General Forum

Speaking as another high schooler, (in a homeschooled program so it may contribute,) I have fortunately discovered the opposite. There are multiple kids who are into all sports and avidly watch and collect sports cards, mainly all baseball and then football of their team of choice. They weren't exactly subject to being, "lured," by Pokémon and whatnot. Most of them live by todays philosophy and get the stars of cards and value them over their selected team, where as I focus on anything Twins. I started when I was about 6 or so when my father had a small box of 1980s wax from his days when he made wallpaper with them. I also have a intense enjoyment of baseball because of my grandfather, as he played in the Yankees AA team for a couple years, and that stemmed from being a kid in the height of the Yankees dominance, and I'd say that's where he, my father, and I all get it from. There is just so much more they could interact with that brings teens more joy, and they value 10 piece nuggets over a pile of cards.

When I was growing up in Vermont in the 1980's, I had 2 tv channels. The Red Sox were on tv on Friday evenings and the rest of the time I had to listen to the games on the radio. I had movies and video games, but they weren't something I had constant access to like with cell phones today. Between watching Joe Carter walk off the 1993 world series and a parent/grandparent giving me some packs of cards, I fell in love with collecting baseball cards. I didn't have the internet or tv sports packages where I could focus all on one sport all year round, or a cell phone to keep me engaged at all hours of the day. If I grew up in today's world where you can watch so many things on so many devices, I can't say if I would have had the time to fully fall in love with baseball like I did when I was a kid. Most kids are so bombarded with tiktok, twitch streams and other social media that a lot of them don't even watch regular tv. I think all the electronic devices have disconnected/discouraged kids from collecting almost anything physical, let alone sports cards. It doesn't help that when they see people on social media actually talking about cards, it's usually about the big money pulls they are chasing. I feel like it has to be so much harder for them to just fall in love with the spirit of collecting like it used to be when I was a kid.

Some more good points above! As a kid, if a friend was into cards you could grab a couple packs and start trading being on a level playing field. As mentioned, kids today see videos of some breaker pulling monster hits and decide to give this card thing a try. They buy a few packs, get jack squat, and feel like they’ve just thrown their money away since it’s even harder to find anyone actually building a set or looking for base cards. They can’t trade that disappointing blaster, they likely just have disappointment for their money. 

You make a great point, but as a person under 40, I can confirm that I get a rarity score under 100 in Immaculate Grid on the regular. 
I know a lot of people who like baseball, but not necessarily the hobby.

Remember that next time you see a park with an unused baseball diamond.  The numbers may be flat but I'll bet the percentage is down. 

I'm not saying playing a sport equals wanting to collect but rather out of all the collectors,  most played the game as a kid. 

I collect because I love the game. If I didn't understand the game,  I couldn't love it. I wouldn't really understand it if I had never played it.

OCD and a desire for profit drives a lot of collecting today. You couldn't put a price on a card or an autograph from a guy on MY team when I was growing up that would make me part with it. Same goes now for my favorites. 

Glad to hear you know a number of collectors. As I'm also homeschooled, I'm not sure that's the difference lol. I guess it's the luck of the draw. 

Cool that your grandfather played in the Yankees system - I'm a Yankees fan, though not a particularly passionate one.