(Collecting America - "Fan" segment)

a satirical look at the baseball collecting frenzy in America
a Jonathan Blank film

"3 1/2 stars...Producer-director Jonathan Blank’s fascinating investigation of the multibillion-dollar baseball memorabilia business…“Collecting America” is first-rate reporting and an absorbing mix of interviews with industry entrepreneurs, execs, dealers, players, fans and sportswriters, along with footage of conventions and ball games." --Joseph Gelmis, New York Newsday

"Blank's funny, informative documentary is fast-paced, beautifully combining interviews with dealers, fans, market analysts and Hall-of-Famers...It's exceptionally well edited and even handed." --Bruce Eder, Video Magazine

"A fascinating, provocative documentary which provides a humorous and insightful view of how a childhood hobby has grown into a $10 billion market." --Ian Rowe, Harvard Business News

Millions of dollars for one 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 hundreds of dollars for player autographs, and stock is sold in memorabilia companies. The "industry" receives coverage not only in dozens of hobby publications, but also in Barron's and 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 Honus Wagner memorabilia auction
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has an extensive collection of baseball cards
the Baseball Hall of Fame and its induction ceremonies
anthropologists from Columbia University and a Yale psychiatrist
major trading card companies
Major League Baseball Properties, which markets over $1.5 billion of baseball merchandise
American Express, sponsors of the "Diamonds are Forever" baseball art exhibition
Alan Rosen, a.k.a. Mr. Mint, who makes millions selling memorabilia
Josh Evans, of Lelands, the largest memorabilia auction house
the Scoreboard Inc., a publicly traded memorabilia company
Steve Wulf, editor of Sports Illustrated

The film also features interviews with noted baseball players such as Hank Aaron, Duke Snider, Brooks Robinson, Lou Brock, Keith Hernandez, George Foster, Doug Drabek, and Monte Irvin as well as footage of many stars such as Joe Dimaggio, Darryl Strawberry, Ted Williams, Jose Canseco, Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, etc. both on and off the field.

Collecting America premiered at the prestigious Margaret Mead Film Festival at the Museum of Natural History in New York and was part of the traveling showcase seen across the country in venues from the University of Southern California to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The film was also shown at numerous other festivals and was shown on television in the US and abroad.

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Copyright - All Rights Reserved Color, 50 min.

Copyright - All Rights Reserved
Color, 50 min.