Hobby Musings: SCC’s Sean Bennett Weighs In On Current State Of Hobby – As the hobby continues to thrive, Steel City Collectibles has been a major player in getting cards to collectors. To find out more about the current state of the hobby, I caught up with SCC’s Sean Bennett.
KS: Sean, I’ll start you off with this. What do you think the state of the hobby is today?
SB: The hobby is strong. Interest is at an all-time high and continues to grow. We continue to see a ton of new collectors enter the space, which is very encouraging.
KS: You obviously sell a lot of trading cards. Which sports are the biggest sellers for you right now?
SB: Baseball and football are our top two consistently throughout the year, but over the last 30 days, it has been basketball.
KS: Has there been a sport, product, or athlete that has taken you by surprise with their popularity this year?
SB: I’m not surprised by Shohei Ohtani, but I am impressed that he makes all necessary adjustments to stay at the top of his game year in and year out. Interest in any of his cards and memorabilia continues to climb.
KS: It feels like the international trading card market has also exploded in the past few years. What have you noticed on that front?
SB: We have had a large online presence now for decades, and to be honest, that is what I liked about it from the start. The ability to reach collectors all over the world. And to your question yes, we continue to see a lot of new collectors in different international markets, and we see a lot of potential for new collectors in these markets as well
KS: Sean, group breaking has been around for a while now too. What do you think is the state of that part of the hobby?
SB: It is another area of the industry that continues to thrive. And it will continue to thrive. There will be collectors that like to obtain their cards and collect this way, and there will be collectors that choose the traditional way.
KS: You’re based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates aren’t having a great season, but Paul Skenes is still showing why he was a Cy Young favorite. How has collector enthusiasm for him in year 2 compared to his rookie season?
SB: The enthusiasm is still there. As we are talking about this, he just threw another strong eight innings, only giving up one run, but he still got the loss. I think if you look at win/loss record so far, it looks bad, but his run support has been brutal so no need to panic yet, but if others panic sell, we will be buying.
Hobby Musings: SCC’s Sean Bennett Weighs In On Current State Of Hobby
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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