Collecting Baseball Cards for 40 Years Brings Wisdom

Collecting baseball cards is a great American pastime. You can learn most of the players in the major leagues, both current and historical. You can also make some money, but there are a few things you need to know. Herein lies wisdom from 40-plus years of collecting baseball cards.

First, baseball card collecting can be expensive. Cards from before 1970 that are in good condition are valuable, and even current cards can be worth a lot if only a small number were printed. Second, rookie cards are worth at least 10 times more than any other year for the player. Third, some baseball players are just part of Americana and their cards are worth more (sometimes into the millions of dollars). Fourth, there are some company names you need to know. Finally, the grade of a card you collect is very important to the value of that card.

Baseball Cards Can Bring An Expense

Collecting baseball cards from before 1970 is a very expensive hobby. Even “common” players from these years are worth $10 to $30, depending on the age, older is generally more expensive. There are some quirks with these old cards that drive up their value. There are stories of card companies in the 1950s dumping cards in the Atlantic Ocean to force rarity and drive up the value. So, we do not know if that happened. One thing that exists is that companies used to print cards in series, according to their number. For whatever reason these companies printed less of the later, higher number, series. This makes them more rare and more expensive.

Take A Look at Rookie Cards

Rookie cards are worth about 5x-10x what later cards of the same player are worth. If you are in the market for collecting complete sets for each year, rookie cards in a set typically drive up the set’s value. These rookie cards are listed as so-called “key cards” for a particular set. It is funny, but you see card companies producing many “Rookie Stars” cards to hit on a player who will go on to a successful career.

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Mickey Mantle cards are worth the most of all baseball cards (the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, in mint “pristine” condition tends to sell for about a million dollars), and collecting them is problematic. There are a few other players whose baseball cards are also worth much money.  Pete Rose and Nolan Ryan are two of these players. Stars are worth more than common players. After a player retires from the game there are only two things they can do, generally, to drive up the value of their cards. They could get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame or die.

Baseball Card Companies

Several different companies have printed baseball cards. Topps, which has the longest-running tradition, has been producing baseball cards since 1952. Other companies have joined them since then, and this speaks to a key point. The market for cards became oversaturated in the 1980s, driving card values way down. This was due to the number of companies producing cards, the large variety of cards they were making, and the number of young people who became collectors. Other companies include Fleer, Donruss, Bowman, Score, and Upper Deck. These companies have several different types of cards, having to do with the photographic quality of the card. They also produce several different series and special sets each year.

Grading The Cards Themselves

Finally, if you have some very valuable cards or are looking to get the best price when you sell them, it may be worth getting your baseball cards graded by a rating agency. PSA, the Professional Sports Authenticator, is by far the largest. The rate cards on the quality of the printing and the current condition. As alluded to earlier, cards with high grades, a 9 or 10, on the 10-point rating scale are called “Mint” (10s are called “pristine”) and are worth much more than lower-graded cards. Grading does give an aura of reliability to something that can be subjective.

Conclusion

Collecting baseball cards is an all-American pastime, but there are a few things readers should know before they start collecting. Some of them are listed in this article so the reader can know them and be smart about their collection.

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