Getting older and watching sports/collecting

nevermore · Aug 25, 2011

Does getting older and making the transition from looking up to ballplayers to becoming peers and then eventually calling everyone 'kid,' change your perspective on the game/hobby at all?

I started watching baseball at around 7, but now after two decades, the majority of the players are years younger than me and its making me feel old. The average age of a MLBer is ~28, and I'm getting to there myself. The older collectors here must have noticed something similar...not sure what to call it, something like a mid-life crises perhaps?

I haven't fully come to terms with this yet, but I'm interested to see what others have thought/felt at such a transition point.

Brewer Andy · Aug 25, 2011

I know that feeling. Like watching the guys who were rookies when you started watching start to retire and make the HOF. This may have something to do with the fact that aside from set building, all of my collections are players from my childhood. I don't collect any of these young whipper snappers playing the game today

uniquebaseballcards · Aug 25, 2011

I'm not a player collector so it doesn't affect me very much, if at all.

ripken2131_8 · Aug 25, 2011

I'm 24 and I came to a realization the other day when I heard Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward were born in 1989 - guess I'm not going pro

Ashburn Alley · Aug 25, 2011

I was thinking the same thing last year when I was getting Dom Brown's auto. I remember thinking back in the day that someone in their mid/late 20s was "old." Here I am at 29...

joey12508 · Aug 25, 2011

i was your age when the yanks won back to back WS 77 &78 . my heros then where munson and sweet lou. watched bernie break in now hes long out of base ball. your still a kid ravi,lots a head of you.

MacK · Aug 25, 2011

Growing up, I always thought I'd be a baseball player. It's kind of funny now, because when I see guys my age already getting drafted, I know that I have no shot since I haven't played organized ball in years.

I also find a lack of collecting desire as I get older.

FortyFour · Aug 25, 2011

I Feel ya.

I am 19 and when I look at the back of baseball cards and see players born the same year as me its like **** I am getting old.

predatorkj · Aug 25, 2011

Yeah, especially when I go out and try for IP autos. You get some 24 year old kid who denies you and you think to yourself "You ungrateful little bastard!". :lol: J/K

Seriosuly though, it does seem kind of weird. I think one cool thing is, I'm not too old so there are some players I can watch and it would be more like keeping up with a friend or an acquaintence even though you don't really know the guy. At least you don't feel ancient. But every time I stop at a gas station or a grocery store and see the year you have to be born stickers on the register for alcohol and tobacco, I feel old.

ThoseBackPages · Aug 25, 2011

Great Thread! Ravi, i thought you were older! lol

now that im on the other side of 40, i think about these things all the time.
i think thats why ive stopped collecting people that are younger then i am,
nevermind young enough to be my kids lol

tramers · Aug 25, 2011

Last year my son was batboy at local minor league stadium and he was taller than half , this year he's almost as old as rookies - works in clubhouse now .

TBTwinsFan · Aug 25, 2011

uniquebaseballcards said:
I'm not a player collector so it doesn't affect me very much, if at all.

I think it's more geared too "I am older than the ball players and it feels weird"

I am not older than any major leaguers (duh), but I am in the same age range of some of the draftees.

rymflaherty · Aug 25, 2011

It hasn't really gotten to me yet in terms of collecting.

I think to this point the only time it would be noticeable to me is if I was seeking IP auto's.
Right or wrong, I'd feel a bit ******* pestering "kids" to sign something for me.
I was going to head up to the UA high-school all-star game at Wrigley a couple weeks ago, and I think this is what kept me from going. I would have wanted to go to try and get some auto's....but it felt a bit odd. Even though I'm not that old, I still didn't want to be looked at as "that guy". (I really mean no offense to those that are older and do get IP autos.....what I described above is probably perception within my own head more than anything else.)

Mozzie22 · Aug 25, 2011

I think it will only bother me when I am officially older than every player in MLB. I've got a couple years I think but I have thought about it.

Krusin · Aug 25, 2011

Being older than the sports figuries I follow has not been a problem. What did get to me was being older than the President. Not complaining though, as long as I wake up & see the sunshine tommorow I'm happy. Would love to be the 1st 200 year old but it ain't happening, make the best of what cha got.

notjomommasclint · Aug 25, 2011

in baseball i dont notice it as much because they keep the history of the game involved in the game so well. players that i rooted for that are long gone still get mentions and comparisons in the games. where i really notice it is college football. this last signing period there was a kid born on my 18th birthday that was getting run in the local paper... yikes...

olerud363 · Aug 25, 2011

I can remember when I first started collecting I'd read the player info on the backs of the cards and there were still some active players who were born in the 1950's. Of course as time went on the real eye-opener for me was when I started seeing players with birthday's in the 1990's! I graduated high school in 1992!

I'll always remember a collector friend I've known for about 10 years. He's quite a bit older than me but used to tell me about collecting cards in the 1940's as a kid. He still has his complete sets.

ASTROBURN · Aug 25, 2011

I didnt start to feel old until I heard songs from my high school years on the "Classic Rock" station...

Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Black Album Metallica on classic rock? Oh the grey hairs are comin in fast.

RiceLynnEvans75 · Aug 25, 2011

It never really bothered me and I did find it amusing at one point. I think what I find a little more disturbing is when older men start referring to the prospects/younger players as "studs". I think I know what they are getting at, but it still just sounds a little.....strange.

dreamerfan · Aug 25, 2011

It has started to get weird as looking at the back of some cards and it was like he was born in 89 and I was 12. I am starting to go vintage and stay away from these kids lol. Metallica on classic rock is priceless.

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