The first pack of baseball cards I ever bought was a pack of 1987 Topps.
It was a fun experience, searching for Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell and Matt Williams and any or everyone in a Giants uniform...it really didn't matter to me. I had no idea what I was doing and was in wonderment that something like this simply existed.
At the time..as a 7 year old...I was just looking to 'hit it big'. Kind of a fun time. to jump into the hobby because everything seemed to be worth 'something'. Beckett gave me all I needed to know about baseball - if someone was good, their card was worth more than a 'common'. If they weren't, they weren't. I didn't even have to watch baseball to collect cards and build an expensive collection.
And so that's what I did. I built up a collection full of crap I didn't really care about over the course of 3-4 years...it was fun...but mostly...I dunno...it was something to do. And then I sold it. My whole collection. For $300. To the rich kid down the street. I had probably brokeeven.
I was glad I got out when I did...because...even though I stopped paying attention...I knew that the market crashed. I worked in a card shop my senior year of high school - 1998 - and all of the cards we had clamored for were pretty much worthless...
It makes me think of sneakers right now. Are most people in it because they really like sneakers, or are they just in it because it's something to do? How long will it be before folks start 'cashing out' and walking away from their 'investment'? Is this market likely to undergo a correction or are we to continue seeing the kind of year-over-year growth we've been seeing for the past 15 years? What will the real 'sneaker norm' look like?