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    Baseball cards

    I like baseball cards. Anyone know of any UK shops that sell them?

    #2
    Just in case others have an interest, I highly recommend the SABR Baseball Card Blog.

    I know the guys who run it, and may even contribute myself one day.

    I'd be surprised if there are retail outlets in the UK. Even in the US, the hobby has moved pretty much entirely to the internet.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
      I like baseball cards. Anyone know of any UK shops that sell them?
      You could try one of the larger Cigarette Card retailers (eg: London Cigarette Card Company). They do show up occasionally at auctions, usually stamps and/or other paper ephemera. You have to be patient but the prices are often very good as the UK market is small.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
        I like baseball cards. Anyone know of any UK shops that sell them?
        I've got millions of cards from 1988 - 1992 I can sell you.

        Sshhh Ursus.
        Last edited by Exiled off Main Street; 05-07-2017, 19:18.

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          #5
          When I visit America I usually buy them in Walmart/ Target etc.

          Can sometimes get them on eBay.

          I have a lot of cards from the late 80s/ early 90s as they tend to be the filler in joblots.

          Comment


            #6
            There goes the Exile's retirement plan . . .

            Comment


              #7
              Heh heh heh.

              Ursos, do you collect a team or just particular issues? I mainly collect Padres cards but have accumulated several from each team through buying packs, cheap joblots etc.

              Comment


                #8
                I still have my reasonably extensive childhood collection from the 60s and 70s, which is actually worth something (though not close to as much as it is worth to me sentimentally), as well as a few sets from the early aughts, when ursus minor had brief interest.

                I have a long term goal of collecting every primary Topps Cubs card from my lifetime, but am not really taking any active measures to do so at this time.

                Having grown up during the period of the Topps monopoly, I can't help from thinking that all other sets (and their "variant" sets) are ersatz.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                  I still have my reasonably extensive childhood collection from the 60s and 70s, which is actually worth something (though not close to as much as it is worth to me sentimentally), as well as a few sets from the early aughts, when ursus minor had brief interest.

                  I have a long term goal of collecting every primary Topps Cubs card from my lifetime, but am not really taking any active measures to do so at this time.

                  Having grown up during the period of the Topps monopoly, I can't help from thinking that all other sets (and their "variant" sets) are ersatz.
                  I collected for a while as a kid, and then got into football cards for a while. There was a good shop near my grandparents in Cincinnati, so they had a lot of Reds and Bengals. But that store disappeared and my interest faded as I got more into comics. I think those collections, if we found them, went to my nephew, who collects baseball cards and other sports memorabilia. That's fine.

                  I got into hockey cards for a while, but they started to take up too much space and the paucity of brick and mortar stores, as Ursus mentioned, makes it less fun. Just trolling the internet for stuff isn't that interesting, though I have bought some hockey pucks, etc, on ebay.

                  As I said, my nephew is into baseball stuff so my brother and he try to find any real card stores they can whenever on a trip. They found an excellent one in SoCal - Santa Monica, I think - where my nephew got some reasonably priced Brooklyn Dodgers. They also found one in Maine, I think, on their current trip there. They are hard to find, but there are still some left.

                  I'm encouraging him to go to the big national sports collectors show. It's going to be in Rosemont, Ill, near O'hare, for the next three years. I've heard that its fun to go to just look at the stuff, whether or not one buys much. There's also usually a lot of famous old timers there signing autographs, but the lines for that are always long.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    No one does auctions? Absolutely the most entertaining way to buy any collectable. There must be loads of card auction houses in the US.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I do auctions, but believe that they require a strong sense of just what one is looking for, whereas brick and mortar establishments are better for browsing/"education"

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                        I collected for a while as a kid, and then got into football cards for a while. There was a good shop near my grandparents in Cincinnati, so they had a lot of Reds and Bengals. But that store disappeared and my interest faded as I got more into comics. I think those collections, if we found them, went to my nephew, who collects baseball cards and other sports memorabilia. That's fine.

                        I got into hockey cards for a while, but they started to take up too much space and the paucity of brick and mortar stores, as Ursus mentioned, makes it less fun. Just trolling the internet for stuff isn't that interesting, though I have bought some hockey pucks, etc, on ebay.

