The Future of the Hobby?

There's been lively debate recently amongst baseball card bloggers regarding the future of the hobby. Much of it is speculation and opinion, but a few common themes keep popping up.

    • Ebay: Many believe that eBay is the future of the hobby. The already wide acceptance of the site among collectors and dealers alike has rendered it the most accurate price guide for the hobby, superseding old standbys like Beckett and Tuff Stuff. (You and I have already seen the power of eBay at work in the Ten Under Ten post. Many of those cards carry price guide list values of $35 and more.)

    • Shops & Shows: Even to the casual observer, it's obvious that there aren't as many baseball card shops or card shows as there were ten or fifteen years ago. This trend is bound to continue as shop owners realize that they must diversify and lower prices (and thus possibly not meet rent and/or stay open in their current incarnation) in order to compete with eBay and other Internet retailers.

    • Graded Cards: A 'graded' card is one that's been scrutinized by a third party and given a definite condition grade. Different third party services (like Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA) and Beckett Grading Services (BGS)) use different scales for grading, but most are between 1 and 10 or 1 and 100. While prices for ungraded or 'raw' cards generally fluctuate, many collectors gravitate to buying cards with a standard grade already assessed.
    This is an important swing in the hobby because standard Beckett and Tuff Stuff price guides currently do not cater to graded cards, though they do publish special guides. The follow-up question arises that if graded cards are the future standard for most collectors, how does that affect the values for raw ungraded cards? Will those cards have value? Or will they only achieve value with the stamp of approval from a third party grading service?

Topics: Baseball Cards , Ben Henry , Value , Speculation