Serving collectors since 1977.
- Vintage to Ultra Modern
- Singles and Sets
- Sports, TCG, Non-Sports
- Collectibles, Memorabilia, Autographs and Game-Worn/Used Gear
Rick Behar has served customers around the world for 50 years. Shop the eBay store, visit us in Waterford, or text us to sell your collection.
SCA COA Serial Number Lookup
Enter the hologram serial number from your COA or LOA to see the item photos and certificate on file. Lookup covers SportsCard Central Authentics (SCA) holograms.
SCA has issued certificates for years, and some issued before this online lookup began may not appear here yet. If your SCA certificate isn't found, text a photo of the item and its hologram to 248-626-4300 and we'll verify it and add it to the lookup.
Our history
SportsCard Central started with vintage cards, autographs and memorabilia, and grew up on the road at shows across the country before putting down roots in Michigan.
- 1970First card show
A Charlie Brooks show in Detroit.
- 1977Licensed to drive, and to deal
The day Rick got his driver's license, he drove to a card show at Sans Souci Hall in Farmington and set up as a dealer. Vintage cards, autographs and memorabilia through the '70s and '80s.
- 1979The epiphany
A closet holding over 90% of every Topps baseball card since 1951, and the realization that buying and selling what he loved beat filling sets. Read more.
- 1981A Parkhurst hockey hoard
1951–52 Parkhurst sets bought at the National in Detroit, with more from the Plymouth Hilton shows that followed.
- 1980s–2003“Mr. Non-Mint”
For about 20 years Rick ran ads, sales and auctions in Sports Collectors Digest as Mr. Non-Mint, his answer to Alan “Mr. Mint” Rosen. Before grading, Rick believed the chase for a perfect card was bound to end in disappointment, and that excellence was the most a collector could hope for.
- Show yearsNational touring show dealer, then promoter
More than 500 trading card shows promoted in Oakland and Macomb counties, including a weekly show at the Roseville Towne Center for almost 15 years.
- 1990Founded ASCDAD
Associated Sports Collectors, Dealers and Distributors, formed so touring show dealers could join forces and negotiate fairer table fees. Join the group.
- For dealersInvented The Vault and Super Vault
Zip-up, lock-up table covers, the "body bags" dealers still use to secure show inventory.
- 1993The Detroit Find
Untouched boxes of 1948 Leaf and early-'50s Bowman, debuted at the 1993 National. Read the story.
- 1994Sports Spectacular at the Novi Expo Center
Rick promoted a three-day card show with more than 50 free autograph guests, the first show of its kind in the industry. Tommy Hearns and the entire Kronk Boxing Team set up a full-size boxing ring in the middle of the show, sparring and signing autographs all weekend, and Hearns held a press conference there to announce his upcoming fight.
- 1990sAn early eBay seller
The Americard eBay account opened in eBay's early years and has completed more than 50,000 transactions.
- The NationalFive-time sponsor of the NSCC
Supporting the hobby's biggest show.
- 2003SportsCard Central opens at Hall Road and Schoenherr
Rick retired the Mr. Non-Mint name and opened SportsCard Central in Sterling Heights. It was one of the first card shops in the country to advertise on television, running as many as 2,000 commercials a month from 2003 to 2010. From 2003 to 2014 it was one of the country's top brick-and-mortar retailers of wax boxes.
- 2009Orchard Lake Road and 14 Mile
The store moved to Farmington Hills, and the TV campaign followed. In 2010 the store sponsored an Arnold Palmer commercial on ESPN, with a free Arnold Palmer card for every visitor. From Farmington Hills, the store moved to Keego Harbor.
- WaterfordOne home in Waterford
After Keego Harbor, SportsCard Central made its home in Waterford.
- AuthenticationPSA/DNA events in Detroit
For years, brought PSA/DNA autograph authenticators to Detroit twice a year for local submissions.
- Notable saleTommy Hearns' personal title belt collectionWBA Light Heavyweight · WBA Welterweight · WBO Super Middleweight · WBC Lifetime Achievement · WBC World Champion · WBU Cruiserweight · IBO Cruiserweight
- 2010"The King of Cards"
Rick Behar profiled in a Detroit Jewish News feature.
