The Declining Health of the Sports Card Trading Industry

During the 70’s and 80’s and even the onset of the 90’s sports card collectors were reaping the benefits of a immensely popluar industry. Card sales were on the rise as each month Beckett was reporting index increases in card values. Catalog companies such as Topps and Upper Deck could not print fast enough to support upgrowth with the demand from the public. There was even a point when sports cards were almost worth their collective weight in filthy lucre. Convention halls were regularly chock-full with rabid fans agog to spend money to either obtain old collectible cards or the new coveted inserts. To many collectors this occasion can be referred to as “the good times.”
Time has not been so kind to the sports card industry and as with the Pittsburgh Pirates it has endured nearly twenty years of losing, losing money, losing collectors, losing sight of their dreams. Today you can head over to eBay and find in two seconds what would take the collectors of yesterday years to come up with. Not only that but you will be able to obtain cards at bottom of the barrel prices. Rookie cards of legends that would command hundreds on the open market are coming up to yield $10-$20 dollars for your routine seller. Luxurious names like Gretzky, Griffey, and Bird we’re now merely relinquished to becoming the bottom of local bar coasters around the country.
So what happened to this once popular and precious industry? Why did it boom so quickly and plummet so fast? It’s tough to say really but to start, many stare at the sanctions piled on the card industry during the Clinton years. During the mid-90’s it was common knowledge that China had it in for the card industry. Our government was trying to improve relations between the Chinese government and ours. For years efforts were made to go into a global economy putting China and the U.S. at the forefront of matters and although relations were improved and economies grew it did not come without a price.
Only a few short years later would it come to be learned that the reasons for the U.S. government’s increased pressure on the card industry was in direct reconciliation with the government’s dealings with China. Chinese officials wouldn't “play ball” with the U.S. government unless the U.S. collapsed the trading card market. This is the type of talk you would think you only hear about in secret conspiracy theorist meetings. Over the years it seems more and more likely it may be fact.
As a card collector myself I frequently look back to my fond memories of “the good times,” remembering all the great cards I worked so hard to get and cherish. Until the card industry finds a way to operate around the government sanctions against it though, that’s all it will ever be, just memories.



This article is by Burt McGillicutty. Burt is an avid card collector and works for a Basement Finishing St. Louis contractor when he is not admiring his card collection.