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Bill Henderson
interviewed by Anthony Qaiyum on November 18, 1995
"A successful mail order dealer could, if he works out of his home, gross, say, $200,000 to $250,000."
Bill Henderson is a professional baseball card dealer.
Tripod: When did baseball cards become an investment option rather than novelty items given with bubble gum or tobacco?
BH: Well, I began in 1976, and I think in that period things really started to roll. It was like the gold rush. Shows were beginning. You could go to a couple of different cities and a couple of different shows in those cities each year, and it really mushroomed.
Tripod: What do you think is the reason that?
BH: Well, I think it starts on a small basis, where somebody begins to put on a show for sports collectibles. They began in the early 70's, but in `76 they seemed to go throughout the country. People would see that they had a show in Philadelphia that was successful, so then somebody in Chicago would say, "Hey, let's put on a show here." And then in the late 70's they started bringing stars to the shows. Mickey Mantle came to a show in 1978. That was incredible. You never thought you would see that happen. That drew people to come the shows. From there, other people saw that happening, and they would try to get in touch with agents and players. Pretty soon there were many promoters who were putting on shows, and by 1980 it was going wild.
Tripod: So you would say there's enough of a market by dealing in trading cards and memorabilia?
BH: Yes. I would say right now it's a difficult period. When we began in the 70's there was just one company, and it was Topps. So what you did is you collected your set, and then you decided if you wanted to go backwards and build earlier sets. Well now we have many, many manufacturers producing many, many different sets. So for us who deal in the past, we have competition dealing with the new product. And the people dealing in the new product are having to knock heads against each other. And it is a difficult time.
We're doing well, because we're trying to be as innovative as possible. We're very thankful that we now have computers and the Internet. I'm involved a little bit on the Internet, but I'm very illiterate in it's usage. But I'm advertising on the bulletin boards.
Tripod: If you don't mind my asking, how much can a fairly well known dealer expect to gross in a year?
BH: Well, it's kind of a loaded question. I know that it's possible that a successful mail order dealer could, if he works out of his home, gross, say, $200,000 to $250,000. Maybe five years ago he could have done half a million dollars. That's a successful dealer. There are periods of time when you could make $100,000 to $200,000. We're existing on a lot less than that now, but we're enjoying life too -- not having to work as hard.
I, at one time, was spending $5,000 a month in advertising. Now that may not be a lot to a lot of people, but for somebody who works in a cottage industry out of his basement, that's a lot of money. Now, I'm spending maybe $600 or $700, because of the softness of the hobby. And we're still making a good profit and living a nice life. And being able to get up when we want to, and watch Sally Jesse [laughs] ... and then go to work.
Tripod: So you don't even need a shop.
BH: No, no. I think you need probably two elements. Generally you need to be involved in mail order, and go to shows -- not only to sell, but to replace inventory. If you own a store, you also go to the shows and do mail order. It's very difficult to open a store and be successful.
Tripod: It's a lot of overhead.
BH: Exactly. I'd say six seven years ago all you did was throw your money in the air, close your eyes, turn around, and it multiplied. You didn't have to do anything. People felt that whatever they bought has to go up. There was a lot of stuff that plummeted in value in the late eighties. Now people are more careful about what they buy.
Tripod: Would you say there are the equivalents of Donald Trumps in the baseball card market?
BH: The one guy in particular who is the most well known is Al Rosen -- Mr. Mint. He's really done a fine job in the hobby. Somewhat charismatic, somewhat caustic. Sort of like a Howard Cossell, either you love him or you hate him. He's done real well.
I'm sort of a nuts and bolts dealer. One of my shortfalls is that I stuck primarily to baseball only which is my love. And I stuck to mainly pre-ninety, so I'm not involved in the new hype material ... A lot of the people see the new material, and they say, "I think I'll go back and build a set from when I was born." So we can come and help them with a starter lot, or help them work on their sets. We also help dealers with inventory for their customers, as well as for the teams that are in their community.
Tripod: I was born in `73. How much do you think I would need to put together a set from that year?
BH: In `73 a set might be in the $800 range in near-mint condition. Generally we can help a person get started on building this. Whether they can stay within the $800, that is the challenge. We help provide them with common cards, and then the challenge is to go to the shows and bargain and deal on the stars ... Eventually, they have their set completed like a puzzle. There's a great deal of satisfaction, rather than just going out and spending $800 on a set.
Tripod: I can imagine. Now, you said you specialize in baseball. How do you balance your love of collecting with the business of buying and selling cards.
BH: I actually don't collect myself. I did, but I ended up breaking my collection down and selling it in 1978. I have been involved as a primary income since 1980, and also traveling to shows. We find that it's hard to serve two gods -- one being the collection, and one being the business. I've enjoyed the business tremendously. It's so nice traveling, and meeting good people, and having a fraternity among people who love sports collectibles. you don't have to necessarily collect to be in the business.
Tripod: Do you have a favorite card that you still own, though?
BH: I actually don't. The one thing that have and that I enjoy -- we did a show about five years ago, and they had all the players that it over 500 homeruns. And Ron Lewis did a painting with them -- I think it was eleven players -- and they were all at this one show at the Trop World casino, and I bought one of the prints. It's autographed by all the players who were living. The one that's passed away of course is Mickey Mantle. It's an item that I enjoy, because it's nice. It's colorful. I give little talks sometimes, and I bring that along. It's a nice conversation piece. My primary love is the common card. Probably my favorite player is Charlie Morrow of the Brewers who retired, oh, a number of years ago. But I believe in the common player. I don't care for the star. That's my personality. I sell the commons, because they're what I would be if I made it to the major leagues. [laughs] I would have been the scrub who was sitting on the bench.
Tripod: There are probably a lot of people out there who like baseball, and would probably like to start collecting, but the industry has become so big that it's tough to know where to begin. Can you suggest a first purchase for someone who has very little experience collecting?
BH: I think it depends on how old they are and where their heart is. For me, I've enjoyed helping people build sets. I think it's fun when you can help build a set. I think that the fun of building a set from the 70's is great. There's a lot of neat players who have put up statistics that the new players will have to challenge.
My kind of guy is the guy who says, "I want to start a 1975 set, and it doesn't have to be near-mint. Just a nice card with no creases. And I want to have fun, and I want to build a set. And I don't want to have to spend a lot of money." That's the kind of thing that I think is fun. I think the main thing is to buy from their heart to begin with, and don't spend a lot of money. And don't expect it to fund your retirement program. Because we know today that there's no guarantee.
Visit Bill Henderson's homepage at: http://www.wwcd.com/b_hend/b_hend.html
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