, you could buy packs with 16 cards, for 40 cents a pack. 10 years later you could buy a pack, with 1 card, for 10 bucks.


Card companies killed themselves. Over saturated.
Correct; I am surprised this wasn't common knowledge by now.
 
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