When casually estimating the value of the items you collect, the rule of thumb is that the more famous the athlete, the more valuable the memorabilia-or football cards, in this instance-and sports collectible items will be. Having the item verified as authentic will add to the value even more. So hang on to any items-magazines, box wrappings-related to your sports collectible or sports memorabilia.

Want to Try Investing?

Collecting football cards may indeed be a significant asset that you or your heirs will be able to maximize. Sure, it's a matter of opinion, but in any case the Internet is the place for collectors with an investing slant, what with active sites like ebay.com, beckett.com, naxcom.com, thepit.com and etopps.com. Even the average collector can put up his own lucrative trading site.

It's important to keep in mind however, that the experienced full time dealers are light years ahead in terms of so-called return on investments compared to most people who are looking to baseball cards as a primary investment tool for the first time. Getting the assistance of a good financial advisor is important when you are planning to put serious money in trading cards.

No Deal Like This!

Rarely a day goes by without a player or two being traded. It's all part of the business of sports, the constant goal to improve a team's chances of winning.

However, fans in Dallas and Minneapolis in particular and around the nation were shocked on October 11, 1989, when they heard the terms of the trade involving Dallas Cowboys' running back Herschel Walker, the two-time Pro Bowl selection an 1982 Heisman Trophy winner out of Georgia.

The Cowboys sent Walker to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for running back Darrin Nelson, linebackers Jesse Solomon and David Howard, cornerback Issiac Holt, defensive end Alex Stewart, and seven future draft choices.

Never in the history of sports has one player been traded for 12.

From Phyllis and Zander Hollander's More Amazing But True Sports Stories (Scholastic).

As with any antiques, collect them all not because you're only after their value decades from now. You will get the most out of them if you go after them because it's a fun hobby. With regard to organization, something arranged according to a system (there are many choices; take the cue of some veteran or some online checklist) is more entertaining and more important. There are more and more fancy tools to help you do this, but the key is to just do it.

Use the following to store your cards.

Soft Sleeves - These are handy square clear plastic sleeve that you slide your card into.

Top-loaders - A tad bigger than the soft sleeves, top loaders are semi-ridged plastic.

Albums and pages -You can get special plastic pages with slots in them for your cards 9 to a page. Albums are a bit more expensive, but you'll have a great way of organizing, displaying and talking about your cards.

Screw-down cases - These are sturdy, hard-plastic, two-piece cases that are screwed together to encase your card.

Get your football cards only from eBay's best niche site for anything about football cards, www.e-footballcards.com.

Want to be ahead of any football's-greats-debate? Want to be in the know of who's who in football? Then check out these information packed articles I came across in the Web:

Top 50 Football Players of All-Time

100 Greatest Michigan Football Players of All-Time

Peter King of SportsIllustrated.com's "My All-Time Team"

"My All-Current Team" by the just mentioned author

"My All-Future Team"