I read this and realized that this might be why Ebay has a booth at GenCon:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/29/investing/ebay-trading-cards-collectibles/index.html
 

I thought we had all agreed 20 years ago that sports trading cards were worthless?  How dare you, world

Had this discussion with a family member the other day.

Most people believe this because the 80s/90s cards were/are worthless (save for a few key cards or series) given the massive production of cards along with everything else that was marketed as 'collectable' and produced in the 80s/90s - Beany Babies, Danbury Mint, Hamilton.. list goes on and on.

They have definitely rebounded in the last decade and especially in the last 2 years.  It's been nuts...

Yeah, I am not one of those people who was roped into spending lots of money on collecting as a kid with the idea that it would pay for my college someday or anything, but I certainly remember excitedly looking up the value of some random rookie cards I had for famous players and discovering they were worth, like, a dollar at best, resulting in me throwing all of them away.  I am sure everyone across the country did the same thing, which probably helped the market rebound!  Haha.