Written By Jeffrey Reed
Today, as we groan about the price of eggs and butter, sports memorabilia collectors have no problem shelling out their hard-earned wages for a bubblegum card, jersey or bobblehead of their favourite player.
A recent report from research firm Market Decipher says today’s $34-billion US global sports memorabilia market – a record number – will grow to $271 billion US by 2034. Fueled by our emotional attachment – new and nostalgic – to athletes and teams, as well as by an escalating number of investors, the market also saw a big boost during the COVID-19 pandemic when we returned to our hobbies.
I used my time during the pandemic to complete my collection of Original Six hockey sweaters – home and away – including authentic Max Domi Montreal Canadiens sweaters. I’ve never been an autograph hound – not even before I started my career as a sports journalist – but for me, there’s something special about those NHL sweaters which bring back memories of my childhood.
One of my favourite summer jobs saw me package baseball cards and bubblegum at London’s O-Pee-Chee factory. Currently, sports trading cards are part of a $15-billion US global market. According to Market Decipher, there’s much more money spent on items including game-worn jerseys. The jersey Babe Ruth wore when he called his home run shot to centre field during the 1932 World Series recently fetched more than $24 million.
So, while our economy worsens, sports memorabilia buying and selling is experiencing a bullish market. Why? Besides the factor of emotional attachment, the hobby is a diversion from a world which seems upside down. There’s a reason why Major League Baseball continued during WWII as U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraged MLB to stay active in order to boost morale and provide a sense of normalcy for Americans.
Chicago’s Michael Osacky, one of the world’s leading memorabilia appraisers and owner of Baseball In The Attic, told me that at a recent National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlantic City, which saw record attendance, he “couldn’t believe the number of kids … being dropped off by their parents and going from booth to booth, table to table, in search of modern basketball cards.
Osacky called teenagers “the lifeblood of the sports collectibles hobby. For them to be interested in this hobby is important, because for many years all kids wanted to do was play video games and stare at their iPhones.”
Yahoo! Finance echoes Market Decipher’s findings with its prediction that the business of collecting sports cards and memorabilia will reach $242 billion US by 2032.
What about local sports memorabilia – say, a vintage Strathroy Blades hockey sweater? While the market for local items is considerably smaller, for the right person, that piece of history may be more valuable than a Max Domi sweater – but still far shy of The Babe’s jersey.
Award-winning writer
Jeffrey Reed has covered Middlesex County sports since 1980. He is publisher and editor of LondonOntarioSports.com. Reach him at
jeff@londonontariosports.com.
