The Baseball Card Sky is Not Falling
This week's Sports Illustrated magazine has a feature on the sports card industry, but unfortunately it is kind of a microcosm of the zillions of newspaper articles that have appeared in the last few years. It focuses mainly on the "decline of the baseball card industry".
Here's the deal. Most of the writers 20 or 30-something. Many collected cards as kids in the late 1980s and early 90s. Now they're adults, rediscovering the collection they left at their parents' house. They dig them out and do a little research, then realize they're not worth as much as they thought they would be. The research tells them there aren't as many card shops as there were when they were kids (back in the day when you could find one about every four blocks).
Never mind those days were the product of an "investment fad" by 1970s parents who rememberd their collections and figured putting cards away as an investment was a good thing. Of course, way too many were being made. MLB opened the floodgates to take advantage and the result was overproduction and far too many sets. In essence, it did kill off some of the old mentality, but it really just shook out some of the 'investors'. The hobby now is actually pretty pure--not the same as it was back in the 1970s and 80s-- but most collect just for the sake of it now.
The "industry" is struggling on some fronts--but many of the current articles would lead you to believe the whole thing will fall apart any minute. Shakeouts are inevitable, but too many people follow sports--kids included--for that to happen. Sports cards and sports memorabilia are how we express our connection to the games.
ESPN.com's Bill Simmons did a great piece from the National Sports Collectors Convention that expresses that connection really well and leaves you laughing at the same time.
The hobby isn't going anywhere. It's just growing up.
Here's the deal. Most of the writers 20 or 30-something. Many collected cards as kids in the late 1980s and early 90s. Now they're adults, rediscovering the collection they left at their parents' house. They dig them out and do a little research, then realize they're not worth as much as they thought they would be. The research tells them there aren't as many card shops as there were when they were kids (back in the day when you could find one about every four blocks).
Never mind those days were the product of an "investment fad" by 1970s parents who rememberd their collections and figured putting cards away as an investment was a good thing. Of course, way too many were being made. MLB opened the floodgates to take advantage and the result was overproduction and far too many sets. In essence, it did kill off some of the old mentality, but it really just shook out some of the 'investors'. The hobby now is actually pretty pure--not the same as it was back in the 1970s and 80s-- but most collect just for the sake of it now.
The "industry" is struggling on some fronts--but many of the current articles would lead you to believe the whole thing will fall apart any minute. Shakeouts are inevitable, but too many people follow sports--kids included--for that to happen. Sports cards and sports memorabilia are how we express our connection to the games.
ESPN.com's Bill Simmons did a great piece from the National Sports Collectors Convention that expresses that connection really well and leaves you laughing at the same time.
The hobby isn't going anywhere. It's just growing up.
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