I have used this forum to discuss my affinity for sports cards before. But a brief discussion with a friend today made me think about what the hobby is like for those of us who are into it and what it seems like for the non collector. It has so many layers today as opposed to back in the 80’s when I started. There is retail, hobby, grading, inserts, variations, errors (intentional and unintentional), autographs, memorabilia cards (some legit/some fake), outright fake cards, numbered cards, valuable oddities and some players that just bust on the scene and unleash fury on the market. I am neck deep in the hobby and it’s hard for me to keep up with everything. I thought I’d put together a little “Beginners Guide to Collecting” for those in my life that I burden with my hobby talk.
I sometimes long for the days of the simple set and collecting my favorite player just to have it for my collection. That’s where Bailey is at and I’m trying to keep her there as long as I can. Her favorite is football right now and if she pulls a Todd Gurley, AJ Green or Andrew Luck, she’s on cloud 9, regardless of whether it’s a common card or insert. For a quick description: each card set (Topps, Upper Deck, Panini, etc) contains a base set of cards that are found in every pack. Randomly “inserted” into those packs are more rare items that range from a simple subset card with minimal value to a low number autograph that can be very valuable. We both open a pack together and I’ll see duds and she’ll be ecstatic. Then we’ll pull a rare gem and I’ll get excited and she’ll be like, “what’s the big deal?” She should know by now that a reverse negative of Mike Trout in a throwback uniform with a fake gum stain on the back of the card is a nice hit. Geez, this has really become more difficult than it has to be.
To start with, let’s talk “retail” vs “hobby”. Collecting is not as simple as going to Target or Wal Mart and picking up a couple of packs anymore. I used to think it was in the late 80’s/early 90’s but I’ve found out that even then, I was most likely getting a raw deal. The descriptions are just what they say. You but retail packs at retail stores. You buy hobby at your local hobby shop and from wholesalers online. You can buy either from EBay but buying retail on eBay is akin to taking your money and lighting it on fire. For the serious collector, hobby is the way to go. To begin with, there just aren’t as many “hits” in retail packs. The prices are more reasonable because of that but you’ve got to love commons and base sets to go retail. There are occasional hits in retail but they are very rare due to a couple of things: print ratio and the following rant….
The most prevalent problem with retail is what we in the hobby call, “pack searchers”. Next time you go to Target, take a look at an open box of cards. Are they all upside down, sideways and generally in shambles? That’s not a kid that got overzealous. That’s a grown man (or woman) who most likely took some type of tool like a magnet or scale or ruler into the store with him to investigate all the packs in the box. He weighed them to see if he could spot the autograph or memorabilia pack as it might be heavier, measured the thickness to find the odd pack that contains a hit or even used a magnet to find a rare printing plate. He went through every pack bending and sliding cards with his fingers to take any that stood out to him as potential winners. There are some very hot debates about whether these type of people should be allowed to continue to function in society but I’m here to tell you that they are cheats in my book. You want to hold a couple of packs and make a reasonable judgment, go ahead. But if you break out the tool kit, you might as well sign up for ISIS. Reputable hobby stores will not allow that type of behavior. So, the pros for hobby are exactly the opposite of the cons of retail: higher hit ratios and no pack searchers. You always have to be careful online, retail or hobby, trust me.
Next, let’s talk about grading. This is not a very old addition to the hobby, starting around the mid 90’s. But today, it’s a vital part of collecting older cards, ensuring you are getting a card in good condition or just preserving your favorites as you collect them. Of course, there is an additional price for this service but in most cases, it increases the value of the card. High graded vintage cards are both valuable and hard to find. A grade of 6 or better is usually very sought after in the pre 1970’s sets. A grade of 6 in a current set would mean you let your dog open the pack for you. PSA is my personal favorite but I’ve also used Beckett on occasion. They will also help with the authentication of autographs and memorabilia cards. They’ll even help you sniff out those Jordan Rookie fakes that are floating around eBay. There services are a tremendous help for the hobby and can help you increase the value of your collection without adding new cards.
Autographs are the big hits in today’s packs, with the exception of the occasional printing plate or 1 of 1 inserts. Autographs can come in many different levels. Of course the superstars are hard to get. But most autographs that are found in packs today are of rookies who have not proven any worth on the field yet. Their value is pushed by potential and scarcity of their autograph on the market. One of my favorite sets to collect is Topps Archives, because the autographs that are available in that set are usually from 80’s / 90’s players that I grew up collecting. Not always valuable but very nostalgic. Some of my favorites have been Ron Gant, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, Bruce Smith and Dwight Clark. They aren’t going to break the bank but they are household names for anyone who watched sports from my generation. Plus, they did something on the field and had solid careers. How many people ran out and paid hundreds for that Johnny Manziel autograph that didn’t pan out?
