Northland Baseball Cards and Collectibles has been serving collectors in the Duluth, Minnesota area and beyond since 1983. What started as a small hobby shop located above Brennan’s Music Store in downtown Duluth has grown into one of the largest and most well-known sports collecting stores in the Midwest. Over the past four decades, Northland has helped collectors of all ages build collections, learn about the history of the hobby, and connect with other enthusiasts.
Founder John Gustafson opened Northland Baseball Cards after developing a passion for collecting as a child in the 1960s. His goal was to create a welcoming place for collectors to inspect new releases, trade with others, and learn more about their favorite players through items like rare photos, jersey scraps, and autographed memorabilia. In those early years, John’s wife Kathy and son Eric helped run the store while John spent weekends attending shows across the Midwest. Word of mouth helped Northland grow its customer base as collectors traveled from surrounding towns and communities to peruse John’s extensive inventory.
In 1992, Northland relocated to a much larger space in a strip mall just outside of downtown. This allowed John to vastly expand his inventory of cards, autos, relics, unopened retail wax, and vintage collections for sale. Magazine ads, direct mailers, and an early website helped Northland reach collectors further and further outside of Northeast Minnesota. By the late 1990s, Northland was receiving shipments of new releases, hosting live group breaks, and facilitating high-dollar auctions from all corners of the United States and Canada.
A defining trait of Northland has always been John’s curation of rare and one-of-a-kind photos from the sport’s early decades. Numbering in the tens of thousands, John’s photo archive spans the late 1800s through the 1980s and includes portraits, action shots, team photos, and snapshots taken by players, their families, and fans. Some of the rarest finds include signed images of the pioneering Deadball Era stars like Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson. John spends countless hours scanning, organizing, and cataloging additions to discover lost angles and untold stories frozen in time.
While photos are highly collected on their own, John’s true passion has been using them to tell baseball’s human stories. For decades, he has researched player biographies, dug through newspaper archives, and connected with relatives to add context and narration to the faces and moments captured. John then meticulously assembles collage-style displays pairing images with insightful captions that bring these figures from our national pasttime to life. Whether spotlighting familiar Hall of Famers or obscure minor leaguers, John’s exhibits have educated visitors and unearthed countless connections between individuals, teams, and time periods in the sport’s history.
Beyond his photo archives and research, John continually amasses large vintage collections and single-player groupings for sale. Highlights over the years have included collections from turn-of-the-century stars like Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, and Smokey Joe Wood down through icons of later eras like Mickey Mantle, Tom Seaver, and Cal Ripken Jr. For dedicated collectors, obtaining an entire player collection assembled by John has provided an unparalleled education on that star’s career and life off the field. At the same time, these large lots have enhanced collections across the country one baseball enthusiast at a time.
By the 2000s, Northland was a staple of the national sports card convention circuit as well as prominent regional shows throughout the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. Son Eric had by then taken on a larger role assisting with buying, selling, and event planning. In 2011, Northland made another big move to an even bigger retail space just off major highway infrastructure in Hermantown, Minnesota on the western edge of Duluth. This allowed for expanded shopping and educational displays, a full service in-store café, as well as hosting live podcast and memorabilia appraisal events.
Through economic ups and downs, Northland has endured by John and Eric’s commitment to personal service, being an invaluable local resource for collectors, and cultivating true passion for our national pastime. From beginning collectors to seasoned veterans, Northland aims to create memorable experiences through connecting people to history, helping build collections, and fostering community. While the sports collecting industry has grown exponentially online, Northland’s combination of immense physical inventory, knowledgeable staff, ongoing hobby education, and curated primary source materials make discovering it an experience unto itself for dedicated fans across generations.
Over nearly four decades in business, Northland Baseball Cards has become synonymous with the hobby in Minnesota and the Midwest. Though founder John Gustafson announced his full retirement in 2022, the business will carry on under Eric’s guidance with the same commitment to personalization, customer service, and preserving baseball’s rich history for future generations. Whether perusing the latest releases, looking for that unique addition to a PC, or simply soaking in John’s unrivaled memorabilia exhibits and research – Northland continues providing countless memories and serving as a true home for collectors of America’s pastime.
