Baseball Cards Value from the '80s, '90s, Today

Growing up, my father got me into collecting baseball cards. I was told about how all my packs of 1986 Topps would have a incredibly high value. I supposed that '80s and '90s baseball cards were my dad's way of teaching me about long-term investing.

Fortunately, I wasn't the one who spent the money on the baseball cards.

Baseball cards have decreased in popularity since the late 1980s. Sales have dropped 80 percent since the '90s, while 90 percent of baseball card shops around the USA have closed. The value of baseball cards continues to plummet.

What has happened to the baseball card industry? Will it recover from its extended depression? Does the industry need to change their model? Will baseball cards ever have the same value as before the 80s?

Here are seven elements that have and continue to eliminate the popularity of baseball cards and their value.

Baseball Cards Value #1: Mass Production
At one time, it was just a handful of companies that were involved in baseball cards. By the 90s, there were so many companies in the business of selling baseball cards, and many of these companies had numerous yearly sets. There were so many reproduced cards produced from the 90s that it eliminated the value of baseball cards in comparison to before the 80s.

Baseball Cards Value #2: Mass Collectors
When I started collecting baseball cards, I knew nothing about baseball; my father purchased the majority of the baseball cards. He was suckered into believing the long-term investing intelligence of purchasing a large quantity of baseball cards.

He was not the only one. Many kids and parents collected baseball cards during the 80s and 90s. Such high demand created more supply. More reproduction means less rarity. Less rarity means less future value.

Baseball Cards Value #3 Japanimation
Pokemon's popularity increased immensely during the 90s. Since then, Yu-Gi-Oh! has been the fascination of young minds. As card companies were making a fortune off these card games, the baseball card industry lost consumers. Considering that baseball card collecting was targeted toward kids, baseball card companies have failed to recapture the interest of many kids. Instead, they have needed to re-brand themselves toward an older audience who used to collect cards when they were kids.

Baseball Cards Value #4: Steroids Era
The idea of baseball card collecting is long-term investing. You purchase baseball cards and hope to establish a profitable portfolio by adulthood.

How do you invest in players when every year, you are worried that players are under steroid scrutiny? When documents like the Mitchell Report fly over the head of Major League Baseball, you do not truly know who is clean. In our risk-averse society, are people going to spend big money on a baseball card industry that continues to decline and whose players may be found as cheaters at any moment?

Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds; baseball's biggest superstars from the 90s, all claimed or proven cheaters. Can you invest with such skepticism?

Baseball Cards Value #5: Prices
Some packs of cards cost $4. Some boxes of cards cost over $50. Are people going to spend this much money on something without knowing what they are getting? It priced out of my range a few years ago.

Baseball Cards Value #6: Internet
There are two ways to look at how the internet has led to the demise of baseball cards. These are online card shops and technology expansion.

Online auctioning sites like eBay have made it simple to buy what you want. Before, you either needed to trade, shop at card shops, or buy packs of cards until you got that Griffey card you craved. Now, you can probably find it on eBay. eBay has also given a venue for baseball card enthusiasts to shop for older baseball cards.

Technology expansion revolves around changing customs through technology. My interest in baseball cards soured upon the internet. While I realized the value of my baseball cards were low, I still enjoyed having the statistical background of each player and the look of certain cards. Once internet came, I didn't need that. I can get all the stats I want online, and if I really wanted too, I could probably find the same picture online as was on the piece of cardboard.

Baseball Cards Value #7: Lingering Effect
Baseball card collectors are reluctant to pursue the market because of the 80s and 90s. People like my father spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on these pieces of cardboard to find out the value is not what was expected.

Can the Baseball Cards Industry be Rescued?
The baseball cards industry faces a tough challenge. Generation Z's interests are with Japanimation cards and technology. Many of them do not feel the need or see the point in adapting to baseball card collecting. Early Generation Y'ers still look negatively upon the baseball cards industry from their long-term investment failure of purchasing baseball cards from the 80s and 90s. Late Generation Y'ers and beyond may be out of the age of collecting baseball cards or have realized the benefits of pursuing baseball cards before the 80s.

Who does the baseball cards industry need to target, or what do they need to do to improve sales?

Similarly to CDs, they seem to need to come up with a strategy to implement technology with their baseball cards. If they refuse to do this, then they will fade out, just like CDs. Even if they focus on groups other than Generation Z, they risk phasing themselves out once older generations move on and younger generations have not adapted to the interests.

Of course, keep your cards just in case.