European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 20, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Collecting is big business not a game Don Maneikis Longs Tor a More innocent time a when baseball cards had not yet become Ming vases when they could be handled and abused and read until every fact and statistic was memorized. Why you could even Slick them in the spokes of your bicycle to make it sound like a motorcycle. Now baseball cards Are too valuable to be toys. They Are investments. To annuities stocks and Bonds add baseball cards. Done to be surprised if the Dow Jones listing soon includes Ricky Henderson a Rookie baseball card. Quot in a still a kid Quot says Maneikis. Translated that Means he still plays with his cards. While listening to a game on the radio he recreates the lineup from his baseball cards. He reads the backs of them again and again. He handles them without worrying about bending a Corner which can Cut a cards value in halt. But Maneikis 41, is not completely a kid. L in is also a rational intelligent adult who knows the value of a Dollar. Or a Jose Canseco card. A i have a safety Deposit Box Back Home with $25,000 of cards a he says. A but i Don t play with them. 1 go Down and look at them once a year or  the High Price of baseball cards is no secret. Gone Are the Days when a shrewd dealer could pick up a Shoebox of valuable cards for $5 at a Yard Sale. Today everybody knows their Worth. And some people Are taking advantage of it. A a lot of people who were buying annuities or certificates of Deposit or stocks and Bonds Are now putting their Money into baseball cards Quot says Jon Sands sales director of Howard a sports collectibles in Leipsic Ohio. A cards value depends almost exclusively on the performance of the player pictured. If he becomes a superstar the card becomes valuable. If he is no More than an average or below average player his card becomes a Quot common never Worth More than a Dollar no matter How old. What attracted these speculators was the incredible escalation of prices in the 1980s. For example in 1984, a set of baseball cards manufactured by the Topps company in 195.1 was Selling for $ 1,000. This year the Price tag is $20,000. Ricky Henderson s Rookie card the inst card on which the Oakland superstar appear a is Only 10 years old but Selling for More than $100. Those arc just two examples of How baseball cards Mirror baseball salaries. Quot i just done to see How much More it can go up Quot Sands says. In fact there Are signs some dealers and collectors say that the Price Rise that Nuion. The 1980s is slowing Down. A i think it s already levelled Oil Quot says uni Lipsitt a dealer and collector who operates four base hits a card business in Centereach . A there will be a fundamental dropping off of prices. The prices have been manipulated beyond economic  Lipsitt is something like a broker. He Sells cards for other people. Lately he says there have been some problems. A anything Post world War ii has been hard to sell Quot he says. What happened Well people seem to be reacting to the High prices. But they Are still collecting. Football basketball and hockey cards have picked up in popularity the past few years because they were less costly. But they Are beginning to mimic baseball cards in accelerating costs. Spec. Ron Compton of the 4th in 8th inf div in Mannheim tells of seeing a 1965 card of football Star Joe Namath priced at $ 1 50 in 1988. �?o1 laughed the Guy plumb out of the  he says. That card now Sells for $ 1,350 and Compton predicts will hit $2,000 by the end of next year. When Kareem Abdul Jabbar entered professional basketball he was Lew Alcindor. His Rookie eard from 1969-70 Sells for $975. A last year at this time you could t have Given that card away a says Compton. What this Means is that there Are collectors who have Money to spend on their collections although they May not be baseball cards. Compton says people Are rapidly moving into non sports cards which makes possible a Trade involving a Don Mattingly baseball card for one of , televisions alien Star. But it is doubtful that baseball cards will Ever he knocked off their lofty Perch As King of the collectible cards. Sands Hopes not. Howard a collectibles which also manufactures and Sells plastic sheets used to store cards does $20 million of business annually evenly divided Between cards and sheets and employs More than 300 people. �?�1 have a wife and three kids and this is the Only Means of support a Sands says. Now that adults who turned the Hobby into a billion Dollar business Are beginning to look elsewhere Lor their collecting kicks it might be up to the children to maintain it. �?o1 lie kids Arentt collectors any longer. They re investors a says Compton. Quot of very kid that comes up Here can quote you the Price of that eard before you Tell  Scott Bowman 14, of Mannheim West Germany was adding to his collection recently at a card show organized by Compton. Quot i have two collections a my investment collection and my fun collection Quot Bowman says. The investment collection is bought and stored untouched Lor the future. Quot that could be Lor my College education or my new ear when 1 grow up Quot he says. Bowman is no different from his Friend Scott Buck. I 3, of Mannheim Quot i collect because 1 like the sport and the players Quot lie says. Quot and 1 collect As an investment for the  he Lias 27 of to Jackson s Rookie cards. Jackson a superstar Lor the Kansas City royals first appeared on cards two years ago 1 hat card is now Worth about $3.50, Buck says but will go up in value if Jackson plays to his potential. Quot it might go up. It might go Down a Buck says with a shrug of his shoulders. If it goes up. Buck can go to the College of ins Choice. If it goes Down lie can make his Bike sound like a motorcycle. Ron Joriman d. A liars �mi1 a lpns loom tar