Collecting sports cards is currently booming. But what is the reason for this drastic and sudden trend? Is sports card collecting even a hobby anymore? Can kids even do it? Or are we now dealing with entrepreneurs who have started investing in it? Read on if you want to find the answers!
Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash
Sports Card Industry’s History
Yes, it’s more of an industry now! Sports cards and the practice of collecting are big business today. Gone are the days when kids would go to the store and tear open a few packs to find their favorite superstar.
In the 1980s, the biggest name in the business, the Topps Company, got serious about the competition and overproduced these cards. The overproduction – now known as the junk-wax era – and the Major League Baseball players’ strike in 1994 scared off collectors, and the hobby experienced a severe downturn.
After that, the advent of eBay played an essential role in reviving the hobby, as sports cards were readily available. As a result, companies became innovative and added autographed and memorabilia cards. Prices for card packs increased, and when demand leveled off, it experienced another sharp upswing during the COVID -19 outbreak. The pandemic and the death of Kobe Bryant left sports fans looking for something new to do.
But what happened after all these violent fluctuations? What’s the deal with today’s boom?
Is Collecting Sports Cards A Hobby Anymore?
We’re afraid not!
Before the boom, customers would simply sell or trade their cards. Now things have become more complex.Typical dealers have become doctors; they are donning gloves to examine the cards. They carry magnifying glasses to zoom in and out on the cards’ corners, edges, and surfaces. Condition has become even more important than it was.
In order to preserve a card’s condition, people started sending sports cards to these companies charging an appealing fee for grading. When the cards came back (usually months later) with a “10,” they were worth considerably more. After scrutinizing the card with a magnifying glass, the ruler came out. The centering also had to be checked. This was a far cry from what the experts remembered years ago. The resale value of a card has started to become much more important than collecting cards for the sake of the hobby.
Bottom Line
There was once a time when many were interested in collecting sports cards, but today it seems that the business side has taken over the nice part of the hobby.
We have tried to take a brief look at the industry’s history, but there are still many question marks. Contact us and let us know your questions if you have any!
