The year of the pitcher- not good for baseball's future?

Pitching was more dominant this year than in any year of recent memory.

American sports fans like scoring and the chicks dig the longball.

As we move into the era of the pitcher, and as the offensive power numbers go down, will the popularity of the sport continue to decline?

We all hate to admit it, but Mcgwire, Sosa, and Bonds saved baseball at least temporarily, and we've been spoiled by Pujols as well.

In the foreseeable future, the power numbers will decline as there are less roiders and enhancers, and Pujols is aging as well, and no one will be able to replace him for another generation at least, if ever.

Is the future of baseball, and more importantly, baseball cards, in jeopardy?

Football continues to increase in popularity by the day, and basketball is expanding internationally like crazy, not only in terms of fans, but sports cards collectors as well. Worldwide, basketball might be the most popular sports cards to collect.

Anyone see any good signs for the future of baseball cards, particularly the way the market is set up nowadays?

I even see a dip in the popularity of, gulp, prospecting baseball cards(do I dare even comment on this?).

Are collectors going to be happy with 25-30 hrs as being "power numbers" in the future when they've been spoiled by 45-60hr seasons for so long?

Young players like Heyward, Stanton and Montero to name just a few could step up and show elite power. Both Stanton and heyward showed some great flashes of power last year

The popularity of the game and the popularity of cards are cyclical.

I think modern cards are and will remain at a low point/valley compared to vintage; I'd expect future cards to be more popular than today's modern cards, but only after the hobby 'recovers' and learns to properly grow from the internet/ecommerce and become less complicated.

Steroids and PED's are going to continue to be a part of the game for a long time to come.

Wait until you see the massive lockouts in both the NFL and NBA next year... If MLB can extend their deal with the union for a long time, baseball will comeback.. Remember if the NFL gets their rookie slotting numbers, well HS players will see that and say, hmmm why go for a locked salary, but if i'm a star and can be drafted high go in the MLB and be guaranteed millions to sign out of HS.. The NFL lockout could be a changing of the guard IMO...

mwashuc06 said:

Wait until you see the massive lockouts in both the NFL and NBA next year...

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its gonna be cool in a year when the only sport on TV is The NHL

thats going to be a culture shock for America and especially those narrow minded card store owners

One word, Strasburg. Way too much hype for a pitcher to feel that the popularity of the game will decline as more pitchers are hyped over time. Remember the golden era of baseball included a lot of pitchers in the '50's and '60's.

mwashuc06 said:

Wait until you see the massive lockouts in both the NFL and NBA next year... If MLB can extend their deal with the union for a long time, baseball will comeback.. Remember if the NFL gets their rookie slotting numbers, well HS players will see that and say, hmmm why go for a locked salary, but if i'm a star and can be drafted high go in the MLB and be guaranteed millions to sign out of HS.. The NFL lockout could be a changing of the guard IMO...

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I don't think NFL and NBA fans will necessarily move to baseball because of lack of options. Baseball is far too slow and boring to grab the majority of the football audience.

no steroids for hitters is also no steroids for pitchers...baseball was alive when 40HR was unheard of, Bautista hit 54 dingers this year...offense won't be a factor. Economy and popularity of other sports will factor in...but for the most part, attendance may be down a few percent here and there, but it is still way higher on average than it has been over previous years (e.g. look at attendance 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, etc... it is much higher than previous years STILL, due to better parks, better accomadations. There is still plenty of popularity, so get over it.

I don't know about other places but in the NY metro area the sports talk stations are pretty abuzz with hot stove talk. Seems like more so that I recall in the past and I listen a lot. I think baseball will do well to very well next year.

scooter2374 said:

I don't know about other places but in the NY metro area the sports talk stations are pretty abuzz with hot stove talk. Seems like more so that I recall in the past and I listen a lot. I think baseball will do well to very well next year.

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the fan? me too

i wonder what they are going to be talking about a year from now without NBA or The NFL

One year in the late 60s early 70s Yaz won the batting title hitting under 300. This year was nowhere near that. I know there have been slight changes since (mound height...) Thats still pretty amazing.

I'm in Northern California, and frankly, the entire season no one really cared about any baseball cards until AFTER the Giants won the world series, then some shops were finally able to actually sell some Giants stuff. If the Giants were ousted in the first round, all the cards would be dead, except for a few Posey cards.

Football continues to sell very well here, and the Raiders and Niners aren't very good, and there aren't any particular players who sell well from either team.

