Why baseball cards versus other sports cards?

[hermanotarjeta]

Besides love for the sport, what specific features of baseball and baseball cards makes it more appealing for you to collect/invest than other sports such as football, basketballl, hockey, ufc, non-sports, etc?

You can open wax, put sets together, and grade all other sports, what makes baseball unique for you?

How would you try to convince collectors of other sports to try baseball?

[SupermanBrandon]

I love baseball more than any other sport /thread

[JeffG1954]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

What specific features of baseball and baseball cards makes it more appealing for you to collect/invest than other sports such as football, basketballl, hockey, ufc, non-sports, etc?

You can open wax, put sets together, and grade all other sports, what makes baseball unique for you?

I played the game for 30+ years in one form or another....can't skate, only played football and basketball for 3 or 4 years each.

[hermanotarjeta]

But outside the love for the sport, what makes the sport unique to you from the collecting perspective?

Is it more frequent games? Minor league system? Topps?

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

Baseball is far and away my favorite sport. I also posses the “collector’s gene”, I just collect stuff. But over the years I’ve far over myself to really limit what I collect, so it’s just baseball cards right now. For me, I just enjoy seeing Marlins players and the players on my fantasy team play, and then shopping around eBay for cool cards.

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

But outside the love for the sport, what makes the sport unique to you from the collecting perspective?

Is it more frequent games? Minor league system? Topps?

To dig a little deeper into your question, I enjoy baseball cards because the average star player is in your life longer. In football, besides QBs, the average star player is gone within four years. So it’s more to have keep a PC collection going of a mid-level guy because the odds are good that even if he doesn’t make the HOF, he’ll still be around for a while and maybe even make the HoVG one day.

[REGGIE206]

I love the long history of baseball cards compared to the other sports

[NYBBFAN]

Originally Posted by SupermanBrandon

I love baseball more than any other sport /thread

This is it ^

[NYRE2PECT]

Originally Posted by NYBBFAN

This is it ^

+1 for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jolten Joe]

simple nobody want's to collect Hockey/Basketball because they can't pronounce 95% of the players names. And the only players in Football that are collectible are QB's meaning 99% of the box is complete trash.

[hairysasquatch]

Originally Posted by REGGIE206

I love the long history of baseball cards compared to the other sports

This is also my reason.

Originally Posted by Jolten Joe

And the only players in Football that are collectible are QB's meaning 99% of the box is complete trash.

Poopnini ruined football.

[Rememberthepast]

The deeper dive for me it’s mixing collecting and gambling. The baseball card market ranges from penny stocks (new bowman releases) to blue chip stocks (vintage).

[base set]

Because I read the backs of the cards.

[Chris P]

I think for me, I've gravitated to baseball cards more than football and basketball because baseball still has products to open that aren't at ridiculous price points. Flagship, Stadium Club, Ginter X etc. Even some of the pricier options like Chrome Update Sapphire which was what $125 or so at release is wayyy cheaper than a similar product in football/basketball. $125 barely gets you a box of Hoops and I don't know what it gets it in you football. I haven't ripped Basketball/Football in a couple years because the prices are so ridiculous, nothing ever seems worth opening. Baseball just seems to have more offerings where you can still have chances at monster cards at a reasonable price

[oldgoldy97]

I love the ambiguity of not knowing what you’re pulling. The other sports make it way too easy. Is it a rookie? Is it a prospect? Is it a vet? Fun!

[Triple B]

I'm born and raised in Toronto in a low-income community. Hockey is king here. I don't play hockey, I can't skate to save my life and my parents certainly couldn't afford the expanse. I grew up playing baseball because it was a cheap sport to play, it took me away from "the ghetto" for a few hours and it allowed me to forget the sh*t parts of my childhood.

I put sets of 1987, 1988 and 1989 Topps together and I've been hooked ever since. All of the card shows here from 1988 to 2010 were 95% hockey cards. Dealers became more intelligent from a money-making perspective and latched on to baseball and basketball (and to a lesser extent, football) and the gap has closed considerably in the last few years.

Baseball is my escape. It's cerebral and the "games within the game" has always intrigued me. Football is the same (where one move is used to counter another and is very cerebral), but baseball is what I love most. Baseball cards are unique because you have two shots at a player...their Bowman 1st and then their Rookie Season. No other sport offers that.

Great thread. It'll be fascinating to see what people say.

[ThoseBackPages]

Pedigree.

it's why we argue so much about the continuity of Rookie Cards.

