Are Baseball Cards A Dying Breed?

Here we sit, less than 14 days left until the Minnesota Twins kick off Spring Training down in Fort Myers, Florida. Of course there are plenty of storylines to analyze until the start of the season, but really there’s nothing like getting the game back in play. However, being that I found myself going crazy without the sport today, I set out to find a different fix. Baseball cards.

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I haven’t had a baseball card collection since I was in my early teens. After going through thousands of packs and putting them into a binder by team, I had created a pretty comprehensive collection. Then, one day it all seemed to end. I wondered why I cared, was I hoping some sort of monetary value would come out of this collection? I surely didn’t find myself perusing the players or cardboard works of art all that often. Eventually, that led to my entire collection meeting its doom at a garage sale.

So why now? And who else still finds value?

While on vacation, I sought out a pack of the new 2015 Topps Series One cards. Knowing that the Twins have a handful of fresh new faces, it seemed fulfilling to check out some of their new baseball cards. My search led me to a collector’s store. Instead of being focused solely around sports or even baseball, I found myself inside of a toy collectors store. The walls were flanked with everything from retro games to LiteBrite’s. Then, behind the register, a couple dozen or so boxes of baseball cards made their home.

Spending just under $20 for 57 cards, I found myself content with my purchase. I hopped back in the card, and headed back to my hotel room. Upon sitting down and opening the packs, I wondered what sort of nostalgia would come rushing back. Would tearing each pack open fulfill the gap in the offseason that baseball had left me? Would I have a strong desire to purchase more? What would come of this little adventure.

So then it began. I carefully opened each pack, and perused through the cards. For the most part, their appearance was the same. Some had a foil background, and a few had different milestone or legend players being honored. At the end however, I couldn’t help but feel like “what’s next.” I gathered my cards in a pile, tweeted a picture of the Twins players, and moved on.

I don’t think I’ll be compiling a new binder any time soon, and I’m not sure if the fulfillment was enough to warrant a second purchase. I briefly considered putting the cards on eBay as to get some return of my original investment back, but then assumed the feeling for my cards would be the same that I had just experienced on my own. Really, it brought the thought of where exactly do baseball cards stand today.

Now I ask you, do baseball cards really have a place in today’s market? What is the point of collecting a handful of players artistically displayed? Are they designed and geared more towards children? Would you really shell out a handful of cash for that one player, or even the relatively steep amount for the pack with unknown contents inside? Where do baseball cards stand for you, and why? Let us know!

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