From baseball to Pokemon, Downtown Sports Cards gives Gainesville collectors a place to call their own

Jan. 31—The doors had been open for just a few minutes before a customer walked in and headed straight to the counter in the back.

It was 10 a.m. on a Friday, and two boxes of Topps Finest 2022 baseball cards were waiting for him along with Randy Cruce, owner of Downtown Sports Cards, who set them aside to ensure the customer had the opportunity to unbox them before heading to work.

It was the level of customer service Cruce wanted to bring to downtown Gainesville when he decided to open the city's only sports card and hobby shop.

"He just pulled a few bangers from those boxes," Cruce, 59, said of the phrase for really special cards. "I always let the customers choose the boxes because they have their own rhythms and way that they do things."

Downtown Sports Cards

When: 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: 206 Bradford St. NE, Gainesville

More info: 770-921-2899

Opened in December a short walk from the downtown square, Cruce saw a need and decided to fill it, mostly with his own memorabilia, cards and merchandise. Now he is buying, selling and trading cards — baseball and Pokemon are attracting the most interest, he says — and autographed memorabilia.

And there is a lot of autographed merchandise on display, including a Mark Richt autographed Wheaties box, a signed NASCAR garage pass from 1992 and a pair of 1988 Air Jordan size two baby sneakers.

Cruce has been collecting baseball, football and basketball cards, posters, framed photos, magazines and memorabilia since the 1980s.

"I have always collected and, like a lot of people, I looked for something to do during COVID and started pulling out my old stuff," Cruce said. "Then I started collecting again. I have a lot of stuff and I wanted to share it, expand it and allow a lot of people to see it."

Before his three daughters were born, Cruce and his wife of 38 years, Joanna, would go to Major League Baseball spring training sites in Florida, where he would carry around a box of baseballs for active and former professional baseball players to sign.

"I personally saw more than 90% of these autographs signed," Cruce said.

All of the autographs in the store have been validated by Beckett, one of the trading card and memorabilia industry's oldest value evaluators.

Cruce remembers having one of his baseballs signed by boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard during a sports memorabilia show in Atlanta in 1990.

"I was walking through the convention center and I asked him to sign a baseball," Cruce said. "It was all I had."

The glass cases at Downtown Sports Cards also contain autographed baseballs from National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Ted Williams, Carl Yastremski, George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Lou Brock and Atlanta Braves veteran Dale Murphy.

The best of the collection, according to Cruce, is a signed and painted Mickey Mantle baseball he referred to as "the monster." The ball has a hand-painted miniature portrait of Mantle on one side and an autograph on the other.

The ball is for sale, but Cruce, who watched it get signed, says he couldn't care less if he ever finds a buyer for it.

"You can't replace moments, and I'll never forget the day that ball was signed in 1988."

Joanna Cruce has vivid memories, too. She remembers when her husband approached her with an idea to open a hobby shop.

"I was very skeptical and nervous at first," she admitted. "He was very sure (the business) was going to work, but I knew it was going to be a huge investment."

On a Saturday afternoon a few weeks after the store opened, her husband texted her the word "help," because the store was very busy and he could use the extra hands serving the customers inside.

The couple has lived in Gainesville since 2015, so it didn't take Joanna long to get to the store. "I saw the crowd and said, 'Oh, this thing might actually work,'" she said. "He made me a believer after that."

Downtown Sports Cards fills a retail need, according to Randy Cruce.

"There's a huge gap in the market out here," Cruce said. "Most of the card stores are essentially in Snellville and Roswell. You don't have anybody within an hour or an hour and half out. Everybody that has walked in the door, the first thing out of their mouth is, 'I'm glad you're here, we've been looking for a place to buy and sell stuff.'"

Joanna believes she understands the level of interest and investment from the baseball card collectors and Pokemon enthusiasts she sees at the store every weekend.

"How women are about purses and shoes, that's how men are about these cards," she joked.

Cruce wants to grow and maintain a successful business but he adds, "I'm about expanding the hobby."

With three daughters, he didn't have the opportunity to pass on his love of baseball cards and autograph-hunting to his girls, but he now enjoys the opportunity to pass down his passion through his customers and their kids.

"If we don't keep the younger generation involved and enjoying the hobby, then who will?" he said. "I've got four to five families that come in just about every Saturday. The hobby shop is where you meet people and grow the next generation of collectors."