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The 2024 National: 10 things we learned in Cleveland

Vintage cards, breakers, politics and baseball all ruled the week

Cover Image for The 2024 National: 10 things we learned in Cleveland
The Breakers Pavilion, left, and vintage card dealers were doing great business all week. (cllct photos by Kevin Jackson)

CLEVELAND — The 2024 National Sports Collectors Convention was another wild one that, based on attendance alone, certainly blew away expectations.

But what did we learn from seeing the marketplace unfold before our eyes this week at the I-X Center?

Here are my Top 10 takeaways:

1. Baseball is No. 1

In the real world, at least in the United States, baseball interest ranks behind football and basketball. At The National, it doesn't matter that America's top pastime is no longer baseball.

Driven by Fanatics growth with Topps, prospect investing being easier in baseball than in other sports and Shohei Ohtani getting so much buzz, this National proved once again baseball is the premium sport among collectors.

2. Modern cards take backseat

The last two years at The National were marked by modern card largesse. Display cases brimming with modern cards sometimes 30-50 of the same Panini Prizm card in PSA 10s.

Due to the fall in the market overall, the crowds for were bigger at the $1 card boxes than at the booths that boasted modern card 1/1's.

Scott Rogowsky tells cllct's Darren Rovell that modern baseball cards are a 'young man's game.'

CLLCT'S COVERAGE OF THE NATIONAL:

3. Vintage skyrockets

It was wild having my booth located next to Just Collect's Leighton Sheldon, who has specialized in selling just vintage cards for the last 20 years. Having seen the action at his booth -- after being next to him for the two previous Nationals -- it was easy to conclude the market understands natural scarcity is more important than scarcity created by the card companies.

The number of young people buying vintage had to be record-breaking in Cleveland.

4. A Mantle on your mantel

Mickey Mantle last played 56 years ago. He died 28 years ago. And yet, 2024 will go down as the year Mantle popped.

Attention over the rise of the 1952 Topps card seemed to surpass that of the hobby's original grail, the T206 Honus Wagner. Unlike the Wagner, the Mantle is obtainable, and people wanted it any way they could get it. Sheldon said his top ask this week was for a 1952 Mantle in a PSA 1.

5. High auction houses clean up

I have never seen the consignment business as big as it was for auction houses at The National. The Heritage area, driven by the quality of the items in its upcoming auction, was packed. Goldin, driven by the Netflix show, was mobbed, with a steady flow of people coming in to consign their items.

Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin and Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan discuss their expectations for Fanatics Fest.

6. Breakers still rule

The amount of money is in breaking is mind-boggling, as the top breakers had 20-40 employees on hand in Cleveland. Breakers also provided the crowds with the most excitement, as yelling and screaming could be heard with a big pull, reminiscent of a golfer hitting a big shot in a major tournament.

The question is: How long can this last? With its similarities to gambling, is government regulation around the corner?

7. Political market is heating up

The National had only one political booth, Roger's Collectibles, but it had a steady stream of traffic and sales with Donald Trump-signed items at the top. Collecting signatures of early presidents, particularly George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, has gained momentum.

8. Tickets more prevalent than ever

As many know, this is my area, so I was very well aware of how many more booths were selling tickets as an alternative play to cards.

That upward trend continued at the submission level, too, as PSA president Ryan Hoge told cllct his company took in four times as many tickets to be graded at this year's show versus last year (compared to the number of cards, which was flat).

9. Signed cards are all the rage

For so many years, the thought was to never ruin a card with a signature. Well, that blasphemy is clearly over.

Signed vintage cards are getting a huge premium and to see people ask for them is hilarious. One booth had binders and binders of signed cards that convention goers were paging through, something they would have never batted an eye at years ago.

10. Market not yet ready for Type 1 photos, magazines

My anedotal take is there were at least five times more Type 1 photos displayed this year versus last year. And while there seemed to be more people looking, it didn't look like many pulled the trigger.

Graded magazines also weren't moving at the booths that had them. Time will tell if PSA's entrance into the market will change that.

Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.