                        As I said, my nephew is into baseball stuff so my brother and he try to find any real card stores they can whenever on a trip. They found an excellent one in SoCal - Santa Monica, I think - where my nephew got some reasonably priced Brooklyn Dodgers. They also found one in Maine, I think, on their current trip there. They are hard to find, but there are still some left.

                        I'm encouraging him to go to the big national sports collectors show. It's going to be in Rosemont, Ill, near O'hare, for the next three years. I've heard that its fun to go to just look at the stuff, whether or not one buys much. There's also usually a lot of famous old timers there signing autographs, but the lines for that are always long.
                        Reed, I think that one in Santa Monica has closed. There are still a few other shops in LA, though.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I started collecting baseball cards in 1985 when I attended a Columbus Clippers game, I got a card with my cracker jacks. Went looking for more during the game... In 1985 & 86 I just bought packets from drug stores on my Greyhound Trips around the country - not ever stumbling across card shops... Until, in 1987 I came across a card shop in Marshfield, Massachusetts and took the plunge on a complete Topps hand collated set. The joy was immense.

                          When I moved to the States in 1988 I went full bore. My attic now creaks with the weight of boxes of cards and 100's of albums & plastic pages stuffed with zillions of cards. And basically, as Ursus pointed out - all are pretty much worthless, bar the Griffeys and odd rookie cards. I stopped collecting in 1992. I only collected Baseball (and some Hockey when Upper Deck entered the market) Those 4-5 years were enough.

                          I also collected english football cards from when I was a kid in 1964 onward - and some of my AB&C English sets are worth a few bob - but not enough for me to retire to Hawaii. I recently unloaded about 80% of my football cards to a dealer in Cincinnati. My baseball cards on the other hand will likely stay in the attic until I have time to weed out anything worth more than $5 and the rest, I would love to use to completely cover the basement walls from ground to ceiling. I think I have enough cards, but the missus says no.

                          I recently spent a few hours scanning 4 complete years of Baseball Cards Magazine - before adding them to the recycle bin. The collecting potential stories from that period, of future Hall of Famers like Jerome Walton, Kirk Dressendorfer, Tyler Houston and many more besides make for a fun read. I plan on putting them up on a blog soon.

                          My local town has a baseball card show every Sunday (except Xmas and Thanksgiving weekends). Longest running show in MA. having run continuously since 1985. I visit once in a while, in fact I was there two weeks ago - $2 entry fee ! - seeing if any of the non card tables were interested in old magazines etc. Couldn't find any takers for my 10 years complete (bound) collection of Baseball America magazine/newspapers. The market is now solely on pre 1984 cards and all the new autographed and artifact cards - of which there are millions of variations. But even older cards are declining in price - as one dealer was willing to sell his Rickey Henderson rookie to the bloke next to me at the table for 50% less than the price he had stuck on the plastic case. And he still didn't make the sale. The attendees at the show were all aged over 40. Not even any grandkids in tow.
                          Last edited by Exiled off Main Street; 06-07-2017, 16:25.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
                            Reed, I think that one in Santa Monica has closed. There are still a few other shops in LA, though.
                            They were just there last year. Maybe that's not where it was.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Exiled off Main Street View Post
                              I started collecting baseball cards in 1985 when I attended a Columbus Clippers game, I got a card with my cracker jacks. Went looking for more during the game... In 1985 & 86 I just bought packets from drug stores on my Greyhound Trips around the country - not ever stumbling across card shops... Until, in 1987 I came across a card shop in Marshfield, Massachusetts and took the plunge on a complete Topps hand collated set. The joy was immense.

                              When I moved to the States in 1988 I went full bore. My attic now creaks with the weight of boxes of cards and 100's of albums & plastic pages stuffed with zillions of cards. And basically, as Ursus pointed out - all are pretty much worthless, bar the Griffeys and odd rookie cards. I stopped collecting in 1992. I only collected Baseball (and some Hockey when Upper Deck entered the market) Those 4-5 years were enough.