- Covid eraHeystack.tech, co-founded with brother Jerry Behar
During Covid, Rick's brother Jerry asked if he had any business ideas, so the two could finally build something together after years of doing their own things. Rick's answer came from every pain point he had lived as a dealer, store owner, collector and eBay seller. The result was Heystack and the Heystack One, changing the way sellers get their cards onto eBay and into e-commerce. Rick serves as its founder, a consultant and a member of the board.
Jerry passed away from complications of cancer soon after the company was incorporated in 2023. In loving memory of Jerry Behar.
- NowLive breaks, repacks and a new home online
Selling on eBay, with livestreams on the way, and the store back open to walk-ins starting November 12.
On TV, 2003–2010
At the height of the campaign, SportsCard Central ran as many as 2,000 commercials a month, from store openings to in-store appearances by Detroit sports stars and Hollywood guests. Here are a few that survive on YouTube.
Events we've promoted
Guests at signings and appearances SportsCard Central promoted, at the store and at its own shows:
Dave Bing, and the 2004 NBA Champions in their first appearance after winning the title: Darvin Ham, Elden Campbell and Lindsey Hunter
Gordie Howe, Sid Abel, Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio, Bill Gadsby, John Ogrodnick, Steve Yzerman, Darren McCarty, Chris Osgood, Kris Draper
Willie Horton, Hal Newhouser, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, Lou Whitaker, Chris Shelton, Chris Gomez
Detroit Lions Lem Barney and Marc Spindler; Michigan’s Desmond Howard and Elvis Grbac
Trey Burke, National Player of the Year, at his first professional autograph signing
Tommy Hearns and the entire Kronk Boxing Team, sparring in a full-size ring at Sports Spectacular 1994; Randy “Macho Man” Savage
The cast of A Christmas Story
The King of Cards
The day Rick Behar got his driver's license in 1977, he drove to a card show at Sans Souci Hall in Farmington, Michigan, and set up as a dealer. From there he became a national touring show dealer, setting up at shows across the country. Back home he promoted more than 500 trading card shows in Oakland and Macomb counties, and he has sponsored the National Sports Collectors Convention five times.
Rick also invented The Vault and Super Vault, the zip-up, lock-up table covers dealers call "body bags," built so dealers could secure their inventory overnight at shows. In 1993 he brought one of the hobby's great finds to collectors: The Detroit Find.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, collectors knew him from Sports Collectors Digest as “Mr. Non-Mint.” He has bought, sold and authenticated sports cards and memorabilia for nearly 50 years and is one of the country's leading authorities on vintage collections. Collectors and estates come to him for fair offers, private negotiations, and the knowledge to tell a real piece from a reprint.
“A good dealer has the memory of a goldfish or suffers seller’s remorse every day. A savvy one holds for the right moment. The two rarely coincide.”
“What were we talking about?”
If you're thinking about selling or consigning a premier piece or a full collection, text photos to start the conversation.
The closet that changed everything
In 1979 Rick opened his closet and looked at more than 90% of every Topps baseball card made since 1951.
That was the epiphany. Buying and selling what he loved, without the need to keep filling sets, was freeing. Whatever he had on any given day was his collection. He needed none of it and loved all of it.
His customers got the benefit of everything he sourced over the years that followed.
The Detroit Find
Full boxes of the hobby's most important postwar sets, put away when they were new and never touched again for 32 to 45 years.
The original buyer opened every pack along one side and wrote the complete contents of each box on handwritten notes kept inside it. Then the boxes went into storage and stayed there.
The 1952 Bowman Mickey Mantle from the find became the first PSA 10. The 1953 Bowman Color cards were stunning, and Rick believes most of the PSA 10 1953 Bowman Color cards in existence came from that box, even though he wasn't a fan of PSA at the time.
The 1948 Leaf box held no short prints, but it did hold two Jackie Robinsons, three Babe Ruths and three Ted Williams.
When Rick set up at the 1993 National with these cards, collectors stood four and five deep at his booth for hours, something the convention had never seen. Selling them that quickly may have been the biggest mistake of a collector's life.
- 1948Leaf Baseball
- 1950Bowman
- 1951Bowman
- 1952Bowman
- 1953Bowman Color
- 1954Bowman
- 1956–60Packs, sports and non-sports
- 1961Fleer All-Time Greats
Two 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson rookie cards
Both Jackie Robinsons from the Detroit Find were graded by PSA, then stolen from Rick at a show. We know they're out there. Every conversation with Rick is 100% confidential, and a lifetime of gratitude goes to anyone who helps bring them home.
