Racism, racism everywhere: looking inside the hobby of baseball card collecting☆

Abstract

Research examining the relationship between race and baseball card values has found the cards of Black players are less valuable than cards of White players. Unfortunately existing studies have not assessed whether the significance of race on baseball card values has changed over time. This study examines the importance of race and other salient factors on the value of baseball cards for Black and White members of the Hall of Fame for a 20 year period. The principal finding of the research is collectors have developed different systems for assigning value to cards– one for Black players and one for White players. The implications of this finding for maintaining a racist ideology in the United States are discussed.