Collecting The Sports Fans For Most Buyers, Sellers At Show, It’s Not Just The Money, It’s The Love
When someone asks him about the autographed Alex Rodriguez baseball bat, the vendor points to a photo of the Mariners slugger signing it.
There have been so many fake John Hancocks floating around, the seller concedes, it often takes hard proof to get collectors to part with $145 for such finds.
And then there’s the huge number of trading cards companies cranked out in recent years, flooding and devaluing the market. At the same time, new-card prices rose.
Business was steady at this weekend’s sports memorabilia and collectibles show at Silver Lake Mall. “But nothing like it was in the early ‘90s,” vendor Tom Ricketts laments.
So why were they in this trade in the first place? Because true devotees still buy the cards.
“The people that buy this stuff don’t care about the value,” says seller and hobbyist John Cavanaugh. “They want it, and they buy it. They’ve got the love.”
Although fair-weather collectors have switched to other investments, real sports fans are still clamoring for that original Babe Ruth or Nolan Ryan card. Cavanaugh’s one of them.
The smiling retiree who looks a little like Santa Claus isn’t in the sports card business to enhance his portfolio. It’s just a way of ensuring an endless turnover of cards.
“This way, I get the stuff that I want,” Cavanaugh says.
Just about then, a man strides up to the table and asks those musical words: “Got any Mantles?”
He gives his name only as Randy - he doesn’t want the whole world to know about his collection. It’s not just paranoia: Randy has about 30 Mickey Mantle cards, including one worth about $25,000. “It’s in mint condition,” he says, voice lowered.
Randy keeps that one locked up in a safe-deposit box. Most of the Mantle cards were gifts from his father, who bought them as a child.
A true collector, Randy eyes Cavanaugh’s wares carefully, pointing out the cards with crisp, sharp edges and those rounded off with wear.
There’s more to determining card values than rarity and condition, though. Player misconduct can crash market value faster than the Exxon Valdez.
Take Michael Irvin, the Dallas Cowboys’ all-star receiver who pleaded no-contest to cocaine possession after a March arrest.
“People laugh,” says the show’s promoter, Lynn Oliff, describing a typical collector’s reaction to an Irvin card. “They don’t want anything to do with it.”
As a testament to the American legal system, however, one vendor says original O.J. Simpson cards are rising in value.
But while sports fans banter about such phenomena at card shows, something must keep their families occupied.
That’s where the other collectibles come in.
“I call it the ‘arm-puller,”’ Oliff says, obviously proud of the strategy. “The wives are busy while the husbands work us over.”
He was referring to the booths with porcelain Betty Boops. Shoppers could also pick up a James Dean doll and not one, but six different miniature Marilyn Monroes.
Shoppers could even pick up an entire set of Fab Four figures. For the sci-fi set, there was even a booth stocked with Star Wars and Superman cards, and Star Trek dinnerware.
“We even go to car shows,” vendor Diane Davis says, surrounded by nostalgic stuff. “We can fit into any kind of show.”
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