WOW, someone else that used to collect/buy/sell/trade baseball cards! I was big into this hobby as a kid, and into my early adult life. I saw the hobby go from being FUN to being nothing but business for those that had the bankroll to by cases direct from the manufacturers. Then there was the whole issue of "insert" cards. When they came out as David said, some were worth $25 a piece. Now you wouldn't get $1 for them (they've also gone to slabbing baseball cards further ruining the value of non slabbed stuff).

The makers of the cards saw the masses flocking to them so they decided it would be a good idea to over produce cards. Their thought was hey, if more people want them, we'll just print more.

I remember after I had moved 3 times and lugged all my cards with me I wanted no more of them. I was going to sell them on ebay and saw that rookie cards I had that had book values in the $40-50 range or higher, were selling on ebay for, get this, $2. I eventually sold them to a local dealer/friend of the family. I guesstimate I had in the area of $5,000 - $7,000 worth of cards. Everything from older rookies, and sets, unopened packs, factory sets and more. I got a whopping $600 for them.

I've seen the exact same thing happen in chipping. Casinos were thrilled when the chips they paid pennies to have made were walking out the door at $25 a pop never to be seen again so they made more and made more and made more. I've also seen too many cases (like at the chip show) when I see a local dealer with piles of chips that were supposed to be rare and hard to get.

I too am not saying don't collect. By all means collect. Just don't collect stuff based on hype and "it could be worth xxx". Remember it's all valuable until someone finds a box of them soemwhere or starts to release a hoard they've been sitting on for 10 years.