Dean’s Baseball Cards is one of the largest and most well-known baseball card shops in the United States. Founded in 1980 by Dean Smith in Portland, Oregon, the store started small but grew rapidly as the baseball card collecting craze took off in the 1980s. What began as a hobby for Dean soon turned into a full-fledged business with multiple locations across the country.
Dean’s passion for the game of baseball and collecting cards started at a young age. He would spend hours poring over his collection and learning everything he could about the players and teams from that era. This passion continued into adulthood and in 1980, at the age of 30, Dean decided to take the plunge and open his first card shop in a small storefront in downtown Portland. Those early years were a struggle as Dean worked tirelessly to build up inventory and attract customers. His extensive knowledge and friendly demeanor helped establish a loyal customer base.
Word of Dean’s shop and his fair business practices started to spread throughout the local card collecting community. Soon he was bringing in new customers on a daily basis and outgrowing the small storefront. In 1983, Dean made the leap and opened a much larger location in a strip mall on the outskirts of Portland. This allowed him to vastly increase his inventory and offer customers a much more expansive shopping experience. It was around this time that the modern baseball card boom truly began, fueled by the rise of superstar players like Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan, and Reggie Jackson.
Dean’s was perfectly positioned to capitalize on the red-hot market for sports cards. He worked hard to get the newest and most coveted card releases, keeping his shelves fully stocked on release days. For many collectors, a trip to Dean’s became a weekly ritual. In addition to singles, Dean’s also offered a wide variety of wax boxes, factory sets, and team/player collections. Dean took great pride in maintaining an organized store where customers could easily find what they were looking for. His deep knowledge was also an asset, as he could recommend cards to customers based on their interests, budgets, and collection goals.
The success of the Portland stores allowed Dean to begin opening additional locations in other cities. In 1985, the first Dean’s Baseball Cards outside of Oregon opened in Seattle. This was followed by shops in San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles over the next few years. Dean took an active role in managing all the stores and maintained the same high standards across the entire business. Word of Dean’s fair practices, customer service, and unparalleled inventory continued to spread nationwide. By the late 1980s, Dean’s Baseball Cards had become a household name among sports card collectors across the United States.
As the baseball card market continued to skyrocket through the late 1980s, Dean’s business boomed. Additional flagship stores opened in major cities like Chicago, New York, Houston, and Atlanta. Smaller “satellite” stores also sprouted up in suburban areas across the country. At its peak, Dean’s Baseball Cards had over 50 locations in operation. This made it one of the largest sports card retail chains in the world. Maintaining such rapid expansion came at a cost. Dean took on additional investors and shifted to more of a corporate structure. While this allowed further growth, some argued it diminished the “mom and pop” feel of the original stores.
By the early 1990s, the sports card market had started to experience a significant downturn. Several factors contributed to the collapse, including overproduction of cards, loss of player exclusives to other companies, and speculation driving up prices beyond reason. As demand fell, many smaller card shops went out of business. Dean’s, with its large corporate structure, was hit especially hard. Difficult decisions had to be made and locations started closing across the country in the mid-1990s. By 1995, only 20 Dean’s Baseball Cards remained open, mostly in major metro areas.
Dean opted to take the business in a new direction, focusing more on the high-end memorabilia market. Stores were remodeled to emphasize exclusive and rare game-used items alongside the traditional card offerings. This shift helped Dean’s stabilize over the next few years despite the struggling card market. In 1999, Dean made the decision to sell the majority stake in the company to a private investment group. He stayed on initially as CEO but stepped down in 2001 to spend more time with his family. The new ownership group continued to pare down unprofitable locations over the next decade.
Today, only four Dean’s Baseball Cards remain in operation – in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, and Atlanta. They remain iconic destinations for serious collectors. Under new ownership, the stores have re-emphasized their roots by bringing back many of the displays and store designs from the 1980s/90s golden era. Dean also visits the stores regularly and is still revered by longtime customers. While the chain will never return to its peak size, Dean’s Baseball Cards continues to play an important role in the hobby and serves as a reminder of the heyday of baseball card collecting in the late 20th century. Dean’s passion created an empire and forever changed the sports memorabilia industry.