There is also the IP (In Person) and TTM (Through The Mail) autograph for those serious hobby’ers who like to do it themselves. We have AJ Green, Todd Gurley, Chris Conley, Freddie Freeman, Dominique Wilkins and others that we got over the years in person. We’ve had some success TTM with Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., Wade Boggs, Christian Laettner and Harrison Barnes. These options are usually cheaper than those you buy online (and sometimes free altogether) but they lack the authentication you get from the companies like Topps and Panini. That’s where PSA and Beckett services come in handy. Regardless of your intent with authentication or selling, nothing beats that one on one interaction with the athlete, especially when your kid is with you. Bryce Harper is on my list of “ones that got away.” I was 3 people away from getting his autograph at a spring training game when he was a rookie and the line shut down. Now, I’ll have to pay a couple hundred bucks for it if I want it. Still sick over that one.I was so close…..
Bryce Harper was not a kid that came out of nowhere. He was in ESPN The Magazine when he was just 16 and in high school. Lebron didn’t sneak up on us either. But those guys that do come out of nowhere are one of my favorite parts of the hobby. You could be sitting on the next big star and not even know it. His card is just collecting dust in a box and then boom! Trevor Story, shortstop for the Colorado Rockies is 2016’s version. This guy has a couple of cards dating back to 2011 that most likely were shoved in the back of the closet. He comes out in 2016 and lights the world on fire for a couple of months and he has a card sell on eBay for $20,000 – allegedly. I say allegedly because it in fact sold but there are questions about the arms length nature of the sale. Nothing I can verify or rightfully dispute but it did sell. To be fair, it was a 1 of 1, super-refractor card but still not a valuable card at all prior to April 2016. Kurt Warner, Antonio Gates, Jeremy Lin and Mike Piazza are a few more that weren’t heralded rookies. For every “out of nowhere” guy there are probably 5 can’t miss guys. Anybody remember Kevin Maas, Brien Taylor, Ryan Leaf, Tim Tebow, Matt Leinart, Todd Van Poppel, Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown or Greg Oden? I remember them very well. They were huge busts!
Last on the docket for this discussion is the oddballs, cool inserts and errors. Errors used to be just that. Mistakes made at the printing facility that escaped into packs and had to be corrected later. Billy Ripkin’s 1989 Fleer is one of the most famous. He had a pretty vulgar comment written on the knob of his bat and it was captured for all the world to see. Once they discovered it, they tried to correct it several ways. First, it was just rubbed out, then there was black tape superimposed. I think there were 4 versions in total. These were highly sought after mistakes back in the day. Now, companies will make intentional errors in a call back to the good old days. Topps has even superimposed a gum stain on the back of some recent releases to harken back to the days where gum was included in the packs. Perhaps the most error ridden set was 1990 Pro Set Football. They either turned a kid loose in the system or had a kangaroo running the plant. There are so many errors in the set! But it still makes opening a vintage $10 box entertaining. And there’s also a cards with Santa Claus on it. Yeah. Throw in old Kaybee or KMart sets, Purina Cards, Garbage Pail (old school) and card of that sort and you’ve got something for everyone.
So that’s my 10 cent, 20,000 foot view of collecting. Now, maybe the puzzling look on my face at Wal Mart or my excitement walking out of Comics and Cards here in Albany can have a little depth. It’s a legit hobby and the companies try something new every year to keep it fresh. Some ideas are home runs and some are fumbles. But they are making an effort and I appreciate it as a collector. I love talking about the hobby and it’s a wonderful experience that I share with Bailey. It’s just more complicated than you think.
J-Dub
Great article. I was a kid of the mid 80’s and I remember going to my local convenient store and buying a pack of 1987 Topps baseball cards. To this day, it is my favorite set because it is so special to me as the first cards I collected. Over the years I collected, but with each passing year, it began dwindling. When I was in my early 20’s, I realized I just couldn’t keep lugging around those 5,000 count boxes with every move. It was too much. I sold about 100k cards for less than a $100. I kept all the good ones, so no big deal. As an adult, I stopped collecting. Too many of my heroes were caught cheating, and the values of their items went into the toilet faster than Taco Bell. I couldn’t afford to keep losing money. So I started treating cards as investments, and only bought things that I felt could retain value…then I realized I hated this type of collecting. It wasn’t collecting at all. It was not fun. I still collect from time to time. But I do it for cards I want. Period. I consider myself throwing money away, so if I can feel good about it, I buy it, and if not, I pass. I do miss opening wax packs, and boxes though. Sometimes I wonder if I would tell my 8 year old self, invest in these, or buy a candy bar instead. Not sure….but it was fun while it lasted.
Thanks Luis! I agree with your sentiments. I find myself questioning the money I’ve spent sometimes and then I’ll get a nice hit or my daughter will want to buy some so I keep going. I too love 87 Topps and it remains one of my favorites. The Bo Jackson Future Star is one of the best looking cards in the set! Thanks for checking it out!