SURFSIDE BEACH - Donny Canto's store looks like a sports fan's heaven: collectible cards, autographs, commemorative cereal boxes, pennants--even a replica of Fenway Parks' Green Monster--line the walls of Baseball 17. The main attraction is baseball cards. Always has been, and, Canto says, it always will be.
"People love it," said Canto. "When they were kids, they got into it, they stopped for a while, and maybe they're coming back."
Sports cards saw huge growth in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with new card companies springing up and specialty cards coming out for every sport from the national pastime to NASCAR, golf, and ice hockey. Canto cautions some 20- and 30-something former collectors from trying to cash in on their boxes and albums they've held onto since childhood.
Canto flipped through a book of Michael Jordan basketball cards from that era, and pointed at many that could be worth as much as $4.00, $5.00, or $6.00, but haven't really increased in value since their production, simply because of over-production; Canto says they simply aren't scarce enough.
"If I had these cards in my store, I might sell them for a dollar apiece," he said.
Still, many sports fans and collectors have held on to autographed items like balls, cards, bats, helmets--whatever was (presumedly) thrust in front of any number of athletes to sign over the years. Canto said the issue now with autographs, now matter how old, is authenticity. Many collectors now demand to see proof that the signature is real, and that can cost extra.
Many card manufacturers put autographed cards into circulation, and Canto said an autograph can normally add value to a card, and only in the case of a player's rookie card could it maybe take value away.
Canto says he also sees a growing number of young adults bringing their kids back and starting them in the collecting game, and card manufacturers are trying to attract as many kids as they can. He also said manufacturers are producing fewer cards now, to try to add value--by creating demand--for cards featuring today's superstars.
Baseball 17 is located on U.S. Highway 17 between Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach.
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