Basketball cards, football cards, baseball cards, and all manner of sports cards have been around since the middle of the 20th century. The early 90’s was a great period in basketball and other games, with athletes like Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen and Reggie Miller doing amazing things on the basketball court. The fad of collecting basketball cards was never higher at this time, with a number of successful companies trying to be the most valuable.
It was always young children, of course, who would decide these cards were valuable. One of the simplest ways to tell which card was worth the most was by the popularity of the athlete on the card. A Michael Jordan card would be more valuable than a Luc Longley, for example. But also available were special cards, which included gimmicks like holograms and shiny material to be worth more, and make the image more attractive.
The companies that made these cards saw a great deal of money in this time. Fleer cards were generally considered to be of high quality, while Topps cards could at this time never seem to be quite as stylish as the rest. The most popular, though, were those from the Upper Deck brand. With each card presented in smooth, crisp detail and a small hologram declaring it to be official Upper Deck merchandise on the back, these cards were the one most looked for by kids in the schoolyard.
The question is often put forth: Why do children place so much value on these little pieces of card? At first, it seems like a fair question. The material used by the cards cannot possibly be worth anywhere near what the producer has paid to create them, or what any of the objects are worth. It’s only the fact that a lot of different people agree on a card being valuable or not valuable that makes any value. As funny as it sounds, the perception of something being the case makes it real. When one person says a piece of cardboard is worth a heap, he’s delusional. But when many people say it, the people who disagree are missing out.
Now, this all seems to be a weird thing to think of as true, yet consider this: Why is their value to money? Do the materials of money have any real value? Of course not, greenbacks are worth something simply because everyone agrees that they are valuable. So as strange as we think the kids collecting the basketball cards are, we would think someone who didn’t care about money would be crazy, too.
Basketball cards have in these times become highly unfashionable among youngsters. While there was a momentary craze for Pokemon, the fads of today tend to be digital, with many children using mobile phones instead of cards, or pogs or yo-yos. It’s easy for us to look at them and think of how dumb they are, but were we really any better? Now here’s a scary thought: When these kids are our age, what will their kids be playing with?
