After Baseball Cards

I will freely admit that I have no idea what this title means. But I do know that collectors sometimes do stop collecting baseball cards. I don't know why. And I don't know what happens then. But I do imagine that stopping collecting cards does free up a lot of time and money, which could be used in other endeavors.

Hal Lewis and Julie Vognar are two individuals whose names immediately come to mind as representative of collectors with a passion, insight, eye and resources adequate to put together collections of significance, and then opted to stop. Some of us here have stopped, then picked it up again. But I wonder - did they really ever stop?

People stop drinking, as their glass is refilled. Sometimes they even leave the bar.
For days. Or longeer.
But do you ever get so far away that you do not think about cards?
And for how long is that?

I walked away from the hobby in 1991 and never looked back. Didn't miss it a bit. Being a magpie, I just started collecting other things. From 1991-2002, I built the best collection of The Banana Splits Show memorabilia, amassed a huge collection of action figures (over 2000 at one point, almost half being Star Wars), and built a nice board game collection that were based on TV shows and also owned mint copies of the first and second edition of Monopoly and Alfred Hitchock Presents Clue and nice collection of Indian Chiefs cards from 1888-1920s.

Lee is to blame for dragging me back into the hobby. He started asking me questions about t202s and t206s and I got sucked back in. I sold off the above collections to get started back into baseball cards.

Jay

I like jay left the hobby in the 90's and got heavily into Vintage Toys. I collected toys for about 10yrs amasing a nice collection of circa 50's and older toys. I morphed from Baseball hartlands into Western hartlands and thats how the toy collecting got started. I was selling 1980's toys on ebay to make a living while collecting the older stuff. I had a very nice collection of vintage Robots,That I have sold off to pay bills and to fund my Card purchases. Here's whats left of my Toy collection.
http://imageevent.com/ruckers/vintagetoys

I got back into Vintage BB cards a couple years ago when I woke up and found out that my T3 Hofers were worth about 5 times what I paid for them and I got hooked again. It's a great Hobby and I missed the History of the game that goes along with the cards.

Now, I'm back to the point of an Obsession

Some of the toys I used to have. Some I still have like the KISS figures, Boba Fett and few others.


Custom made action figure of a Star Wars role playing character Bubba Bo Bob Fett, redneck cousin of Boba Fett. My friend, the Reverand Rot N Hell (yes, that is his real name and he is an ordained minster) is the one that made it for me.


One shot prototypes. The regular sale items didn't have as nice a paint job.


These are all pictures from my toy room in CA

Star Wars wall











Jay

I got out of the hobby in the early 90's mainly because I only collected modern stuff and I got turned off by all the new brands and sets that were coming out. I didn't like the chase cards, inserts, and all that stuff. My friend's dad owned a comic book shop and he used to do shows around our neck of the woods so a few friends and I used to help him out at shows and at the store. Anyway, I got into comics at that point and all my cards got stored away in boxes.

I got back into cards about 8 years ago when I got a Kit Young catalog and picked up my first t206 and some other 50's stuff. I was hooked when they came in the mail. I've been back since then. I didn't think much about baseball cards in the years in between. I wish I had though, I could have gotten some great caramel cards for pretty cheap back then. Oh well.

AndyH

P.S. Jay - does that Wheaties box with the baby on the front have any significance?

Yeah, that's a picture of my son and that is a real Wheaties box that was made with his picture on it. It's a 1 of 1

Jay

That's awesome Jay.

Jay, Nice bunch of Toys.
Is that a minature Cantina Diorama, or something else.
My favorite Vintage Star Wars figure was the large Rancor Monster. I sold quite a few Mint in the Box. The Large IG88 complete with all grenades was cool too.

On your He-Man, I see Prince Adam riding Panthor, Thats Skeletor's Ride.

i've invested (maybe wrong choice of word) a big portion of my adult life into the pre-war hobby, and if you count post-war and hockey stuff about 90% of my time here in the states...and i don't think i will ever drop it completely. admittedly for the past couple years things have been a little hectic and i've spent less and less time with the cards but my love for it remain 100%.

in the chicken/egg sense i don't know if my strong love for baseball fuels my passion for cards or vice-versa but as long as I enjoy the game...and unlike some other pre-war collectors I love the modern game alot, my love for the hobby will also be there. If alterations/card doctoring becomes too advanced for sgc/psa or I'm dead broke I will collect 1976 Topps in VG condition and feel the same satisfaction.

So to cliffnote: there's nothing after baseball cards.

oh yea,

jay, ur a freak! i've met your tall son(s)? and i hope they don't grow up to be as crazy as you

Jerry, I'm trying to find the pictures of the wrestling ring diarama that I would change up on occasion. Lots of fun stuff with that generally invovling Capt Kirk getting his ass kicked.

That is a cantina diarama. You could send away for it. I also had a compelete band. Not sure if that's in the picture. I sued to have several hundred stormtroopers and had the scene set up when Emporer Palpatine arrived on the Death Star.

Quan, my son is now almost 6'6 and walks to a different drummer, just like dad. He graduates this year and is going to spend a year in Europe before going to college.

Jay

I was in a lull from about 92-00. I was either broke or spend money on Magic TGC and Star Wars card games and then started buying Star Wars figurines. In Oct. of 2000 I found my way back into vintage cards and the rest is history. I did sell almost all of my Magic cards but still have all the Star Wars stuff. It seems like a person always finds something to blow there money on.

We need a Star Wars smiley.

Lee

I quit collecting in 2001. I would catch myself peaking at Pre-War auction prices after a few weeks of non-collecting. Most of this time I spent collecting rare coins. Then, in Fall/Winter 2003, I sold my coins and came back to Pre-War collecting again. This time, I don't see myself quiting for good ever again. There may come a time I will slow down or narrow my collecting, but there are certain cards I own now I don't see me letting go for any amount of money.

Interesting thread.

I've started... slowed... stopped collecting several times over the years. But when you really have an interest in something, you always come back to it. I find that each time I come back, I find something new that I really enjoy.

I just make sure my collection is always safely stored so when I do get the itch to start again, everything is just how I left it. Always exciting to go to the safe deposit box and find a few things I had forgotten I owned.