By Kyle Hymel aka FootballCardFreak
The days are now over when a plain jersey card will fetch you $20 unless it is a big name like Babe Ruth.
Nowadays a plain swatch of the average player will only fetch you about $1-2. Most plain swatches of “nobody” players will only fetch you $.50 at the most.
The worst part of this, in my opinion, is that these cards are considered “hits.” This may have been the case a few years ago but now you might as well call refractors and XFractors hits because some of them are worth more than a jersey card! Who wants to buy a $60 box with four hits and get four $2-3 jersey cards in their box as their “hits?”
On the other hand patches are still going strong. It’s just that it seems like the market is getting tired of plain old jersey swatches. Some of these aren’t even game-used as they are only worn on photo shoots or other NFL events. Some collectors really care about this fact but I am fine with it as long as it’s stated on the card that it’s not game-used. This led me to think about whether the hobby would be better if regular swatch cards were taken out altogether. Many collectors would be against it but I would actually like to see how the hobby went without plain jersey cards. I assume that many collectors would be mad, some would quit the hobby and a few will actually like it. Don’t worry though, as it would be nearly impossible to get all of the major sports card producers on the same page. As soon as one would take out jersey cards the others would advertise that they have more in their boxes.
Then I thought about what would happen if jersey cards were scaled back a bit, which is something that the hobby as a whole needs. If jersey cards weren’t mass-produced anymore, it would drive prices back up because there aren’t as many available. But in today’s world people want it and they want it now. You know that old saying, “less is more?” In today’s society, especially in card collecting, I think I can modify this statement by saying, “more is less.” This in turn produces less value for your cards and less excitement when you do get a hit because you get them all of the time.
Think about buying a box with two hits, but the hits aren’t jersey cards, just autographs. Without advertising as many hits the price of the box goes down. You pull two decent hits, nothing special, of just decent players. You think all of your hits are finished with and then you get a surprise bonus jersey card. The jersey cards are very rare and have good value since they are rarely found in packs anymore. However this will probably never happen. The more “hits” a company advertises in their box means the more money they can charge to buy their box.
The next time you buy a box with a lot of “hits,” what are you actually hitting? Is it a nice card that will give you somewhat of a return on your investment or is it a hole in your wallet?
