Show Card shark bites into big Dig business as a dealer Jody Jady Genessy Sports Editor VEN though packs of sports EVEN cards dont don't come with bubble bubble bubble bub bub- ble gum anymore collectors are buying and swapping them like crazy According to Dick Haskell owner of D D Collectibles Shaquille ONeal has boosted interest interest interest in in- terest in sports card collecting Haskell just graduated from winter q quarter arter with an associate a te degree in business Hes He's been in the card business for the past five years I 1 didn't want to work for anybody Haskell said laughing laughing laughing laugh laugh- ing when asked why he started his own business Haskell started collecting cards for fun when he was 12 years old I was a collector now Im I'm a dealer he said His shop is a young childs child's fantasy fantasy fantasy fan fan- tasy world There is anything from Joe DiMaggio's baseball card to the latest X-Men X comic book At his shop he likes to treat everybody well so they will have a good time whether they buy a lot of cards or not When you walk through this door youre you're treated like family Haskell said It lilt should be fun to spend your money His favorite part of the job is meeting people and bulls bulls bulls- Some people just come to his hista shop to shoot the bull bulJ l and lW t ta talk sports l sports w with th him him He Hel also also joked about how there are moms that give their kids 5 and drop them off at his store on Saturdays After a couple of hours they will return and pick pickup pickup pickup up the kids Its lilts pretty cheap babysitting babysitting babysitting ting Haskell said Haskell said that card collecting collecting collecting col col- col- col has changed recently Today there are two groups of people who buy cards the investors investors investors in in- and the collectors The collectors are usually between between between be be- tween eight and 16 years old They do it strictly for fun he said Haskell said they will buy a acard acard acard card and watch for the players on TV and get excited when he hits a or makes a bas bas- ket Whereas the investor buys strictly for financial gain Its It's this reason that sports cards are more expensive nowadays A Apack Apack Apack pack of cards will usually run from 60 up to 5 depending on the brand and of the cards he said Haskell Haske l feels that everybody can collect cards but the key factor is to enjoy n joy doing it He suggests picking a set to begin with and focus primarily on buying and trading with that set until the entire set is com com- Another fun way to collect cards is to pick a favorite player and focus on getting all of his cards Have fun with them first if they turn into money great But if not you had fun doing it Haskell said Swap em trade em and have fun with em Today people of all ages are collecting and investing in the multi-billion multi dollar sports card market Traditionally baseball cards have taken the largest share largest share of the market but lately the trend has changed The Shag Attacks card al already already already al- al ready is worth anywhere from a meager 9 to a whopping That Tha t is as high as Haskell has ever seen one card jump after one season of play He also said that some other basketball rookies are in popular demand right now Alonzo Mou Mourning ning Christian Laettner Harold Miner Anthony Anthony Anthony An An- thony Peeler and Robert Horry are just a few of the stars from this years year's prime rookie class Last years year's gathering of the Dream Team also sparked interest interest interest in in- terest for a lot of people in collecting collecting collecting col col- col- col cards he said W t s J J k f t Yap YI M kAr kArM M w f vr k v m my y rC H S' S ivy Ae I Horizon photo Ed the Lite The Soccer Club had another good weekend of play They took second place in an tournament on Saturday May 8 |