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Baseball
The Wisco Pilot
Sports Cards: At Large Anymore? by Mason Marrari Numerous industries across the globe have changed since 2020 due to COVID-19. While some sank, others soared. For example, the app Zoom gained millions of new customers over a few months. Very similarly, the sports card industry had become much more popular than it once was before the pandemic began. One of the biggest questions is, “How long will the sports card market stay at large?” Some of the key takeaways from the rising industry of sports cards from 2020 include the rapid increase of sales on eBay, which affected all types of sports cards whether it be basketball or hockey. Other websites were being barraged with sales such as Topps.com. In particular, a great deal of card boxes and sets from the Topps’ website were sold out due to the grueling demand, which made them rare and expensive. Within local stores, sports cards were sold out for weeks on end, creating barren shelves. One of the main reasons many people started to collect sports cards was simply because many had to stay home during parts of the pandemic. As a result, collecting sports cards became not only a newfound hobby, but also a way of business. (For more information on the industry of sports cards during 2020, read The Pilot: Volume 27, Issue 5) Extreme growth in the sports card industry has occurred a few times in previous years. For instance, baseball cards in the ‘80s and ‘90s experienced a broadening in popularity and value much like the industry in the past two years. Toward the end of the ‘80s, baseball cards began to be heavily priced and sold. While the market used to be geared toward children, a good number of the people purchasing cards were adults. What appeared to be a small hobby turned into competition and possible fortune. Correspondingly, numerous adults across America today make their living by buy-
ing and selling baseball card online each day. Brand-new boxes are priced within the hundreds and even thousands! At the beginning of the ‘90s, even some adults were having trouble buying and selling cards since they were starting to get more expensive each day, forcing some of them out of buying. According to goldcardauctions.com, one of the biggest reasons for the industry of baseball cards to decline within the 90’s had to do with the MLB strike that was happening from 1994 to 1995.
Major players from several sports, Joe Montana, Kobe Bryant, Wayne Gretzky, and Nolan Ryan, are depicted within variations of older cards.
Canceling games caused people to lose interest in baseball cards. Thus, less were bought and collected. Another interesting thing is that the baseball card companies had manufactured too many cards, which further diminished the demand because there was such a big supply. This year, MLB has faced another strike that had caused the cancellation of a couple of games. Thankfully, the strike had ended, allowing the MLB season to continue. Many fans have already returned to watch their favorite teams within the past several weeks. This all shows that the industry has remained unaffected by
the strike.The past has offered an answer, but what about the present and the future? Prices for sports cards haven’t all steadily increased across the board. It has been found that some sports cards have already been returning toward the value they were at before the industry boomed. Specific examples include Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant cards that took about a 70% dip in the middle of 2021 compared to the beginning as stated by sportscardinvestor.com. Why are card prices dropping? Throughout 2021, more people have been able to leave their homes. It has been thought that with more people working and being occupied, fewer people are collecting cards. With less people in the market for cards , there isn’t as large of a demand, and the supply isn’t as limited. Although lower-end cards, such as base cards, have been decreasing in value, hobby boxes are still steadily popular as they have been more widely distributed in local department stores for months now. With various drops in prices, more people who have the time for a new hobby could potentially get back into sports cards. Cardlines.com suggests that digital trading cards and NFTs will soon partake more heavily in the multi-million dollar industry. Speaking of millions, By 2027, it has been recently predicted by prnewswire.com that the sports card industry in America will be worth over 60 million dollars. As a final answer, while sports cards have boomed throughout 2020, it seems as if most of them have been quietly receding in the direction of the original values instead of soaring even higher. Based on current statistics, sports cards are being and will be bought and sold as it is still a popular hobby and business. New series and types will still be manufactured like they are each year with a probable conjuncture of digital trading and marketing across different platforms.
