Rubama: Sports cards have turned into a big business, as I recently found out

VIRGINIA BEACH — Growing up, I was like many other kids who collected cards.

I had boxes of baseball, basketball and football cards.

But when it was time to go to college, I got rid of them. My mother was moving and didn’t want to lug them around, and I definitely didn’t want to take them to college with me.

So, I sold them for $150. At the time, I thought it was a great price.

Fast forward to last week.

A friend of my mine, John Lehmann, invited me to the Virginia Beach Sports Card, Comic Book, Pokemon and Collectibles Expo at Virginia Beach Fieldhouse.

As we walked into the fieldhouse, I was blown away by everything I saw as more than 230 tables were filled with all kinds of items.

They ranged from cards of NFL greats Walter Payton, Jim Brown and O.J. Simpson to cards of Star Wars characters, Frank Sinatra, American Idol, Hulk Hogan and former President Barack Obama. There were jerseys, helmets, bobblehead dolls and magazines.

What caught my attention, however, was I saw four baseball cards that I used to own valued at $150 each.

All I could do is shake my head.

But I learned I wasn’t alone.

Bill Waite, who is a sports card dealer, has been selling cards since 1995.

“Like anything, it starts innocently. I bought 10-cent packs and tried to put the sets together in the 1970s,” said Waite, who is originally from Buffalo, New York, but has been in Hampton Roads since 1993 when he got transferred here in the Navy. “It got to the point where I had been buying so much that this was just the next step. But it’s just something that I always enjoyed. It’s a hobby gone astray and I ended up on this side of the table.”

He, like me, wishes what he knows now, he would have known then.

“I would have taken better care of them. But that’s not what we did back in the 70s,” he said. “You would trade a Hank Aaron for a nobody because you needed that card for your set. It wasn’t about the value, but trying to put your set together.”

That’s one of his big regrets.

“I sold some Patrick Mahomes cards when they first came out for cheap,” he said about the Kansas City quarterback, who has won three Super Bowls and been to four since he became the starting quarterback in 2018. “They are worth a fortune now. But in the same situation, I’ve also sold cards for $100 a piece. Now you couldn’t buy them out of a dollar box because nobody would want them. So, you just can’t lose sleep over it.”

I sat back and listened as Waite and Lehmann were working out “package deals” for cards.

Lehmann got a great deal on four cards of NBA legend “Pistol” Pete Maravich. He wanted those cards because he remembered watching Maravich play in person.

He also got a deal on Hall of Fame football players Gale Sayers, Bart Starr, John Unitas, Merlin Olsen, Dick Butkus, Fran Tarkenton and Joe Namath.

Lehmann said opening a new box of cards or getting that prized card is like Christmas morning opening gifts.

“It’s a thrill. It’s exciting,” he said. “You pull that real cool card, it’s the same kind of feeling. And it’s a little bit addicting. If I haven’t opened cards in awhile, I get a high. I admit it. And anybody in here will tell you the same thing.”

Waite’s collection is in the “millions.”

A huge Buffalo Bills and New York Mets fan, he’s got binders and binders of those players. He also has more than 60 of former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, including his rookie card from the USFL.

Some of his favorites include the rookie card of former Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo.

“I’m not a Bears fan, but when I was a kid, I saw the movie on TV,” he said. “The story was awesome and the movie was great.”

Another favorite memorabilia item is a photo from the 1986 World Series, when the Mets beat the Boston Red Sox.

“It’s the play when the ball went through Bill Buckner’s legs. It’s signed by Buckner and Mookie Wilson,” he said. “I met Buckner on base, maybe 12-13 years ago. Super nice guy. Cool thing about that picture is him and Mookie became super close friends just because of being involved in that one play together.”

Waite said he enjoys coming to the card shows.

“It’s as much as a social event for me than it is to make money,” he said. “I enjoy carrying on conversations with people. The money will come along with it.”

It’s also big business, as I found out after talking with Stephen Hilowitz.

The 28-year-old Landstown grad runs B&B Sports Cards in Virginia Beach.

He got into selling cards when he was young.

“When I was younger, I played sports. And then I just collected cards,” he said. “As I got older, I learned the business side of buying and flipping cards. Then COVID happened and then cards really blew up. And then me and my buddies had a chance to buy the existing shop that we’re in now, and we’ve been there year for about a year and a half. Now that’s what we do. We travel around the country and sell cards, and it’s rocking right now.”

Hilowitz compared selling cards to the stock market.

“The market is changing every day. It’s going up and down,” he said. “A player gets hot and his card goes up. Like (NBA player) Anthony Edwards right now, his stuff is on fire.”

What brought me to Hilowitz’s table is Lehmann told me had a highly regarded 1994 Upper Deck Mickey Mantle and Ken Griffey Jr. autographed insert card.

When I looked at the price, I had to do a double take as it read $10,000.

“It’s crazy. You see some cards go up to a million dollars now. I wish I had some of those,” Hilowitz said. “But the market is so insane. It’s crazy to think that this card is worth $10,000. But there’s people out there buying them. You got $1 cards all the way up to $50,000.”

But Hilowitz insisted it’s not all about the money.

“It’s meeting people and camaraderie,” he said. “It’s crazy how a card board or whatever they’re made of now brings people out. It’s fun to make money, but it’s great meeting and talking to people. Just seeing the little kids go through a box and seeing their excitement is pretty cool.”

Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com