We’ve been hearing for decades how football has passed baseball in popularity. Is that true in the collectible world? There are currently 13 percent more listings containing the word “baseball” in the title on eBay than those with the word “football.” (The football number was arrived at by doing an advanced search for “football” while subtracting the word “soccer.”) The count as of this writing:
eBay Item Of The Day
667,104 Baseball
590,139 Football
300,995 Hockey
295,646 Soccer
289,674 Basketball
95,874 NASCAR
So, based solely on this one metric, I am declaring that baseball is still more popular than football.
Today’s item is presented by the seller as being a collection of the first baseball cards ever produced. They are from 1866 ...
Entrepreneur: We want you to appear on something called a “base ball card.”
Player: A what now?
Entrepreneur: A little piece of heavy paper with your picture on it.
Player: I sincerely hope my batting average won’t be on the back. I’m not doing so well right now.
Entrepreneur: We hadn’t thought of doing that.
Player: And I’ll only appear naked if it’s done tastefully.
Entrepreneur: There will be no nudity; you’ll be in uniform.
Player: Then I say good day to you, sir!












