When Al Savage opened All-Star Sport Collectibles in 1992, his was one of about a dozen baseball card shops in Escondido.
“Now there's one,” Savage said. “This one.”
Savage, 60, is a throwback in the business world. He has never owned a cell phone, has no e-mail address and has never used a fax machine or ATM.
Yet he is a savvy businessman, which explains why his store has survived – and even thrived – despite the baseball card industry's nationwide downturn.
“It's usually an old-timer who still has a shop because he knows how to still make money while being fair enough on his prices,” Savage said.
The baseball card business has been in steady decline for more than a decade. In 1991, it was a $1.2 billion industry, according to The Wall Street Journal. In 2005, it was valued at $250 million.
“It's in the (toilet),” said Bill Matheny, owner of a shop in Clairemont.
Shifting demographics among card collectors has contributed to the decline. A generation of children growing up in the digital age no longer sees the same attraction in playing with or collecting pieces of cardboard.
Baseball cards used to be one of the best methods for children to follow the statistics of their favorite players. The Internet can take care of that these days while providing videos and interviews with the click of a mouse.
Today's children are more likely to gravitate toward card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: The Gathering, and Pokémon, which allow them to do more than simply look at the cards.
“The kids are still spending as much money, just not on the same stuff,” Savage said.
Terry Melia, public relations manager for Carlsbad-based trading card giant Upper Deck, attributes part of the industry's decline to what he calls a “proliferation of product and card makers during the '90s who were all trying to jump on board.”
As enthusiasts started focusing on collecting only certain cards – those with autographs or tiny inserts of uniform cloth or wood from a baseball bat – the trading card companies began placing those cards in nearly every pack.
An initial increase in sales was offset by a sharp decline in the value of the cards, whose proliferation no longer warranted the attention and high prices they fetched a decade earlier.
“I kind of outgrew it,” said Mac Vail, 12, of Del Mar. “If you don't get anything valuable, you're wasting your money. I would rather buy batting gloves or other things I can actually use.”
The Internet has had a hand in reducing the traffic in many card shops. Savage estimated that store visits are 20 percent of what they were at their peak. The convenience of searching and purchasing online has doomed many card shops, leaving only 27 listed in the county.
As card shops go out of business, some children have given up the hobby altogether.
“The main reason that I stopped collecting is that the card shop near me closed down, and I don't want to have to (go) far to get them,” said Nick Gotta, 15, of Del Mar.
The Internet offers a virtually endless selection, but most collectors prefer to view the cards in person before making a purchase.
Then there are the youngsters who would rather play sports than collect sports cards.
That group includes Mac, who said:
“My dad always said, 'Real ballers play; nonballers collect.'”
Mike Kranzler is a Union-Tribune intern:
mike.kranzler@uniontrib.com
