joelsabi
11-21-2011, 06:42 PM
With the possibility of the NBA lockout lasting an entire season, what will happen to collecting NBA memorabilia. Just wanted members thoughts and whether there is any comparison to the baseball strike of 1994. Is it a good time to buy while demand is low for NBA memorabilia?
I would also be interested in people's anecdote of their collecting habits back in 1994 when the baseball strike was happening.
Back in 1994, I used to help out with my brother-in-law who set up a table at the baseball card mall show circuit in socal. He sold primarily common and stars from the 60's, 70s and 80's and I liked to speculate on top rookies. Back then, you could sell baseball cards any time of year even if it was basketball or football season. For example, during basketball season, it was still a 60-40 ratio on baseball to basketball sales.
When the baseball strike hit in August of 1994, things changed. It was difficult to sell any baseball cards at the shows. Some of the later card issues for baseball for 1994 were totally bypassed by the collectors and collectors moved out of baseball completely and started to collect football. Many dealers who specialized in hot baseball prospect and rookies lost all their sales potential and never return to the card show circuit. Many of our regular customers voiced their disgust toward the greed of the players and being disenchanted with the national pastime. Many left the card show circuit altogether. Based on our inventory of primarily baseball cards, it just wasn't wise to set up shop at the mall shows and now barely cover show expenses. I felt bad for the dealers that were selling cards for a living.
We knew the mall show weren't going to be the same again and we stopped doing shows in September of 1995, the week Ripken broke the consecutive game streak. At that show, I had seen a boat load of Ripken best rookie cards and it gave me perspective on the rarity of cards from the 1980's and up. That was the day to sell your Ripken RC card if there ever was a time for it.
I would also be interested in people's anecdote of their collecting habits back in 1994 when the baseball strike was happening.
Back in 1994, I used to help out with my brother-in-law who set up a table at the baseball card mall show circuit in socal. He sold primarily common and stars from the 60's, 70s and 80's and I liked to speculate on top rookies. Back then, you could sell baseball cards any time of year even if it was basketball or football season. For example, during basketball season, it was still a 60-40 ratio on baseball to basketball sales.
When the baseball strike hit in August of 1994, things changed. It was difficult to sell any baseball cards at the shows. Some of the later card issues for baseball for 1994 were totally bypassed by the collectors and collectors moved out of baseball completely and started to collect football. Many dealers who specialized in hot baseball prospect and rookies lost all their sales potential and never return to the card show circuit. Many of our regular customers voiced their disgust toward the greed of the players and being disenchanted with the national pastime. Many left the card show circuit altogether. Based on our inventory of primarily baseball cards, it just wasn't wise to set up shop at the mall shows and now barely cover show expenses. I felt bad for the dealers that were selling cards for a living.
We knew the mall show weren't going to be the same again and we stopped doing shows in September of 1995, the week Ripken broke the consecutive game streak. At that show, I had seen a boat load of Ripken best rookie cards and it gave me perspective on the rarity of cards from the 1980's and up. That was the day to sell your Ripken RC card if there ever was a time for it.