FBG: Joura: A Critical Look at Why People Stop Collecting Baseball Cards

It wouldn’t be that I once pulled 6 straight Tom Paciorek “I’ma little teapot cards”, would it?

Chances are you know someone in your life that collected baseball cards. And just as likely they no longer consider it a hobby. And like a jilted lover, they blame the hobby for their lack of current participation. That’s sad, but the truly tragic part is there’s no reason for them to continue to hold a grudge.

Here are some of the most frequent reasons given by ex-baseball card collectors as to why they no longer participate in the hobby.

Graded cards - Don’t like graded cards? Then don’t collect them! I estimate my collection at around 45,000 cards, of which about 25 are graded. I’m not morally opposed to them but they just don’t interest me so I don’t collect them. I’ve got a PSA 10 Fleer Flair Alex Rodriguez rookie card which is not nearly as memorable to me as my 1966 Johnny Stephenson card with a brown stain from a punk burn which makes it look like he crapped his pants.

Instantly available statistics make cards obsolete - I loved the stats on the back of the cards and I used to have them memorized. My short-term memory may not be much, but I’ll be able to tell you that Cleon Jones batted .340 in 1969 until the day I die. That’s because I memorized that from his 1970 baseball card. I’m a stat guy, so I really don’t understand this line of thinking. The more places we can have access to baseball stats, the better off the world will be.