Sports trading card collecting going through “a generational reboot”

Author: Zach Oliveri
Published: Updated:

Steven Palmer knows what to look for when it comes to sports trading cards, regardless of the sport. He’s been collecting for years.

“I wasn’t so much collecting until after a while outside of high school,” Palmer explained. “And it just kind of just hit me and gave me a sense of meaning really as far as the hobby goes, knowing that it’s been in my family for so long.”

Palmer’s family has been holding card shows in Southwest Florida since the 1990s. His grandma, Marge Honkanen, started it. Now, Palmer is following the family tradition.

“It was an important thing that I wanted to bring back to Southwest Florida that hasn’t been around since my grandma and my mom were doing it,” Palmer said.

Ever since COVID, the popularity of sports trading cards has grown, with more people picking up the hobby.

“It’s kind of like a generational reboot,” Palmer said.

That popularity, according to Palmer, is driven by word of mouth, especially when talking about money.

“Whether you want to be a flipper and buy something for 10 bucks and sell it for 20 or buy for 1000 dollars and sell for 1500, it’s literally a stock market,” Palmer explained.

“It’s an investment that you can hold in your hand and not just look at it on a computer screen going up and down,” Palmer added.

The Southwest Florida Sports Card Show will host its inaugural show in Naples on Saturday at the Naples Conference Center.

Copyright ©2025 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.