Football would be second in that conversation, as there was continuity from 1956 to 2015 with Topps NFL

Hockey and Basketball were not taken seriously as a card sport by Topps until the 1990s, with them taking years off at a time for each.

Michael Jordan doesnt even have anything close to a Topps Rookie Card (at least Brady was in Bowman)

[cardsin47]

Baseball is / probably will always be ‘the King’ of all Sports in the Sportscard Market. Maximizes options to buy / sell / trade with the largest number of fellow Collectors

[BigRedMachine80]

Baseball is the only sport I follow / love. I like Hockey but haven't watched in years as I don't have a team. I hate basketball with a passion. Football is alright, but don't watch for a number of reasons and haven't for the past 10+ years.

[rfgilles]

Baseball is life.

[chris_ac]

I have bought all 4 sports in various quantities since the mid 90s as a pre-teen. To stick to the hobby focus of your question, it is not unique. I'm a unicorn the fact I've stared at all 4 for all these years because of the noted pessimist echoed above me who dislike 1-3 of the other leagues. The others sports have similarities that if you dislike them, it's nitpicking. Hockey has tobacco/pre-war. Basketball/football has 50/60s vintage. All 4 have decadent 90s sets that attract attention. Yes, they went their separate ways once exclusives took hold but Panini vs Topps vs UD is all relative imho.

Hooking a collector/buyer into baseball for the 1st time from the other 3 depends on the person. Point of their hobby? Investor/reseller? Cause if they do not have a team or player that can attach to in anyway with baseball, it will be tough to open a product and find something they can translate. We know buyers traversed the sports where 90's insert sets that were made in multiples. To come in today cold feet and firmly plant, you better give them an "angle" they can see when picking baseball cards to buy. Prospects or vets or rookie driven? Baseball team in the city they live? Better help them find it.

People have bought and then come here on BO and ask "is this any good?" Well that can vary/change also.

But for digressing opinion (which doesn't help the answer you're looking for) baseball is not unique in this hobby other than the Bowman prospects and it ends there. If your new friend can stare at minor leaguers card in MLB uniforms and figure out what to do with them, then that's a possibility. But for vets/rookies, the other 3 sports offer that already. Does Topps sets (alive now in Fanatics derivatives) find their attention changing lanes like you want them to do?

Need a dangle but what do they want/wish?

More info required of said newbies to "convince."

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

But outside the love for the sport, what makes the sport unique to you from the collecting perspective?

Is it more frequent games? Minor league system? Topps?

By all accounts, in terms of fan surveys, avg attendance and viewership ratings, Football is the most popular sport in the US. However Baseball cards still reign supreme in terms of popularity (compare the number of threads/posts on blowout in Baseball vs Football or basketball, or look at the number of listings in the ebay trading card singles category by sport: Baseball has about twice that of football, which is around tied with basketball, or go to random card show and compare offerings by sport).

So this demands an explanation.

It so happens that card collectors in the overall sense seem to gravitate towards baseball the most. I think there are reasons for this. Back in the day, 'trading cards' generally meant baseball cards. They have a richer, more consistent history, with Topps going back to 52. A lot of collectors now are in the >35 years old age range. They collected/grew up with cards in the 80s and early 90s, when baseball was dominating the market. It was common to be in little league baseball, collect baseball cards, etc. Yes other sports would cause sporadic hype sensations in cards, such as the 86 Fleer Jordan RC, 1980 Topps Bird/Johnson/Erving, 89 Score Barry Sanders, NBA hoops set was popular and common, but overall, print runs in baseball during this era dominated, and go to a card show, say in the early 90s and it was probably like 80-90% baseball*. Beckett Baseball was by far the leading sports card magazine.

I think a lot of the above is why card collectors seem to skew baseball over other sports, despite the discrepancy in popularity. There is no question the gap has closed some since the 80s and 90s (and prior eras)...football and basketball cards today are a lot bigger than they used to be. Go to a card show, or look at the Target retail shelf, and you'll see all kinds of basketball and football products.

There are other factors: The QB or nothing mentality in football, players on football cards being under a helmet, etc. In terms of aesthetic, I can see arguments for baseball- the sport seems conducive to the concept of a trading card- it is a classic look of a player swinging a bat on a card, or (back in the day more), posing with a bat in hand. In football Im not sure the action translates as well to a card, either just catching the ball, throwing the ball, or just a payer setting up to defend. In basketball yes slam dunking motion is neat to see on a card, but otherwise it's mostly just someone with a ball- either dribbling or in shooting motion. Baseball cards can be batting, running the base paths, in mid-pitching motion, fielding, etc, good variety.