                              I also collected english football cards from when I was a kid in 1964 onward - and some of my AB&C English sets are worth a few bob - but not enough for me to retire to Hawaii. I recently unloaded about 80% of my football cards to a dealer in Cincinnati. My baseball cards on the other hand will likely stay in the attic until I have time to weed out anything worth more than $5 and the rest, I would love to use to completely cover the basement walls from ground to ceiling. I think I have enough cards, but the missus says no.

                              I recently spent a few hours scanning 4 complete years of Baseball Cards Magazine - before adding them to the recycle bin. The collecting potential stories from that period, of future Hall of Famers like Jerome Walton, Kirk Dressendorfer, Tyler Houston and many more besides make for a fun read. I plan on putting them up on a blog soon.

                              My local town has a baseball card show every Sunday (except Xmas and Thanksgiving weekends). Longest running show in MA. having run continuously since 1985. I visit once in a while, in fact I was there two weeks ago - $2 entry fee ! - seeing if any of the non card tables were interested in old magazines etc. Couldn't find any takers for my 10 years complete (bound) collection of Baseball America magazine/newspapers. The market is now solely on pre 1984 cards and all the new autographed and artifact cards - of which there are millions of variations. But even older cards are declining in price - as one dealer was willing to sell his Rickey Henderson rookie to the bloke next to me at the table for 50% less than the price he had stuck on the plastic case. And he still didn't make the sale. The attendees at the show were all aged over 40. Not even any grandkids in tow.
                              Same with comics. I ended up just giving almost all of of mine to the AAUW sale. I missed the peak of the bubble in the 90s when some of mine, even a few from the 80s, would have been worth absurd prices. The few that are valuable to me for their content I have in trade paperback editions. That's fine. They should be valued or not based on their artistic/literary value. In the late 80s there was a lot of nonsense designed just to scam the collectors market - variant-covers, etc. But then the bubble burst. Truly rare ones from the pre-1970s still hold value, of course.


                              My nephew is one of the only young people I've heard of into collecting baseball stuff, but I think he's gravitating more toward signed baseballs. I suspect younger people in general just don't revel in anything printed on paper, whereas we remember when a color photo of a professional athlete, any professional athlete, was hard to come by and baseball cards were one of the few sources we had of stats and biographical info.

                              I don't know anything about signed balls. I've noticed on ebay that there seems to be great variation in the asking price for the same player, so I'm wary to make any bids.

                              I got a load of Reds pennants - mostly from the 70s. Not too expensive especially if one is willing to accept ones that are a little ratty, as I am. Old Penn State pennants are more expensive so I haven't invested in those, but there are some good ones with unique cartoon lions on them. Prior to 1986, PSU didn't have a standard lion logo that it actually owned, so there was a lot of variation.

                              I try to find Penn State hockey pucks. I have about 20 and a few signed, but just one game-used one. Most of them are fairly new and bought at various retail stores, but I'm always interested in ones with designs I don't have. I just lost out on one from the early 90s I wanted because the bid on eBay went above $10 and I was at Assateague and couldn't log-on. I should have set my max at $15. $20 is my absolute max and that's probably too high, but pucks from the 80s/ACHA era are fairly rare.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                I do auctions, but believe that they require a strong sense of just what one is looking for, whereas brick and mortar establishments are better for browsing/"education"
                                Interesting, I'd have thought the opposite. I'd go to a dealer looking for something(s) specific. While at an auction viewing I'm liable to see all kinds of things I've never seen before and/or know little about. They also provide a few, rare but magic, moments when you come across something exciting that's been overlooked, or dismissed, by everyone else.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  i was focusing on on-line auctions, which dominate the baseball card market.

