A Reinvestigation of Racial Discrimination and Baseball Cards

Abstract

This article presents a reexamination and extension of Nardinelli and Simon's (NS) work on the racial discrimination in the market for the Topps 1970 series of baseball cards. This article compares the descriptive statistics and regression results NS reported using data as of the end of the 1988 season with results for the same variables and similar data sources. The greatest challenge raised by this study was obtaining card prices, especially for the earliest years. Until the 1970s there was no secondary market for baseball cards, other than an informal barter market. It is not obvious why evidence supporting customer racial discrimination is concentrated in the 1984-1991 period. The pool of card collectors in 2001 is not the same as in 1979 or 1984. Discrimination among younger collectors may be less common than among older card buyers, perhaps because baseball fans have become accustomed to watching players of all races. But even if this were true it is not clear why younger collectors would have a special interest in players long retired.