For the Kids

Someone asked me via Instagram just the other day whether or not I thought it as a good idea to get their 10 -year old grandson into the hobby. 

“He’s a huge hockey fan, and loves baseball, too,” he added. “And I was a collector for a long while until about 20 years ago when I put the brakes on.”

My knee-jerk reaction was to enthusiastically encourage him to get this kid into the hobby lickety-split — the more kids we can get excited about the hobby, the better, right?

Then it occurred to me to me — this is not the same hobby it was when I was 10-years old.

There aren’t any more convince stores selling packs for a buck, and decent local hobby shops are much harder to come by these days. 

Now business is transacted online, mostly, in the most impersonal manner imaginable — look at a screen, click to bid or buy, receive the card in the mail, end of the deal. That’s it. 

There’s very little, if any, interaction, discussion, passionate conversation in today’s hobby.

And then there is the financial component. 

Hobby boxes are, in many cases, hundreds of dollars, depending on the sport and contents, and very rarely is there any real return on that investment.

Single cards can fluctuate in value by the minute in same cases, and then FOMO factor is really what drives the hobby nowadays anyhow. 

Couple this with the fact there are literally dozens and dozens of product forced down the throats of collectors creating a seemingly endless stream of new releases, most loaded with pointless and virtually worthless inserts and numbered cards. 

Back in the day you bought a pack of Topps or you bought a pack of Fleer — end of story.

It is far from that simple today.

It’s difficult to enter the hobby now, to be quite honest, especially for kids. 

Between YouTubers, Tick-Tokers, Instagram stars and just all the influence and information at the tip of their fingers, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and, frankly, stuck in today’s hobby. 

Having said all that, it is still hard for me, looking back on how much this hobby has given to me, to recommend anyone turn away from it.