                                  I agree with you with regard to physical viewings. They were a primary source of entertainment for my family when I was a kid.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    My nieces and nephews who range between 15 to 22 yrs old - don't own anything, aside from clothes. No CD's (they have Spotify accounts), no DVD's (they use Netflix), no magazine subscriptions nor books (they use Kindles or the Library). One of my nephews did collect Premier League stickers, until around 16 yrs old. I think this collecting (and hoarding) lark is dying out with this generation.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Some of them may get into collecting later. We grew up in an era when collectables started in childhood because they were cheap and accessible (stamps, cards, comics etc.) That time has vanished, or is disappearing rapidly. But it wasn't always the case, and may not be again. There are newer areas of collecting that are too expensive for kids but are attracting young adults. A friend of mine has being trying to buy an accessory for a 1950 camera (not a particularly rare or expensive camera) but he tracked it down for $109 on eBay (it cost less than $2.00 in the 1970s.) The market for old photographic equipment is burgeoning. It's not driven by people who want to use it, but by those who want to collect it. The same is true for typewriters, and sewing machines. The mechanical age is gone, and the romantics who missed it are fascinated by its artifacts.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        When I was 10, almost 11, my Mum and Dad took the family to Florida and then to Oklahoma to see some friends (I had my 11th birthday in Oklahoma). In Florida my brother and I started buying packs of Topps 1987 baseball cards. I loved them. I loved that you got 18 cards in a pack instead of the 5 or 6 football stickers you got in a pack back home. I loved the smell of the gum.I loved the sheer solidity of the cards compared to flimsy stickers. I loved the weird team names. Who were the A team? Or the A's with an apostrophe - how were they different? And who were the Win Twins? And all those weird stats on the back and incomprehensible jargon! I had no idea who was good, bad or indifferent, it was just new, strange and different! (For the same reason I bought a musical Mets badge when we changed planes in New York, mainly because I'd never had a musical badge before.)

                                        I still have the big bundle of Topps 87 separate out as a set. I've added a few from job lot purchases over the years although that range doesn't seem to crop up as much as some of the others. (I've also learned who the Angels and Athletics are, and that the Twins are just the Twins. (Although I still like that Win Twins logo)) Almost all my other cards are separated out into teams.

                                        As an adult when I have been to America I tend to buy one of those Topps boxes where you get ten packs and some kind of bonus thing in there. I then buy a few random other packs, and if we go into a dollar store and they have some mixed bundles of older cards for a dollar, I can't resist having a nose. In-between trips to the US, I make the occasional eBay purchase, usually just cards featuring Padres players.

                                        Why the Padres? Well, the first live game I ever went to was in Petco Park, versus the Giants at the tail end of the 2004 season. Barry Bonds was playing for the Giants and got booed every time he came into the outfield. The steroid thing had just broken. I decided I would follow whichever team won that night. Padres won 2-1 and that was that.

                                        I've since been to games at the Mets (at Shea Stadium - Art Garfunkel sang the national anthem), the Red Sox (on Star Wars giveaway night) and the Blue Jays (under the closed roof). All memorable but I'm staying loyal to the Padres.

                                        Baseball cards are important to me because they are my connection with a) that magical trip to America when I was a kid, and b) they are something tangible about the game I really enjoy watching but rarely get to see.

                                        Interesting thoughts about the decline of collecting among younger people. I guess I shouldn't kid myself any more. I'm over 40 and evidently, my collector mindset, reveals my age.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Excellent story.

                                          What do you think of as being the Padres' colours?

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Haha. I own the Cooperstown Collection retro brown and yellow shirt, brown and yellow jacket and a brown and yellow cap with the Swinging Friar logo on it. (The jacket and cap I actually bought in Cooperstown)

                                            Really don't go for the camo. Not a fan of that at all.

                                            I wouldn't say no to a Tony Gwynn 1980s white shirt with pinstripes on it, of course.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              As an aside, you really need to be drinking the Tony Gwynn themed 394 Pale Ale from Alesmith, if you can find it anywhere. Not only is it Padres and Gwynn themed, it's also delicious.

                                              It even comes in the correct colour scheme



                                              (I am happy to find that I'm not the only one on OTF who follows the Padres)

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                I don't know anyone over 30 who doesn't wish that the Padres would go back to the yellow and brown

                                                There is no major league club in any North American sport that has changed its colours so often (my Vancouver Canucks may be in second place, but they are well behind the Padres).

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  I like the blue uniforms. But the Swinging Friar logo is definitely my preference.

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