Collecting America

Millions of dollars for a baseball card? Hundreds of thousands for a uniform? It might sound strange, but baseball memorabilia collecting, once a children's hobby, is now a multi-billion dollar industry with thousands of stores, auctions, and conventions nationwide. Old cards sell for thousands, fans pay up to $200 for player autographs and stock is sold in memorabilia companies. The "industry" receives coverage not only in dozens of hobby publications, but also in The Wall St. Journal. Collecting America takes a tongue-in-cheek look at this hobby turned business and seeks to understand the powerful fascination millions of collectors have with any piece of baseball history, from game-worn uniforms to the original dirt from Ebbets Field.Among the film's highlights are a Sotheby's memorabilia auction, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (which has an extensive baseball card collection), the Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as baseball card companies, memorabilia conventions and the top traders