One possible explanation to this could be the sheer volume of baseball cards dating back to the 1900s, where as the other sports didn't have anywhere near the volume until much later. While the 50s and 60s were loaded with Topps aseball cards (as well as some others and a variety of oddball/regional sets), basketball only really had 2 major sets of significance, both also relatively small in size. I'm sure there were some regional/oddball sets for basketball too, but nothing in comparison to baseball.
Basketball came back in the 70s, but once more lost traction (aside from Star) until well into the 80s.
Football seemed to have hit it's stride in the 50s and has kept up fairly well.
Hockey was also pumping out sets in the 50s and on, but the US market was probably a sliver of the total market. Hockey is one sport that never captured my interest even at all from a card standpoint until the 90s, although I bought a few packs in 1979 and 1980.
The numbers seem to reflect that pretty closely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shouldabeena10
I check the total number of sports cards listed on eBay a few times a year to try and determine where the 4 main sports are trending. Baseball is usually 40% to 50% of all the cards listed. Football is usually 25% to 30%. Then Basketball and Hockey combined usually make up that last 25% to 30%. Honestly, It hasn't changed much in the past decade... except that the beginning and ends of sports seasons typically show rises and falls.
Basketball (and surprisingly to me, hockey) have both moved up the most. The past couple of years Basketball seems to have made the biggest increases in popularity, although it's still nowhere near football. As an example, here's today's number of total listings:
Baseball: 12,473,181
Football: 6,228,014
Hockey: 3,485,856
Basketball: 3,290,268
Football and Basketball are both down a little today. Basketball is usually in 3rd place, and football is usually a little over half of baseball.
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I'm guessing that in another 40+ years, people will be talking about the next GOAT and likely comparing him to that old timer Brady.