It used to be that sports trading cards came in packs of 10 with a stick of gum. You could find them in the candy section of any store, with names like Topps leading the way. In the mid-1970s, a pack only cost a dime and kids either collected for the sake of collecting or stuck them in their bicycle spokes to hear the clack-clack-clack of the cards as they rode.
Now, sports trading cards is big business. If you want to know how much the industry has changed in the last 50 years, Dylan and Cameron Sebuck of Bucks Sports Cards in Mount Pleasant can tell you far more than you might ever guess.
“Sports cards are still a big business due to the fact of being able to chase that big hit. People feel nostalgia and love to buy and invest in players they can watch at home on their TV and maybe make money while doing it. It’s almost like the sports stock market in a sense,” said Dylan, who started the business with his brother in 2024 after his college football stint at the University of South Carolina. Cameron too played college baseball for Coastal Carolina University.
Based on a 2021 report by Market Decipher, a research and consultancy firm based in Pune, India, with a presence in the U.S., the sports trading cards market is projected to reach a value of $49.37 million by 2032 – up 301% from 2021.
Dylan pointed out that rather than buying cards in packs at the candy store, collectors now utilize technology in a way that only a short time ago would have been unavailable. “Buying into breaks online, cards online and boxes online is a huge part of the business today,” he said. “The majority of our business is still online to this day.”
For example, suppose you are interested in purchasing a team box of the NFL’s Detroit Lions, but can’t afford the $2,000 cost. Bucks gives you the ability to purchase it at a fraction of that cost, then receive every Detroit Lions card that comes out of the product, with a chance to realize a big payday.
“You can open a box and potentially hit a million-dollar card,” Cameron said. “One of our customers was able to feel this thrill right in our local shop.”
Cards that Cameron and Dylan have dealt with directly include:
- 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan, PSA 6, valued at $4,708.17 by PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) authentication.
- Jayden Daniels Donruss Downtown, PSA 10, valued by Sports Cards Pro at $2,637.50.
- Soccer player Lamine Yamal, Chrome Sapphire national debut #10, valued at $2,230 by comc.com, which describes itself as “the world’s largest trading card marketplace.”
Of course, collectors can also end up with time-honored legends, such as:
- 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311, SGC, valued at $9.5- $12.6 million (record sale August 2022).
- 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth, SGC VG 3 – $7.2 million (as of December 2023).
“Cameron and I have always been interested in the hobby of sports cards,” Dylan said. “My grandfather and dad got us into it at quite a young age, but it wasn’t until college where we really got into it heavily. We figured it was a great time to take the risk and give it our best. We started online only and six months later we opened up our first brick-and-mortar shop.”
By L. C. Leach III
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