GotBaseballCards was created in 1999 by Jeff Berlin, an avid baseball fan and collector from Las Vegas, Nevada. Even as a young child, Jeff was fascinated by baseball cards and would spend hours organizing and trading them with his friends and neighborhood kids. He quickly amassed a huge collection and developed a keen eye for what makes certain cards more valuable than others.
In high school and college, Jeff supplemented his income by buying large collections of cards from local garage sales and flea markets, then carefully sorting through them to pull out the best, most in-demand rookie cards, stars, and vintage pieces. He would then resell these prized cards to other collectors at card shows and shops for a profit. Through this process, Jeff learned the ins and outs of the baseball card resale market.
After graduating from university with a degree in business administration in the late 1990s, Jeff started toying with the idea of launching an online baseball card marketplace. At the time, eBay was just starting to take off and some basic baseball card selling sites existed, but Jeff saw room for more specialized offerings tailored directly to collectors. In early 1999, he used his life savings and a small business loan to get GotBaseballCards up and running.
The initial site was very basic, simply allowing users to list cards for sale through text descriptions and low-resolution images. But it provided one of the first dedicated online homes for baseball card traders and sellers. Word spread quickly in the collecting community and within just a few months, GotBaseballCards was gaining hundreds of new listings and bringing in decent ad revenue.
Jeff poured all profits back into improving the site. He upgraded to allow higher quality photos and more descriptive listings. Advanced search functions were added so users could find specific players, years, sets and more. The feedback section was overhauled to integrate a robust user reputation and review system. Shipping and payment processes were optimized based on user suggestions.
By the early 2000s, GotBaseballCards had become the premiere online marketplace for collectors. Jeff handled all site operations himself out of a spare bedroom office in his Las Vegas home. But traffic and sales were booming to the point where he needed to bring on his first employee to assist with customer support. As a passionate baseball fan, Jeff enjoyed interacting with the collecting community and hearing their feedback.
As the baseball card market grew in the 2000s, driven in part by popular TV shows like Entourage and The Big Bang Theory glamorizing collecting as an investment, GotBaseballCards scaled up substantially. Jeff managed to secure six-figure investments that allowed him to build out professional server infrastructure and develop robust mobile apps. Dozens of employees were added to help moderate the growing community and facilitate thousands of monthly transactions.
GotBaseballCards emerged as a one-stop-shop for all things baseball cards. In addition to housing the largest marketplace, the site provided regular blogs, podcasts, price guides and news updates. Exclusive interviews were conducted with players, executives and industry insiders. Beginner information centers explained the appeal, different eras, and investing potential of the hobby. Special clubs and forums encouraged connection and education for collectors at all levels.
Advanced authentication services were introduced to fight the increasing problem of counterfeit cards slipping into the market. Card grading partnerships with industry-leaders like PSA, BGS and SGC made slabbed and certified collectibles a big focus. Exclusive digital membership benefits like early sale access, special offers and card shows further enhanced the customer value proposition.
By the late 2010s, GotBaseballCards was a multi-million dollar operation hosting hundreds of thousands of active users. Behind-the-scenes, Jeff had expanded into a large office building and grown the staff to over 50 full-time employees. As baseball card values surged to new heights, his site anchored record weekly sales volumes and became the sport’s recognized information authority.
While lucrative, the ever-expanding responsibilities pulled Jeff further from his startup scrappy roots. In 2019, he made the difficult choice to sell controlling interest in GotBaseballCards to a group of private equity investors. As part of the deal, Jeff retained a minority stake and transitioned to more of an advisory role with strategic input on product roadmaps and community initiatives.
Nearly 25 years after launching from his home office, GotBaseballCards continues to be run by the new ownership as one of the most trusted and heavily trafficked destinations online for serious baseball card collectors, investors and casual fans. Jeff looks back fondly on pioneering the digital collecting revolution and is proud that his passions helped nourish such a vibrant community hobby. While no longer overseeing daily operations, his fingerprints still mark GotBaseballCards as the gold standard bearer it grew to become.
