Why Is Sports Memorabilia So Collected?

We don’t have to tell anyone that, economically, the current state of affairs is less than ideal. Between the past election year’s uncertainties (and the fear of what some folks think is “certain”) and the international craziness that seems to prevail from Brexit fears to idiot terrorist activities, economic issues are considered “shaky” at best.

But people do not like to be denied having their fun! So, many folks are considering new ways of combining their investments with means of entertainment! As one recent economic observer said on television recently, “People are putting their investments into ‘hard goods’ they can look at appreciate while they hope the value continues to grow.” These goods come from historical items, entertainment relics…and certainly the field of sports memorabilia.

This may well explain the recent growth in the prices of quality sports memorabilia in general—and baseball memorabilia in particular—across the nation over the last several months. Even though disposable income is not exactly free-flowing for everyone, there is a solid market for high-end collectible baseball items as has been witnessed in recent auction results:

• Pete Rose Autographed Lineup Card from the game in which he recorded hit 4,192 to surpass Ty Cobb’s MLB record ($11,637.50)
• 1963 Mickey Mantle Topps #200 PSA MINT 9 ($11,637.50)
• Ichiro Rookie Season Game-used and signed bat ($11,025.00)

Of course, those are some pretty iconic items and have auction prices to match. But even for the more “down to earth” collector prices are seemingly outperforming traditional “investments” rather handily. And, let’s face it, for the baseball fan the T206 Tobacco cards, Babe Ruth items, Hall of Famer cards and pieces of memorabilia that are all selling for four, and sometimes five figure amounts are a lot more fun to display than stock certificates! The owners get to enjoy what they have.

Baseballia truly enjoys bringing our customers top flight baseball cards and memorabilia as we are able. Indeed, over the next few weeks we will be making available pieces for a wide variety of baseball interests. There is a Curt Flood autographed letter that is beautiful for its content as well as its autograph. A fun and interesting press release involving the 1968 All-Star Game at Houston that has the accompanying photo of Curt Gowdy, Sandy Koufax and Pee Wee Reese (they called the game for NBC). A high grade complete set of 1961 Golden Press cards already slabbed and graded by PSA. These are just a few of the items coming soon.

Of course, not all sports related items are worth collecting from a financial point of view. In order to qualify as potentially valuable a piece needs to have some combination of factors in its favor. These factors include aspects of scarcity (that is why the thousands of cases of baseball cards from 1989 have no value), condition, visual appeal, player connection (Mickey Mantle items will likely always be “worth” more than, say, Jerry Lumpe collectibles), and uniqueness.

Additionally, some sports items that would normally be overlooked or relatively meaningless may be sought after (and thus accrue value) because of association.  For example, a ticket stub from a mid-August game between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays is generally nothing to hold on to. However, if that particular game happened to feature a no-hitter or a player reaching some milestone, well now you have a bona fide collectible.

It is truly one of the reasons Baseballia continues such a love affair with the cards and memorabilia of our national past time. It has a great selection of items from the earliest days of professional baseball to the present heroes of the diamonds in several countries. So here’s a thought…the next time you want to rip open a few packs  of baseball cards looking for the latest rookie prospect, you might want to consider a vintage item or two as well.