Investigating Customer Racial Discrimination in the Secondary Baseball Card Market

Eric Primm, Nicole Leeper Piquero, Alex R. Piquero, Robert M. Regoli

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A growing body of literature in a variety of disciplines has appeared over the last 20 years examining customer racial bias in the secondary sports card market; however, consensus on the matter has yet to emerge. In this article, we explore the more subtle ways that a player's race/ethnicity may affect the value of his sports card including a player's skin tone (light- to dark-skinned). Data were obtained for 383 black, Latino, and white baseball players who had received at least one vote for induction into Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame including their career performance statistics, rookie card price, card availability, Hall of Fame status, and skin tone. Findings indicate that card availability is the primary determinant of card value while a player's skin tone has no direct effect. Subsequent analysis demonstrates that a player's race (white/non-white) rather than skin tone did have an effect as it interacts with Hall of Fame status to influence his rookie card price.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)110-132
Number of pages23
JournalSociological Inquiry
Volume81
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2011
Externally publishedYes

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