The South Bay area of Los Angeles County, specifically the city of Lomita, has a rich history with baseball cards that spans several decades. While the larger cities like Los Angeles and Long Beach had card shops and shows catering to collectors, Lomita developed its own distinctive baseball card culture and community in the 1970s through today.
Baseball cards were hugely popular after World War II as the major card producers like Topps greatly expanded production and distribution. Kids all over the country began avidly collecting and trading cards. In Lomita, many boys would ride their bikes around the city trying to find kids on their street who had cards they needed to complete their sets. Some even resorted to stealing packs of cards from local stores, before they realized the error of their ways.
As these kids grew up in the late 60s and 70s, their passion for cards did not diminish. The opportunities to buy new packs, find trading partners, and learn about the history of the hobby were largely unavailable in Lomita at the time. A few young men in their late teens and early 20s sought to change that by organizing the first informal baseball card meetups in the city.
In 1975, Jonathon Perez, Mark Rodriguez, and Jason Carter began holding card shows inside break rooms at the South Bay Hospital and the Lomita Little League fields on weekends. They brought tables to display their personal collections and duplicates for trade. Dozens of locals would show up each month to check out the new arrivals. News of the shows began to spread through word of mouth.
Over time, the organizers rented space at the Lomita Library and Lomita Park Community Center to handle the growing crowds. By 1980, they had officially formed the South Bay Baseball Card Collectors Club. Membership fees helped fund bigger bi-monthly shows with dealers from outside the area selling new packs, supplies, and vintage inventory. A monthly newsletter chronicled the club’s activities and the hobby in general.
The club played a pivotal role in sparking baseball card fandom across generations in Lomita. Families would attend the shows together, with parents reminiscing about cards from their childhood and kids excited for the newest releases. Many lifelong friendships were built around their shared interest. Several card shops even set up business in Lomita in the 1980s to cater to this dedicated local fanbase.
Through boom and bust cycles in the industry, the South Bay Baseball Card Collectors Club has remained a constant. When the scandals of the junk wax era in the late 80s/early 90s turned many casual collectors away, the club retained its hardcore members who appreciated cards for their historical significance rather than investment potential. They maintained the museum-like displays and educational aspects of the hobby.
Today, the club has evolved with the times but holds true to its roots. Under new younger leadership, theirwebsite and social media presence better connects collectors worldwide while in-person events follow all safety guidelines. The nostalgia of the past is still honors; the annual Oldtimers Show allows original Charter Members a chance to catch up and reminisce around boxes of treasures from their personal collections.
The club also partners with the Lomita Historical Society on exhibits highlighting the city’s baseball history and contributions to the card collecting world. Plans are in the works for a permanent baseball card museum in Lomita to preserve the stories and artifacts from over 45 years of this truly local hobby subculture.
Through its longevity, community focus, and tradition of bringing collectors together across generations, the South Bay Baseball Card Collectors Club created a model grassroots organization. It showed how even a small city could nurture and sustain a rich card culture of its own. For countless Lomita residents past and present, the club served as a gateway drug into this fun and historically significant part of American popular culture. Its impact will continue to shape the lives of baseball and collecting fans for many years to come.
