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GREAT AMERICAN BASEBALL CARDS SANTA BARBARA

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The popularity of collecting baseball cards in America saw a massive surge throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In many small towns and cities across the country, local card shops capitalized on this newfound hobby and brought communities of collectors together. Santa Barbara, California was no exception, as Great American Baseball Cards became the premier destination for all things related to the pastime.

Opened in 1982 by lifelong baseball fan Jerry Simmons, Great American Baseball Cards was a small storefront operation located in downtown Santa Barbara. With just a few long boxes of commons and some vintage sets from the 1950s and 1960s in stock, Jerry sought to build connections with the local youth by hosting informal card shows and discussions. Word of mouth spread quickly, and before long the shop had become the unofficial hangout for baseball card aficionados both young and old.

Throughout the 1980s, Jerry worked hard to expand his inventory to keep up with growing demand. He developed relationships with distributors on the East Coast to get new shipments of boxes and packs as soon as they were released. The shop also became known for its extensive collections of oddball issues and regional sets that were virtually impossible to find elsewhere. Families would come in on the weekends just to look through the “vintage bins” of treasures from eras past.

A key part of Great American Baseball Cards’ identity was Jerry’s unwavering commitment to customer service. Many lifelong friendships were formed through hours of speculation, trade discussions, and historical card conversations held within the shop’s walls. Jerry viewed every visitor not just as a customer, but as a member of the hobby community he was helping shape. On weekends during the peak years, the store routinely had a line outside waiting to get in.

By the 1990s, Great American Baseball Cards had grown into the largest and most prominent card shop in Southern California. The inventory now took up the entire 2,000 square foot storefront and overflowed into a storage space across the street. Jerry employed two full-time staff just to help keep the growing stock organized. Weekly shipments of new release material sold out instantly, ensuring there was always high demand for future releases.

Seeing the rise of the sports card investment craze in the early 1990s, Jerry smartly shifted focus to purchasing and grading entire vintage collections. Through numerous coast-to-coast buying trips, the shop amassed what was considered one of the finest vintage stocks in the country, with an emphasis on complete 1950s and 1960s sets. Many of these collections that were pieced back together still reside in the Great American Baseball Cards Vault today.

It was the shop’s relentless pursuit of a mysterious “Gretzky T206 White Border” card discovery in 1992 that put Great American Baseball Cards on the map outside of Santa Barbara. After months of cross-checking dealers and collector networks, Jerry received a fateful phone call tipping him off to a potential location of the elusive card, regarded as one of the true “holy grails” of the hobby.

Working through intermediaries to mask his identity, Jerry was able to acquire the card for an unprecedented price said to be well into the six figures, far greater than any other T206 had sold for to that point. The find was headline news across the entire sports collecting industry. Pictures of Jerry holding the prized card made the covers of Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and even local newspapers. Almost overnight, Great American Baseball Cards became world renowned.

In the subsequent years, the shop leveraged its newfound prominence to expand in several ways. Jerry opened a second, much larger retail location in nearby Goleta to accommodate the enormous influx of customers. They also launched a successful mail order business to reach collectors nationwide unable to visit the stores in person. Great American Baseball Cards became a pioneer in offering authenticated vintage sets for sale, often for prices that were previously unimaginable.

The sports memorabilia boom of the 1990s would prove to be unsustainable. When the bubble finally burst in the late 1990s, even titans like Great American Baseball Cards were impacted. Facing declining foot traffic and softening secondary card values, Jerry made the difficult choice to close the original Santa Barbara shop and downsize operations. By the early 2000s, only a single smaller Goleta storefront remained under new ownership.

Today, Great American Baseball Cards exists solely as an online retailer based out of a warehouse just outside Santa Barbara. While no longer the hobby epicenter it once was in physical form, the shop’s legacy and unmatched inventory live on through their vibrant website and mail order sales. Many former customers who frequented the stores in their heyday remain customers decades later. Under new leadership, Great American Baseball Cards continues to provide a valuable local connection for collectors now dispersed worldwide.

The remarkable multi-decade story of Great American Baseball Cards serves as a microcosm for how the sports card industry rose to popularity and influenced communities across America. Through the passion and vision of Jerry Simmons, what began as a small hometown card shop blossomed into an industry giant that pushed the entire hobby forward. Even after passing the torch, the spirit of that original Santa Barbara storefront lives on through the collectors it inspired for generations to come.

BASEBALL CARDS SANTA BARBARA

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The history of baseball cards in Santa Barbara dates back over 100 years when the collecting craze first began in the late 19th century. Some of the earliest baseball cards featuring major league players were included in packages of cigarettes and chewing tobacco starting in the 1880s. While the cards were initially used as a marketing gimmick by tobacco companies, they quickly became prized possessions for young baseball fans across the country.

