General Forum

I had a weekend where I started contemplating my card trading future. I'm almost 55 years old and have amassed a ton of cards. I'm rethinking whether I want to continue to buy any new product. I might just focus on organizing and completing some of my partial sets. Maybe this phase will pass? The real driving force I believe is asking myself what happens if when I retire I want to down size and simplify my life. What am I going to do with all these cards?

Any other active members here who are still active in the hobby and on the message boards but no longer adding cards to their collection?

I'm at 73 and still wanting to add more cards to my PC.   I started focusing on my real love in collecting around the age of 60.   My Nebraska Cornhusker football players.  I down sized real good at that time.  Then my brother ask me to get rid of my nephew's collection.   Close to 200,000 cards 

 The main part of my nephew's collection may go into a moving sale my brother is having in the next month or two then I will have only one room of cards.  Wish someone close would buy them vs doing a sale like that.

I have several names that my wife can contact about my PC.   Just hope she does not call them this week.

Seems like you're too young to start thinking that way. Me personally I'm looking forward to retiring so I can spend more time on my collecting.
 

However I do ponder my mortality from time to time and wonder what will happen to my collection upon my passing. No one in the family shows any interest in the cards so it will likely just get thrown out or given away.  It's not a particularly valuable collection but my collecting seems like a pointless pursuit when looking at it that way.  But as I always tell my wife, I could certainly have much worse vices to be spending my time on. 

I go through this at least once a year.  In fact, I was looking at boxes of cards in my living room this morning before work, and wanting to just make them disappear for a while.  I won't get rid of anything, but they will probably go in the closets for a month, or several.  Warm weather is coming and I need to be outside.

I am 81 years old (82 next month) and have cut back on my collecting to just certain players now.  I quit collecting sets in 2003 and at that time I donated 90 percent of my collection to a much younger friend who also collected  baseball cards.  After that I quit buying boxes of cards except for an occasional blaster box.  Starting last year, that also came to a halt with the increase in box prices.  My wife will occasionally gift me cards as a birthday or Christmas gift, but she really has no idea what to buy so there are some nice surprises that arise from that.  What happens to my inventory after I'm not able to collect any more?  I'm sure my wife will handle that very well.  For now, 99% of all my additions to my player collections come through trading here and another trading site.  As long as collecting baseball cards and trading is still fun, I don't see me giving up collecting any time soon. When I was 55, I had no idea that I would ever downsize my collecting as it is today. .

Do you enjoy it?
Do you have the money for it?
Do you have the space for it?

If you answered yes to those three questions then why stop.  Enjoy yourself.

As someone who is close to that same age bracket, I truly empathize.  I’m already trying to downsize a bit.

I had to turn off trading last year due to a couple of significant life events.  Getting trades together when I wasn’t up for it physically really did take the joy out of it.  

I still enjoy opening the occasional pack (and I have some squirreled away for that purpose), and I enjoy going to shows and making online purchases with my oldest, but sometimes you need a break–even if it’s just for a short period of time to recharge the batteries.  Concentrating solely on specific players, teams, or whatever you may collect has been, for me, one way to do so.

Maybe I will get the fever when I can find some football cards in the store? I bought some baseball this year but I really don't watch games any more and am pretty out of touch with it. I can't even watch the local teams any more unless I want to also get pulled into DirectTV and I refuse to do that. I bought a fair amount of 2021 Topps Update but there are a lot of players I don't even know anymore.

I currently have space and can afford cards but I probably have half a million cards and at some point when I am ready to do other things they may have to go. I think I will find more enjoyment out of trading to complete sets from the 80s or maybe even buying that 1987 Fleer Roger Clemens if I need to do so. It is probably more bang for my buck.

I have also given thought to buying unopened current stuff and holding it as unopened in case some years down the road I get the itch to get back into baseball cards. I think even if I don't those unopened boxes might be easy to sell.

I admire those who still have the fire and still follow the game. I think losing touch has taken a lot of the luster away for me.

I would point out that almost nobody knows half the guys in Topps Update every year.  You're not alone there.

You're not alone. In fact I'm 47 and just recently lost the desire to get new product. Many factors involved in the decision. First, I'm fed up with where we live. I also have limited space so it I even desire to buy new product, where will I put it? That factors into the first reason, when we move I don't want to move half a million cards. Another reason is cost. I'm slowly trying to downsize and put money aside for our future. Now I work on a set, once I complete it I'll sell it. I'm hoping I'll feel satisfied with putting a set together, helping a collector, and putting money aside for my family. I still like my pc so I'll collect them. But like others, what happens when I pass? I don't want my hobby to be a burden for my daughter or wife. I still have a desire or flame with cards, it's just redirected I guess.