Marques Ray is a YouTube personality known for his Marques Baseball Cards YouTube channel. The channel features Ray opening packages of baseball cards in search of rare autographs, memorabilia cards, and other valuable finds. Since launching the channel in 2015, Ray has amassed over 315,000 subscribers and 100 million video views by sharing his baseball card hunting journey.
Ray grew up a sports fan in Dallas, Texas and began collecting baseball cards as a kid in the 1990s. He would go to card shops and rummage through penny boxes looking for steals. Even as a kid, Ray had an eye for value and knew which players and years held the most potential. In his teenage years, Ray’s focus shifted but he never fully left the hobby. After graduating from the University of Arkansas with a business degree in 2013, Ray had the itch to get back into his childhood passion.
He started by buying discount boxes of base cards online just for fun. Ray soon realized sharing the experience on YouTube could be engaging for others into the hobby. His first videos in 2015 were filmed on an iPhone in his cramped apartment as he excitedly sorted through discounted team boxes. Viewers responded to Ray’s authentic enthusiasm and knowledge of the players and eras represented in the wax packs. His subscriber count gradually grew as Ray committed more to video production quality and securing better card products to open.
A major turning point came in 2017 when Ray secured a partnership with the sports memorabilia website Steiner Sports. This allowed him considerable discounts and first access to new and vintage football, baseball and basketball card inventory. Steiner began sending Ray entire cases of sets and often rare memorabilia cards to feature exclusively on his channel. Videos of Ray meticulously sorting through $1000 cases of cards from the 1990s Upper Deck or 2000s Topps lineages drew hundreds of thousands of views. Fans loved the thrill of the hunt and chase for rookies as Ray methodically broke wax.
Along with the viewership growth, Ray’s baseball card inventory and personal collection swelled tremendously. He gained an invaluable network of contacts within the industry thanks to the Steiner partnership. By 2018, Ray’s Marques Baseball Cards channel became a full-time endeavor. He hired staff, moved operations to a warehouse space, and booked brand deals with other sports card companies. Major League Baseball even featured Ray and his collection in national commercials during playoff games.
Today, Ray’s channel is a daily destination for not just unboxings but also investment advice, collection showcases, interviews with players, and discussions on the business of the hobby. With sports and entertainment on pause during 2020, Ray’s daily videos provided an engaging escape for hundreds of thousands sheltering at home. Beyond cards, he also launched a popular “hits of the day” series where fans send in their best recent pulls for Ray to admire.
Due to the popularity of his unboxings, sports card companies routinely send Ray entire print runs of new sets knowing how influential his reviews can be on sales. He has broken numerous world records on his channel including most expensive boxes ever opened. In single videos, Ray has shown pulls collectively worth six figures including rare signed cards of Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr., Tom Brady and more.
His channel has become a recognized authority and leading voice for the modern sports card collecting space. Though the hobby saw explosive growth during the pandemic, Ray has been prudent in advising fans and investors. Through his platform, he has aimed to cut through hype to provide level-headed analysis on investment potential of various players, parallels and memorabilia across different sports industries.
Beyond collecting, Ray has bigger aspirations for the business potential of his brand. He operates an online marketplace to move some of his vast inventory and has explored conventions, memorabilia auctions, and card valuation/authenticating services. Some industry insiders speculate Ray may someday sell his YouTube channel, which could fetch over $10 million based on current valuation metrics. Wherever it leads, Marques Ray has undoubtedly cemented himself as the dominant online personality in the sports card world through dedication to his craft and community on YouTube.