I want your idea

[cyseymour]

One potential bbcard topic, however: The role that social media (in this case, message boards) has taken in exposing fraud in the hobby.

[brewing]

Thanks for the input.

I posted here to get ideas related to the hobby or baseball.

I like the minor league attendance topic.

I've thought about tpg's but I know my research would be slanted. I'm an SGC guy.

I'm open to more ideas that are related to the hobby or baseball. Just those please.

[Texxxx]

Lots of good ideas here. I want make suggestions as far as specifics. My only suggestion is to have a topic that your doctoral committee would be interested in. If they don't like it then it want fly to well.

[deucetwins]

Idea #1: Role of traditional scouting vs. Sabrmetrics (statistical analysis) in developing a major league roster with a sub topic on the impact that Sabrmetrics team building has had on free-agency. (I know, "Moneyball" and other books, but still interesting). Have the farm systems changed due to this?

Idea #2: Provide a convincing argument that is "for" the use of steroids and PEDs in professional sports. This will drive the purists mad.

Idea #3: I kinda like the business model idea for card shops. A comparison of several small mom and pops and how they stay afloat (what they sell (new or vintage, local, regional, or national, multiple sports, etc), clientele, and how they change or don't change business or marketing strategy to adjust to economic turns) as compared to big volume online sellers with no traditional brick and mortar front. Or a combination of all of the above. I would read it.

[Eric72]

Fraud within the hobby and its negative effect on PPF, GDP, and economic growth. Many similarly illegal activities, such as the drug trade, have been considered in this light.

[Texxxx]

Ok I will throw one out.
The economic impact that TPG's have on the collectible industry.

[JLange]

How about taking a fresh look at baseball card / collectible valuations? They have no intrinsic value like a security, and yet some sell for thousands of dollars and hold (most of) their value year after year. There are clearly supply and demand issues, but also issues related to the sales channel (auction houses, eBay, shows, private sales, etc), advertising and marketing (online and hard copy catalogs, press regarding "the Card" and rare finds, etc), and TPGs and trustworthiness in the transaction. There's also CPI and inflation in the background, presumably increasing the value of (at least some) cards regardless of supply. Also, I think it curious that the so-called heyday of baseball card collecting was the late 80s to early 90s, and yet the nation has added fully 55+ million people since that peak. Are there really less collectors (driving demand) today than back then? Finally, I for one would like to better understand the market segmentation (collectors, investors, speculators, registry competitors, etc) along with the various niche collectors (type card, team, player, set builders, subset builders, etc.). There are so many questions just around these topics alone. Good luck!

[tiger8mush]

some ideas:
- Non-professional baseball players earning money (a lot of money is made on Little League World Series but kids don't see any/much of it; College baseball players not earning money for what they bring in, etc)
- lack of popularity of college baseball compared to college football
- popularity of baseball worldwide (World Baseball Classic) - is it increasing or declining?
- increase in price to attend a baseball game - can a family afford it regularly?

[arc2q]

Brent-
I like the idea of wrapping your interest in baseball cards into the doctoral dissertation. You're going to spend much of the next several years agonizing over this dissertation -- it helps to research and write about something you enjoy. It will help you get through it.

I've given some passing thought to weaving baseball card collecting into a dissertation. I think it is a good idea - especially since it sounds like you're working on a PhD in a business field. Dissertations have to be unique, so it is not a problem to focus on a potentially niche topic like baseball cards. But, academics can also be dismissive of "less serious" topics in dissertations so it has to be carefully constructed.

Maybe you could analyze the relationship between scarcity, luxury goods, and profit using baseball cards as just one example. Card companies are possibly unique in that they are driven to make a profit by increasing demand and, consequently, increasing supply. But increasing supply to meet demand ultimately decreases demand. Cards are a disposable, faddish commodity that have no intrinsic value -- therefore the maker is motivated to sell as many as possible to maximize profit. But flooding the market quickly diminishes demand because the perception of value evaporates (e.g., the early 90's). Baseball cards are neither a luxury good, nor a commodity, nor a purely market-driven product.

In fact, no one really knows why they have value.

Possibly analyzing perceived value trends over time will reveal some idea of why baseball cards have value and what businesses can do to maximize profit while cultivating the perception of value. I don't think our lay assumptions about why baseball cards have value is necessarily fully understood. Has anyone really ever statistically modeled it?

[EGreenwood]

How about moving the K12 from hardcopy books to digital books