Racial bias in baseball card collecting revisited

Abstract

Although research examining the role of racial bias in the secondary sports card market has been an emerging area of inquiry, empirical knowledge on the question: “Does the race of the player on a sports card affect the value of the card?” remains inconclusive. This paper revisits one of the first studies on this topic. Data were derived for 66 Black, White, and Latino members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame who were elected by a vote of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Data for each player's race, career performance statistics, rookie card price, and card availability were obtained from secondary sources. Findings indicate that card availability and, to a lesser extent, player performance is the most important factor affecting the value of a player's card, while importantly, a player's race is not a significant contributor to card value. Suggestions for future research are outlined.

Notes

1 A player's “rookie” card is the player's first appearance on a regular issue card from a nationally distributed card set.

2 A player can be elected into the HOF in one of two ways: from a vote of the BBWAA (Baseball Writers, Association of America) or the veterans’ committee. The veterans’ committee selects among baseball's “old timers:” former players who have been inactive for more than 20 years and are thus no longer considered for the HOF by the BBWAA. The most prestigious way for a player to be selected for the HOF is from the vote of the BBWAA.

3 To test for the possibility that race affected card prices in more indirect ways, two t-tests were conducted. The first examined the possibility of a difference in card availability between Whites and non-Whites (t = −.10, p = .92) and the second determined if there was a difference in performance levels between the two groups (t = −.99, p = .33). There were no differences between Whites and non-Whites across either variable.

4 There is a close correspondence between team worth and average ticket prices. Data from Team Marketing Report (2009) indicates that the highest average ticket prices for the 2009 season were: (1) New York Yankees ($72.97), (2) Boston Red Sox ($50.24), (3) Chicago Cubs ($47.75), (4) New York Mets ($36.99), and (5) Chicago White Sox ($32.28). The Los Angeles Dodgers had the eighth highest average ticket price ($29.66). The overall league average was $26.64.

5 Additional models were explored to examine the possibility that the year a player was inducted into the HOF may have an effect on his rookie card value. When induction year was included in the model, which had a significant effect on card prices (p = .036), the overall variance explained increased to .795 (from .779) and with the exception of card availability (which showed a slight decrease), the relative size and strength of the other variables in the model were not significantly altered. Since the effects of card availability were slightly altered, we then examined the relationship between this variable and induction year. The correlation between these variables was r = .86 (p < .001) indicating collinearity concerns. As such, another model was estimated replacing card availability with induction year. The variance explained decreased to .706 with the relative size and strength of the other variables unaltered.