My son is 12 years old. I was 12 in 1988. It goes without saying that lots of things have changed since then and at a shocking rate. His world is moving at a faster pace then mine did in every way. Its hard to share my 12 year old life with him and relate to what he is exposed to. But we have found one thing that we can find common excitement in. Baseball cards.
I remember collecting at his age. Mark McGwire was a very big deal and I bought in very quickly. If the bash brothers were involved, I was all over it. I could go just about anywhere and buy a few packs of cards for about 40 cents each and dig right in. We even rode our bikes down to Stan's vacuum cleaner repair store to get cards. He was a collector and had a small area to buy and trade at. He even had a baseball themed pinball machine that spit out cards when you scored runs. We would be all over the next edition of Beckett Monthly to see what cards were hot. Then were either trading like fools or buying more packs of Topps, Donruss or Upper Deck to snag the most valuable cards. Yes, I am guilty of buying Score every once in a while because they were inexpensive. My paper route could only feed so much of this addiction.
The is a very different experience for my son at 12 years old. My favorite and best card in my collection was the Mark McGwire Olympic rookie card and I think it was only valued at about $20 at the time. He has multiple chances of pulling $20 cards from pack to pack. The first big difference for him compared to me is the cost of this hobby. Cards tend to be expensive these days, but he has chances to pull autographed cards. Not in my day. If you wanted an auto, you went to the ball park or special events to get it. Card companies are also printing more specialty and update cards through out the season. I had one set per year of about 700 cards, then a small update set and then we waited until the next year.
He also has access to all the hype that can be created around certain cards and players. The internet is a huge game changer for this hobby. He loves to watch break videos on YouTube. If you have never seen on of these take a look at this one to get you started. Basically, collectors and shops post videos of them opening card boxes and packs to see what exciting things come out. This keeps him wanting to open packs. Yes it is great marketing for the companies, but is also a way to keep collectors hungry. He got a 2021 Topps Series 1 hobby box for Easter and he sat and opened each pack like in the videos and gushed over the cards he pulled. It was exciting for him and me. I am little envious of this world of collecting he gets to roam around in.
This has amounted to great one on one time for me and him. We buy packs when we can find them or order them online. We buy a few through online auctions here and there. We have taken my old cards, some cards that have been gifted to us and what we have bought to amass a pretty good collection of baseball and basketball cards. Being 12 then and now is definitely different, but I hope we have created something he can share with his 12 year old in the future.
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