[ Outline ] · Standard · Linear+ VIDEO: CBS Story Declares Hobby “Dying”

If you're feeling pessimistic about the sports card industry, don't go to Parsippany, New Jersey on a Tuesday night.

You might need therapy.

CBS' Sunday Morning took a five-minute glimpse into things and concluded baseball cards were either dying or dead.

The report was part of the network's feature-oriented 90-minute news program.

The segment's producers didn't travel far from home base. Utilizing interviews and video gathered at a small, sparsely attended weeknight show at the Police Athletic League facility, interviews with New Jersey-based dealer Alan "Mr. Mint" Rosen, Mint Condition author Dave Jamieson and a small snippet from last weekend's Sun-Times show in Chicago, the story included a few dealer sound bites, some statistics that weren't sourced and video from well-attended shows in the 1980's that were likely found in the network's archives.

As expected after CBS sent out a promotional email, the piece focused on the modern era and the decline of sports card shops and fewer young collectors since the gluttonous days of the late 1980s and early 90s when even news cards became viewed as an investment for the first time.

Common sense told veterans that if cards weren't being discarded and played with as they were decades earlier, their long-term value might be on shaky ground but to those who bought into the idea, the new century has revealed the painful truth. It's spawned a flurry of mainstream media stories focusing on the hobby's "decline", many written by those who were kids during the overproduction era and have since learned that their Frank Thomas rookie cards aren't a ticket to easy street.

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Sports Collectors Daily
3/26/2012

I stopped collecting new cards in 1995, when the card companies started the chase card things. I very rarely go to card shows. I was amazed at a show near Boston about 3 years ago. I over heard a young kid 14-15 years old having a conversation with a dealer about pre-war cards. The kid knew his stuff. In 1990 when I started going to shows, kids would go out in the lobby and tear thru 10-12 packs of cards. Then just leave the cards because they didn't find any star cards. They would just leave them there and walk away. I'd go over and take em.

I stopped collecting new cards in 1995, when the card companies started the chase card things. I very rarely go to card shows. I was amazed at a show near Boston about 3 years ago. I over heard a young kid 14-15 years old having a conversation with a dealer about pre-war cards. The kid knew his stuff. In 1990 when I started going to shows, kids would go out in the lobby and tear thru 10-12 packs of cards. Then just leave the cards because they didn't find any star cards. They would just leave them there and walk away. I'd go over and take em. 

Honestly, if I was going to restart I would totally niche collect and then become an expert on the niche. Said niche would be oddball and/or pre-war because you know those things will always go up in value.

In 50 years, would I want to be holding on to a game-used patch of Ryan Miller of the the Sabres from a "high end" set that says it's # 5/5... Or a set of 25 Famous Dogs tobacco cards from 1914? I think, over 50 year time span, the doggies would win that race even though that Miller card might be worth more right now. I just don't see new cards holding value decades from now.

The numbering thing always gets me, by the way... How is a patch card that's numbered 5/5 any different than a patch card that's numbered 23/50? Look beyond the price paid for the pack/box - think of the content. A patch is a patch is a patch. Same goes with swatches or autos.