Collecting Baseball Cards – A Pastime or Religion?

Baseball is a very popular sport in the United States. It became popular during its inception even, in the latter part of the 19th century. With that in mind, the game has a lot of fans, happy to cheer for their teams, bet on them and in general, support them.

Some companies believe that marketing their sport should only be done in the traditional way so sports like horse racing where bettors use the famous Tote guarantee offer, for example, only use the traditional approach. Other companies have found that the best marketing strategy during the earliest years of baseball is to use popular teams and superstar athletes to market their product. The American Tobacco Company, for example, used collectible cards to market their own products. Some of those cards are cherished and have insanely high prices, to this day. That leads us to collecting baseball cards. Is this a viable pastime, or is it something which is a bit more, to an extent where it becomes almost like a religious experience?

Pastime Activities – A Normal Hobby

For someone who earns enough money and is a fan of baseball, they will most likely see or hear about baseball cards. Some will even get a few, people often purchase baseball fans some cards, most of the time, those which are not worth as much. These fans will maybe start collecting cards, but here and there, without committing much energy to the process of collecting. If a card makes it to the collection, it’s okay, but if a card doesn’t make it, it’s also okay. When it’s a normal hobby, with occasional purchases, it doesn’t stress the wallet, or the person.

Active Collectors – Actively Collecting Cards as a Hobby

These types of collectors will collect cards on a regular basis. They will dedicate their excess resources to finding cards and completing their set. Having a completed set is important to any collector, especially someone who dedicated their energy to finding every card which belongs to a set. Well, not just finding a card, but also checking whether it is an original and not a fake. All of these things cost money so these types of collectors are a bit more serious, but not to the point of becoming an obsession.

Taking it Too Far – Collecting is Not a Religion

Some people can take it too far. When collecting becomes like a religious experience, one where you donate all your money to get a blessing, then it becomes a problem. Running out of money just to get a single card is something that these types of collectors frequently find themselves in. These people are often prone to making bad financial decisions, obviously, but also when it comes to purchasing cards. They might run into a purchase and not even check whether a card is real. Emotional situations often make people do irrational things, such as purchasing a fake card or ending up without money due to an expensive purchase.

It All Depends on the Person

Whether a person will become a collector in their pastime, frequently or infrequently, or whether they will become an avid collector who only lives for their cards completely depends on that person. Going too far is bad, as with any thing in life, so going too far with collecting cards cannot be good for you.

Collecting cards doesn’t have to be a bad hobby, as it all depends on you. If you don’t think that you would go too far, then you should start looking forward to your new set.

.

Author: Brandon