Much like a player on a scoring streak in NBA Jam, basketball cards are on fire.
“When The Last Dance came out, that just brought everything to this outrageous level,” Holloway says. “[The amount of sales] hasn’t stopped since.”
Elite is one of two shops in the city. Tim’s Baseball Card Shop on North Western Avenue is the other, specializing in baseball boxes and vintage cards—think rare 1950s and 60s-era cards. In the burbs, there are a few more options, including The Baseball Card King. The 13-year-old company has locations in Plainfield, Oak Lawn, and Downers Grove, as well as a distribution warehouse in Shorewood.
“When people buy stuff and put it up on eBay, the prices are going through the roof because you’re getting so many foreign bidders going after these cards,” Jadzak says. “That raises the prices of the cards to begin with, and that’s not something lost on the [basketball card] manufacturer Panini.”
CHICAGOLAND SPORTS CARD SHOPS
Elite Sports Cards & Comics 2028 W. Montrose, 773-784-1396, elitesportscards.net
Tim’s Baseball Card Shop 4549 N. Western, 773-275-6725, timsbbcardshop.com
Sport & Gaming Cards In the Golf Mill Shopping Center in Niles, 847-795-9355
The Baseball Card King Locations in Oak Lawn, Downers Grove, and Plainfield, shopbck.com
Heroes Sports Cards 8919 W. Cermak Road, North Riverside, 708-442-1926, facebook.com/HeroesSportsCardsInc
Chicagoland Sports Cards 793 S. Buffalo Grove Road, Buffalo Grove, 847-229-2636, chicagolandsportscards.com
AU Sports Cards 6006 Dempster, Morton Grove, 847-647-8311, ausportsmemorabilia.com
Jim & Steve’s Sportscards 2909 Grand, Waukegan, 847-244-1981, jimnstevescards.com
Hearing the news of Dončić’s rookie card and its record-breaking sale, Snyder’s immediate reaction was, “He’s a fantastic player, but he’s in year three. What if he gets injured?” Take a step back from the buzz, and think about hot players in the 90s and 00s like Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Derrick Rose, or even Dončić’s teammate Kristaps Porzingis who was said to be the New York Knicks’ savior before tearing his ACL in 2018.
“[Card-shop owners] are all trying to figure out what happened, but it was a turning point,” Jadzak says. “Nothing was sitting on the shelves like it had been before. The profit margins were a little bit higher, and collectors started to come back.”