Reward: $10,000 per card, $20,000 for both. The reward is paid only after the card or cards are returned to Rick Behar's physical possession, and only to the person whose information led directly to that recovery.
Text Rick at 248-626-4300
Full circle
For almost 15 years Rick ran a weekly card show at the Roseville Towne Center. One day his landlord's daughter, Marcia Gershenson, called to ask whether her son, a preteen who was crazy about cards, could set up at the show.
Rick told her it would be his pleasure, and there would be no table fee. She brought her son, and Rick coached him through the whole day. The boy didn't come back the next day, and Rick never heard from him again.
The promoter of the Michigan Card Show called Rick looking for a PSA dealer to take submissions at his show. Rick asked his name. Billy Gershenson. It clicked immediately.
Billy said he'd only been doing shows since his own son got him interested, and he'd never set up at one before. He didn't know who Rick was. Rick asked if he was Marcia Gershenson's son. He was. Then Rick asked if he remembered setting up at a show when he was about ten years old.
"Oh my God. That was you?"
"Of course I remember that. It's part of why I'm doing this with my son. I just never imagined anyone else would know that story. Thank you, Rick! Please come set up at the show, no charge, and help me out with PSA submissions."
Rick set up at a few of Billy's shows and the two reconnected. When the time was right, Rick handed the PSA submissions to another authorized dealer, because that was best for where Billy's shows were headed.
"I'm so proud of Billy. He's running great shows and helping collectors and dealers connect and grow their collections and businesses."
— Rick Behar
The people who laid the first bricks
Thank you to the Michigan pioneers and show promoters who motivated me, inspired me and showed me how it's done:
- Charlie BrooksMy first show in 1970 in Detroit, then Sans Souci Hall and many other venues
- Dave GainesShow promoter
- Ed SupowitFounder of the Wednesday Show, still running today
And thank you to Davy Jones, Frank Nagy, Lloyd Toerpe and early game-used and memorabilia dealer Tony Bussineau, for laying the early bricks of the highway the sports card and memorabilia hobby travels on today.
— Rick Behar
Jerome "Jerry" Behar
Co-founder, Heystack.tech · Passed away July 15, 2023Rick's brother Jerry founded Webfilings, which became Workiva, and co-founded Grand River Solutions. Michigan State named him its College of Business Alumnus of the Year in 2018, and in 2022 he gave the commencement address to the graduating class of the Broad College of Business. During Covid, after years of doing their own things, Jerry and Rick finally built something together, and Jerry became co-founder of Heystack.tech.
Join the community
Follow along for new arrivals, store news and giveaways.
ASCDAD
Associated Sports Collectors, Dealers and DistributorsRick started ASCDAD so touring show dealers could join forces and negotiate fairer table fees. Today it's a private Facebook group where Rick moderates the conversation about the issues facing collectors, dealers and distributors, with a focus on how changes in the hobby affect dealers and brick-and-mortar card shops.
If you run a table, a shop or a distribution business, you belong in the room.
Request to join ASCDADBuying, selling, visiting
We pay top dollar for quality vintage and modern collections, game-used memorabilia, and whole estates. Texting photos is the fastest way to start.
Single cards, vintage, modern and ultra modern: baseball, basketball, football and hockey, plus UFC, WWE, boxing, golf, tennis and NASCAR.
Trading card games and non-sports: Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Magic: The Gathering, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Wacky Packages and more non-sports cards.
Autographs and game-used gear: signed baseballs, basketballs, footballs, helmets and hockey pucks; game-used and game-worn jerseys, sticks, bats, shoes and more; PSA/DNA and JSA/CGC certified signed cards, Hall of Fame plaques and photos; signed framed jerseys and presentation pieces.
The Chuck Daly Collection
Purchased from the Daly estate: memorabilia from nearly every part of the Hall of Fame coach's storied career, including custom golf bags, playbooks and pieces from the original Dream Team. All certified authentic.
Collectibles: vintage tickets, magazines, pins, coins, stamps, collectible cars, bobbleheads, figurines, sci-fi figures, McFarlane figures, collectible books and uncut sheets.
Unopened: older sealed product.
Get in touch
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New arrivals, store days, signings and special offers. One email a week. No spam.