When was the hobby at it's very peak

sportscardtheory · Apr 9, 2010

With the recent loss of Upper Deck in the licensed baseball and football card markets along with the trending towards exclusive card manufacturers in most major sports, it got me to thinking. I'm not certain which year had the most companies producing licensed cards, but let's just use 2001 for example. Was the hobby better then than it is now? I seem to recall the times when we had many many options to be the BEST times in our hobby, not the worst. When do you recall the hobby being at it's peak? By peak I mean dollars and cents being spent in the hobby along with sheer number of collectors in general.

*****PLEASE PICK YOUR BEST TWO OPTIONS IN THE POLL*****

hive17 · Apr 9, 2010

My favorite time was 2004-2005. The player selection was great, there were a bunch of great products, and the best draft class ever had prospect releases.

Other times may have seen higher revenue for the companies, but if there is ever a year of product I like to go back and break, it's 2005.

hofautos · Apr 9, 2010

i agreed with popular vote:
6. early-to-mid '90s (6 or more companies),
but nothing to do with how many card companies....
griffey
trio of arod, jeter, nomar
90s inserts
pre-strike

sportscardtheory · Apr 9, 2010

hive17 said:
My favorite time was 2004-2005. The player selection was great, there were a bunch of great products, and the best draft class ever had prospect releases.

Other times may have seen higher revenue for the companies, but if there is ever a year of product I like to go back and break, it's 2005.

I don't think it's a coincidence that 2005 is widely considered one of the best years ever for baseball cards, the year directly preceding the stupid "rule" changes MLB made to the rookie card and also the end of one of the most popular card makers (licensed Donruss).

sportscardtheory · Apr 9, 2010

Still waiting for thosebackpages to put in his vote for pre-'70s.

autocut · Apr 9, 2010

5. mid-to-late '80s (6 or more companies)

Jose Canseco Donruss RC
Don Mattingly Donruss RC
Darryl Strawberry RC
Dwight Gooden RC
Roger Clemens RC
Kirby Puckett RC
Ken Griffey Jr. RC

and the list goes on. This is when RCs sold for over BV.

johnny rook · Apr 9, 2010

The early to mid-90's. Everything was massively overproduced because people were buying. So many card shops and card shows around. Then the 1994 season strike took the wind out of the sails.

sportscardtheory · Apr 9, 2010

autocut said:
5. mid-to-late '80s (6 or more companies)

Jose Canseco Donruss RC
Don Mattingly Donruss RC
Darryl Strawberry RC
Dwight Gooden RC
Roger Clemens RC
Kirby Puckett RC
Ken Griffey Jr. RC

and the list goes on. This is when RCs sold for over BV.

See: Jason Heyward

J/K I know what you are saying.

sportscardtheory · Apr 9, 2010

Just so it's clear, I do realize that there are many different factors involved when analyzing the "best ever" period for card collecting, but IMO it still has a lot to do with people having choices. The economy was in a much more stable place back then, but you can't deny that all those choices filled a lot of collector's needs and niches, thus creating and sustaining interest.

schmidtfan20 · Apr 9, 2010

mac/sosa

MOFNY · Apr 9, 2010

For me it was 97-2000. 2000 was a very underrated year, and there were a slew of great looking sets. 2001 changed the game forever, and 2005 was the best from 2000-2010.

011873 · Apr 9, 2010

Impossible to lay one time period down and say "this is the peak" because theres so many different variables.

Peak as in number of collectors? Late 1980's for sure.
Peak as in choices? Mid 90's
Peak as in PURE hobby? Pre 80's before cards boomed
Peak as in best of times? For whom? Collectors? Companies?
Companies made serious money during the boom and overproduced everything.

BUT Ill give you my favorite time period and that would be 2001-2005
BC rocked, BCDP rocked, SP Top Prospects, PP and EEE rocked, all the Bowman lines rocked and just about everything from July 2001 to Late 2001 rocked. And cant forget all those great DLP products, almost all of them.

No wonder wax from this era is so hard to finnd and pricey.

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When was the hobby at it's very peak

When was the hobby at it's very peak?

1. post-war to '70s (1 company plus a few years of Bowman in the '50s)

2. early-to-mid '70s (1 company)

3. mid-to-late '70s (1 company)

4. early-to-mid '80s (3 companies)

5. mid-to-late '80s (6 or more companies)

6. early-to-mid '90s (6 or more companies)

7. mid-to-late '90s (numerous companies)

8. early-to-mid '00s (numerous companies)

9. mid-to-late '00s (4 or more companies)

10. early '10s (1 company)

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