Academy Sports + Outdoors is a large sporting goods and outdoor recreation store that operates over 250 stores across 16 states. While their main product focuses are on sports equipment, apparel, footwear, camping gear, and other outdoor goods, they do carry a limited selection of sports memorabilia and collectibles including baseball cards.
Baseball cards have been collected by fans for over 150 years and are still a popular hobby for people of all ages. They allow fans to collect players, teams, and moments from their favorite MLB franchises. While dedicated card and collectibles shops may have the largest selection focused solely on cards, many big box sporting goods retailers like Academy also dedicate some shelf space to cards to appeal to baseball fans who are in the store shopping for other items as well.
At Academy stores, the baseball card selection tends to be located near other baseball merchandise like bats, balls, gloves, and jerseys. The dedicated card section is usually not very large, spanning only a few feet of shelving and endcap displays. Customers will find mainly newer series of mass-produced baseball cards from the current and previous few seasons. The most readily available manufacturers represented are Topps, Bowman, Donruss, Leaf, and Panini. Products like blaster and hobby boxes as well as loose packs and racks of singles can typically be found from these brands.
For the latest and most recent releases, Academy stores usually stock the current year’s Topps Series 1, Topps Series 2, Topps Update Series, Topps High Tek, Bowman, Bowman Draft, Bowman Sterling, Donruss Optic, Leaf Metal, and Topps Chrome baseball cards. Quantities may vary between stores but locations try to keep popular new sets in stock while they are selling strong. Retail price points for these products are similar to other hobby shops, usually ranging from $3.99 for a pack to $19.99-$49.99 for a blaster or hobby box.
In addition to new series, some Academy locations may also allocate shelf space to a very small selection of vintage and memorabilia baseball cards mixed in. The vintage selection is usually limited to only the most iconic and valuable rookie cards from the 1980s and 1990s in PSA/BGS slabs. Customers should not expect to find commons from older eras or extensive vintage sets. Memorabilia cards tend to only showcase the biggest star players as well.
Forrest
Forrest enthusiasts of the baseball card hobby who frequent Academy stores should be aware that due to space constraints, the emphasis is placed mainly on the latest and most popular releases. Serious collectors seeking vintage, oddball, regional, insert, parallel, and short print chase cards would have better luck at a dedicated sportscard shop or online marketplace. Academy carries baseball cards more as an afterthought to serve casual fans and impulse buyers. They do consistently stock the major new brands each year at fair prices for those just looking to add a pack or two to their collection while shopping in store for other sporting goods.
So in summary – while baseball cards are available for purchase at Academy Sports + Outdoors, their selection of available products, manufacturers, and years represented is quite limited compared to card shops with more specialized focus. Customers should adjust expectations and not rely on Academy for hard-to-find vintage chase cards or complete older sets. But for the casual collector, they offer a convenient spot to pick up some of the latest and most popular new yearly releases while taking care of other sporting goods shopping needs.