And basketball, despite Panini sold very well even during the off-season, and is now moving off shelves very well.

If Strasburg wasn't included in any of the early season products, this may have been the worst year for baseball since 2006.

You feel it at the few card shows they have here - baseball just doesn't excite. Hardly anyone is asking for prospects, and even less vets, anymore.

Collectors are preparing for the upcoming football and basketball seasons during the summer time and it just gives me a very bad feeling that baseball is dying off, particularly on the West Coast.

Now, I can't represent the midwest or the east, and it's understandable that baseball is the main game in town in the Northeast, but I really can't get over the fact that baseball's long-term popularity is fading away.

Perhaps it had something to do with the haphazard release schedule for baseball cards over the summer, but the action was dead and the summer was long and drawn out.

I think our generation is just moving too fast, as alluded to before, to tolerate a slower-paced sport.

Baseball is starting to get a "soccer" pace feel to it, and without it's long history, may eventually only be able to reach a niche fanbase. It's become a passing "radio friendly" sport, and people nowadays simply can't sit for three hours through an entire baseball game on TV. Those same people just can't get enough NFL on TV.

I'd be curious to see if football changes in a way to protect its players. If so, football could become less interesting. Can anyone imagine maskless helmets?

I'd be curious to know what retail sales of baseball cards are like in northern California.

uniquebaseballcards said:

I'd be curious to see if football changes in a way to protect its players. If so, football could become less interesting. Can anyone imagine maskless helmets?

I'd be curious to know what retail sales of baseball cards are like in northern California.

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I'm curious too.

Are you talking about retail outlets, or just baseball card sales in general?

As for retail outlets like Target and WalMart, it's pretty easy to find the "hot stuff", whereas five years ago and before stuff was gone before it was even put on the shelf, you couldn't find anything.

brouthercard said:

uniquebaseballcards said:

I'd be curious to see if football changes in a way to protect its players. If so, football could become less interesting. Can anyone imagine maskless helmets?

I'd be curious to know what retail sales of baseball cards are like in northern California.

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I'm curious too.

Are you talking about retail outlets, or just baseball card sales in general?

As for retail outlets like Target and WalMart, it's pretty easy to find the "hot stuff", whereas five years ago and before stuff was gone before it was even put on the shelf, you couldn't find anything.

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Not true for Fresno, here in central California. Baseball is still huge, the city was a buzz the last three months and you can never find the good stuff at Targets and Wal-Marts, and I work at a Target.

brouthercard said:

uniquebaseballcards said:

I'd be curious to see if football changes in a way to protect its players. If so, football could become less interesting. Can anyone imagine maskless helmets?

I'd be curious to know what retail sales of baseball cards are like in northern California.

Click to expand...

I'm curious too.

Are you talking about retail outlets, or just baseball card sales in general?

As for retail outlets like Target and WalMart, it's pretty easy to find the "hot stuff", whereas five years ago and before stuff was gone before it was even put on the shelf, you couldn't find anything.

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Yes, retail outlets like Target/WalMart. Although I think the myriad of sports and gaming card choices in these places can put off many potentially new customers IMO.

Plus I think the economy really hurts cards.

If you're becoming less of a fan now, then you were never really a real fan of the game of baseball.

The 40+ home run season is not behind us--just the number of players to accomplish that feat.

I, for one, am excited about the type of talent taking the field. I can list several dozen up-and-coming players I'd pay to watch play. I even like watching pitchers duels but I guess I'm in the minority.

rico08 said:

If you're becoming less of a fan now, then you were never really a real fan of the game of baseball.

The 40+ home run season is not behind us--just the number of players to accomplish that feat.

I, for one, am excited about the type of talent taking the field. I can list several dozen up-and-coming players I'd pay to watch play. I even like watching pitchers duels but I guess I'm in the minority.

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I'm not questioning the hardcore fans, i'm just concerned about the growth of the sport and the hobby. Like I said, there will always be the niche fans/collectors, but the average joe sports fan, who the sports cards industry wants to target, has baseball as their number 3 option. The passion is still there for the select few, but the numbers aren't there, and that's worrisome for the growth of the hobby.

Baseball may become like Hockey in the future, a small number of hardcore and passionate collectors/fans, but not much broad interest.

brouthercard said:

Baseball may become like Hockey in the future, a small number of hardcore and passionate collectors/fans, but not much broad interest.

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The Baseball CARD industry could only hope to become as dedicated as the Hockey Card market is at this time