I realize this post won’t garner many clicks. After all, I don’t think “collecting and mental health” makes for a very common Google search term combo. “PSA or SGC?” wins that battle every time (which is why Cardhound also has plenty of PSA / SCG content). That’s fine. Contrary to popular opinion, there’s more to life than clicks. But recent events have me reflecting on the connections I see between collecting and mental health, and so here goes.

I’ve been away from the site–and from cards and collecting in general–for about 2 weeks. That’s a really long break for me. Without getting into too much detail, it will suffice to say that parenting can be extremely difficult work sometimes. It is my most important job by far, and one I take very seriously. Everything else is secondary. In my “spare time” I have also been, you know, working, paying the bills, fixing the dishwasher, walking the dog, trying to be a decent spouse, and squeezing in some sleep when possible.

Eventually, the hard work of managing other people’s mental health can start to wear on your own. And it dawned on me that collecting is–and has always been–and important part of my own self-care regimen. So here I am, trying to get back in the swing of things. I’ve been thinking about the role that collecting played in some of our respective childhoods. And as a parent I also look forward–what role does collecting play for young people today?

Why I Collect

A while back I wrote a fun piece on “why we collect.” That article explains some research into different motivations for collecting, such as investment, preservation, even a form of addiction. In that article I noted that my main collecting impulse is the endless learning opportunities collecting offers. That’s part of it for sure, but upon more reflection, I now know that my earliest collecting impulses were more about providing a sense of stability and continuity to a somewhat scattered childhood. Without knowing it, I was using collecting as a sort of over-the-counter medicine, even at age 10.

I was a somewhat introverted kid, and we moved around a lot (various towns in Ohio, Minnesota, and Illinois). I was almost always trying to figure out where I fit in. Of course, this was long before social media, and so every move meant losing every friend you had and starting over from scratch. Just when we got settled in, it was time to move again. I wasn’t aware that the feeling I experienced so often then was a little something we call anxiety, but that’s pretty obvious with hindsight.

Finding Order in Chaos

I think all kids crave order at some level. But we type-A folks crave a little more of it than others. Baseball history, following my favorite players and teams (Go Tribe!), and working on my 1982 Topps set provided a sense of continuity–comfort, even–regardless of where I was living at the time. When we moved away from Cleveland, I still had my Len Barker, Bo Diaz, and Joe Charbonneau cards to flip through. The full stats in the Sunday paper kept me up to date on the race for the batting title.

And card shows in Ohio were pretty much the same as card shows in Illinois–especially if they were both hosted in near-identical Holiday Inns. (Thanks, mom, for the wax packs and for taking me to shows!)

Collecting definitely provided a rhythm, a flow, in a childhood that was often disrupted by moving and the need to start over. And over.

OK, How About Now?

It’s fair to say that I no longer need collecting to serve as a regulating force in my life. But I do think that in addition to some of those “typical” motivations for collecting (history, nostalgia, investment), the “activity” does still provide some mental health benefits. It helps me stay connected to people (which is still a bit of a struggle for me even as an adult); it’s a diversion from everyday stressors; all of the sifting and sorting is relaxing. Does it lower blood pressure or replace the need for therapy? Probably not. But I definitely “feel better” when I’m focusing on my collection than when I’m not. I’m glad to be back in a space where I can think about this stuff again.

“Kids Today . . .”

It’s a fair question: what positive role does sports card collecting play for kids today? They don’t really build sets like we did way back when. In fact, base paper cards are often thrown in the trash by breakers, who are just chasing the long odds of a big case hit. If anything, the calm activity of “collecting” has morphed into more dangerous, unhealthy behaviors that mimic gambling. I suppose it is still social to a degree, and there are other lessons to be learned (investment, money management, sales skills). But without a doubt, it has changed.

Most often today, kids fill their limited free time with video games, YouTube Shorts, and all kinds of social media. Like modern card collecting, all of these are also infused with addictive qualities by design. My own kids have sports and a few relaxing craft-type activities, but those moments of quiet calm are few and far between for my kids as for most. I don’t expect my boys to take up vintage collecting any time soon, but I hope they can find their own positive substitute.