*: however it was actually a Marvel set, of all sets, that was to be the top selling product in 1992- Marvel universe series 3, if accounts from Skybox are to be believed. Even beating out baseball giants like 1992 Topps and Upper Deck. If anyone did collect cards as a kid around that 1990-1995 era, they very well might have collected Marvel cards, since Impel/Skybox/Fleer were putting out such a stellar product during those years.

[oplum29]

Originally Posted by REGGIE206

I love the long history of baseball cards compared to the other sports

this! my first love was baseball. i played baseball, watched baseball, played baseball video games, and collected baseball cards. i grew up in that golden age of baseball, MY golden age at least.

i'm talking about:

Jose Canseco was a GOD in baseball. it was Canseco, and then everybody else. people who didn't grow up with Canseco will never realize just how monster of a ballplayer he was. he was iconic. he was bigger than the game. he was a pop culture icon. he was mentioned in movies, dated Madonna, had the badass forearm Bash Brothers thing with McGwire. my goodness, Canseco was awesome.

and then The Kid was coming up, and he was the "new generation" player that MLB needed. everybody wanted to be the kid. hit like him, swing a bat like him, play defense like him, wear the eye black and have an earing like he did, and wear their hat backwards like he did. he was cool. i still have Ken Griffey Jr baseball for the SNES. he was the face of Upper Deck. Griffey was the Jordan of baseball. he brought in the kids.

then we had The Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, one of the best nicknames in all of baseball.

the 90's were so much fun for baseball. the players and the teams. Nolan Ryan beating up Robin Ventura. Nolan bleeding on the mound and still pitching...he embodied everything Texas.

i grew up a Braves fan because they were on TBS all the time.

but it wasn't just that. think about how iconic baseball was at the time.

Major League 1 and 2. Rookie of the Year. The Sandlot. Little Big League. A League of Their Own. Field of Dreams. The Scout.

and it wasn't just that. there was the baseball scenes from Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Naked Gun, Richie Rich, Casper having the autographed Don Drysdale baseball, and the Jim Carey movie where the kid wants to be Hideo Nomo and his dad be Jose Canseco. there was was the movie The Fan with DeNiro and Snipes.

yes....baseball was king.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by SupermanBrandon

I love baseball more than any other sport /thread

This...

Also, the fact that because baseball has the longest history and all positions are equal means that you have a lot more retired player content.

[NYRE2PECT]

Originally Posted by oplum29

this! my first love was baseball. i played baseball, watched baseball, played baseball video games, and collected baseball cards. i grew up in that golden age of baseball, MY golden age at least.

i'm talking about:

Jose Canseco was a GOD in baseball. it was Canseco, and then everybody else. people who didn't grow up with Canseco will never realize just how monster of a ballplayer he was. he was iconic. he was bigger than the game. he was a pop culture icon. he was mentioned in movies, dated Madonna, had the badass forearm Bash Brothers thing with McGwire. my goodness, Canseco was awesome.

and then The Kid was coming up, and he was the "new generation" player that MLB needed. everybody wanted to be the kid. hit like him, swing a bat like him, play defense like him, wear the eye black and have an earing like he did, and wear their hat backwards like he did. he was cool. i still have Ken Griffey Jr baseball for the SNES. he was the face of Upper Deck. Griffey was the Jordan of baseball. he brought in the kids.

then we had The Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, one of the best nicknames in all of baseball.

the 90's were so much fun for baseball. the players and the teams. Nolan Ryan beating up Robin Ventura. Nolan bleeding on the mound and still pitching...he embodied everything Texas.

i grew up a Braves fan because they were on TBS all the time.

but it wasn't just that. think about how iconic baseball was at the time.

Major League 1 and 2. Rookie of the Year. The Sandlot. Little Big League. A League of Their Own. Field of Dreams. The Scout.

and it wasn't just that. there was the baseball scenes from Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Naked Gun, Richie Rich, Casper having the autographed Don Drysdale baseball, and the Jim Carey movie where the kid wants to be Hideo Nomo and his dad be Jose Canseco. there was was the movie The Fan with DeNiro and Snipes.

yes....baseball was king.

I do remember watching a lot of Braves (TBS) and Cubs (WGN) baseball, even on the west coast.

[Twalk1975]

For someone my age, THE card from my early days of collecting was the 89 UD Griffey. No other card from those years, including football and basketball had the same significance at that time. Is an 86 Jordan worth more today? Yes, but back then nobody wanted it like they did the Griffey. It's always been baseball for me...