Santa Barbara was no exception, as kids in the coastal city eagerly awaited the arrival of new baseball cards each season. Some of the most popular early sets included Allen & Ginter in 1888, Old Judge in 1880, and Goodwin Champions from 1889-1890. These antique tobacco era cards featured iconic players like Cy Young, Honus Wagner, and Babe Ruth during their formative MLB seasons. Finding high quality specimens from this pioneering era in today’s Santa Barbara card shops or memorabilia stores is exceedingly rare given how old they are.

In the early 20th century, the mass production of baseball cards exploded with new series issued by companies like American Caramel, American Tobacco, and Sweet Caporal. Kids in Santa Barbara were now able to collect entire teams with each purchase instead of just a few stars. The T206 series from 1909-1911 is considered the most significant of this non-sports specific era. Featuring over 500 total cards, it highlighted the transition to baseball as the dominant American pastime. Well-preserved examples can fetch six figures at auction today.

In the 1930s, the Goudey Gum Company popularized the modern format of baseball cards as we know them today. Each pack or box now contained gum and an entire baseball team set over several series from 1933-1939. These colorful cards featured vibrant team photos on the front and player statistics on the back. Goudey cards captured the sport’s biggest names of the era like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio. Kids in Santa Barbara eagerly traded and swapped to complete their collections.

The post-war boom of the 1950s saw a golden age of baseball card production led by Topps, Bowman, and Fleer. Now mass produced, the cards were affordable and available at local drug stores, grocery stores, and candy shops across Santa Barbara. Series like Topps’ 1952 set and Topps’ iconic 1954 rookie card of Mickey Mantle are still considered some of the most iconic in the hobby’s history. The cards captured the excitement of icons like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Sandy Koufax entering their primes.

In the 1960s, the baseball card market exploded with new competitors entering the fray. Topps held the exclusive license through much of the decade but was challenged by Fleer, Kellogg’s, and Post. This period produced some of the most visually striking and innovative designs ever seen. The 1968 Topps set introduced multi-colored borders while the 1969 issue debuted team action photos on the front. Local card shops in Santa Barbara saw lines out the door on release days as kids scrambled to find the latest stars.

The 1970s ushered in the “wax pack era” as cards were now sealed in foil wrapping and included bubble gum. Production skyrocketed with Topps issuing two separate sets each year from 1975-1981 containing over 700 cards total. Competition remained fierce as Donruss entered the scene in 1981. The era captured the rise of Nolan Ryan’s no-hit records and George Brett’s .390 batting average season. In Santa Barbara, card collecting became a mainstream hobby as kids flocked to shops, swaps, and shows.

The 1980s were a boom period for the hobby with unprecedented interest, speculation, and rising prices. Topps kept churning out flagship sets but was challenged by new competitors like Fleer, Donruss, and Score. The arrival of star rookies like Cal Ripken Jr., Dwight Gooden, and Mark McGwire created a frenzy. Expos cards featuring future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson became hot commodities in Santa Barbara shops. The junk wax era of the late 1980s saw overproduction that has devalued common cards but also fueled new collecting niches.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the baseball card business consolidated around the “Big 3” of Topps, Upper Deck, and Fleer/Skybox. Immaculate rookie cards of future stars like Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones, and Derek Jeter commanded top dollar. Parallel and insert sets became all the rage with short prints and autographs fueling the chase. Memorabilia cards inserting game-used bats, balls and jersey swatches found a strong local Santa Barbara collector base. The arrival of the internet also transformed the hobby, making once-rare vintage cards suddenly accessible.

Today, the baseball card market has stabilized around licensed manufacturers like Topps, Panini, and Bowman. While print runs remain high, the cards have regained popularity amongst young collectors. Santa Barbara’s two major card shops, Dugout Cards and Pacific Coast Sports Cards, see steady business in both singles and boxes. The shops also host frequent trading card shows, autograph signings and break-open events. Local collectors remain dedicated to completing sets and searching for that one elusive vintage hit to highlight their collection for years to come.

From simple tobacco store promotions to today’s insert-laden modern issues, baseball cards have captured the imagination of Santa Barbara youth for over a century. The early tobacco cards, Goudey gum issues and vintage rookie stars remain the most prized possessions for local collectors and nostalgic fans. While the business trends and competition has changed greatly over the decades, the joy of finding that next star or new addition to a collection has remained a constant for generations of Santa Barbara baseball card enthusiasts.