I am a Junk Wax Junkie!

When I first learned about the term "junk wax", I was actually offended.  It hurt.  The Junk Wax Era, as so many like to call it, was my prime collecting period as a kid with dreams that my collection would be worth millions when I reached adulthood (it's debatable whether or not that has happened yet, despite my age).

For those that don't know, the term "junk wax era" has been applied to most of the baseball card sets that were released from the mid 80's through the 90s.  These cards haven't increased in value over time like cards from prior generations because they were "over-produced".  I put that in quotes because I have my own thoughts on what that really means, but I'll save that for another post.  For a longer description of junk wax, click here.

Sweet 'stache!

So you remember that awesome 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco Rated Rookie card you pulled from a pack when you were a kid?  You know, the one with the sweet teen 'stache that was worth $100 in the late 80s?  Yeah, well, it books for like $12 now according to Beckett.  Of course Canseco played his own part in that epic collapse, with the baseball that bounced off of his head for a home run, the weird pitching incident, steroids, career downturn, and being a douche bag in general.

I'll do the math for you.  As a 9 year old in 1989, $100 to me was a TON of money, roughly equivalent to $47 trillion as an adult.  So booking at $12 is a bit of a letdown to my optimistic, non-jaded, 9-year old self.  You can apply this same principle to most of the cards from the junk wax era.

HOWEVER (you knew that was coming), it's not all bad news.  I collected baseball cards when I was 9 because I loved baseball.  I loved the players.  I really loved the cards.  That hasn't changed.  I still love those cards, and as I have had a collecting renaissance of sorts over the past month, learning about the (lack of) value of my collection hasn't diminished my fondness at all.  They certainly weren't "junk" to me then, and they aren't now either.  That's promising.  It's nice to know that I can still derive enjoyment from my collection without it being worth tens of thousands of dollars.

I have embraced the "junk wax" term now.  I have been to several shops over the past month, along with 1 card show, and I went from meekly asking about 80's and 90's cards to proudly wearing my Junk Wax Junkie badge of honor.  So that's why I started this blog.  I doubt many will stumble upon it, but it's a nice way to chronicle this time in my life as a 34-year old when my baseball card collecting hobby had life breathed back into it.  Maybe one day 20 years down the road, I'll look back at this journal with fond memories of collecting again, just as I'm experiencing now reminiscing about my childhood.