Baseball card bubble?

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by mferronibc

I promise I don't have any political underpinnings to this just curiosity. I don't really understand why stimulus checks drive the card market. 1) I would imagine the people capable of dropping many hundreds/thousands of dollars on cards even before the pandemic (the real drivers of the bubble right now) make way too much money to qualify for a check. 2) I realize I have no bearing on telling people how to spend their money but isn't the intent of stimulus checks now to help people struggling to pay rent, bills, put food on the table? If that many people use $600-2000 instantly to buy baseball cards when they have all of those expenses what does that say about people's spending choices? (regardless of any trickle down effect to the overall economy)

In very simple terms (and because this is a generality this does not apply to everyone in the same way), many people who did not need money had

1) More time on their hands as either having time off from work or transitioning to Work From Home (WFH)

2) Had their old cards in the closet and realized what fun they had as kids during the boom market and went back

3) Realized the market was in an upswing and people like getting into an up market.

4) Was BORED with watching a screen all day for work and liked a distraction.

5) Without the hobby stores being open, the big box stores you went to for groceries or other items were also the primary place to purchase new boxes. Yep, more competition for a growing up sells more cards.

I'm sure there are more but these are pretty good reasons

Rich