Investing in Major League baseball cards

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 4 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #11,044 in Sports, #257,002 overall

One Profitable Hobby!

This article is for all beginner baseball card collectors! Here we'll answer the why, where and hows of making the most memorable card collection of your life.

Why collect? 

1. Collecting brings you closer to the game that is part of you.

2. There simply must be a remembrance of the greats--be they players, teams, or games.

3. To invest in the very best! Ha ha, enough said.

4. A healthwise reason: it really helps you stay away from compulsions that might prove hazardous in the long run, e.g. gambling, betting. Seriously!

5. To meet people!

One unforgettable moment in this sport... 

A Sportscaster's Overtime

Vin Scully, the popular voice of the Dodgers since 1950 and a longtime NC network announcer on baseball and golf, will long remember the weekend of June 3 to 4, 1989.

On a Saturday afternoon in St. Louis, he called NBC's nationally televised Cubs-Cardinals game, which went 10 innings. Day's work done? Not nearly.
Minutes after the game, Scully took a private jet to Houston for a Dodgers-Astros night game. "We landed at 7 P.M.," Scully said. "By the time I got there, they were playing the national anthem and I was able to say, 'Welcome to the Astrodome.'"

Seven hours later, he was still in the broadcasters' booth. The game lasted 22 innings, ending in the wee hours of the morning with the Astros finally winning, 5-4.

Scully got to his hotel room at 4:20 A.M. There would be another game at the Astrodome that afternoon. No rest for the weary.

He was on the job that day, as always, when the Astros' Craig Biggio hit a two out, ninth-inning home run to tie the game. Scully thought, I cant believe it. We're going to have more baseball.
It became a 13-inning game, with Houston winning, 7-6.

In 27 hours, Scully had broadcast 45 innings of three extra inning games in two cities!


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

Great Stuff on Amazon 

2010 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards

Amazon Price: $29.69 (as of 12/28/2009) Buy Now

The Official Beckett Price Guide to Baseball Cards 2009, Edition #29

Amazon Price: $8.99 (as of 12/28/2009) Buy Now

2009 Standard Catalog Of Baseball Cards

Amazon Price: $29.69 (as of 12/28/2009) Buy Now

Getting Cards on the Net 

Go to secure forums like Beckett Baseball, buying and selling platforms naxcom.com, and thepit.com, and eBay sites like www.e-mlbcards.com). Plus, buy Beckett's price guide--the authority in the industry--by clicking here.
And how can I fail to mention the company that started it all,www.eTopps.com?

Great Stuff on eBay 

Loading Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
eBay

What to Collect? 

Let's clarify two things early on. If you're going into collecting, be sure that you really like the hobby, and that you have at least the basic know-how about baseball. Otherwise, the worst that could happen when your enthusiasm runs low, is that you throw the cards away out of disgust.

Second, it is next to impossible to collect all the cards out there. So why not start your collection according to a pattern?

You can try challenging yourself to achieve the following:

a) complete baseball card sets that concentrate on certain years (e.g. all the years since their childhood days or when they became a big fan);

b) all the baseball players during a specified period of time (an example online would be the 1952 Topps set);

c) a certain superstar player;

d) the rookie cards of certain players (which experts, you'd say? Click here for the Baseball Card Blog);

e) by team;

f) holders of milestone statistics (see Wikipedia's 2,000th hit club);

g) Hall of Famers; and

i) Award winners: high achievers of such awards as Most Valuable Player, or Rookie of the Year.

Look for the lowest prices of your favorite baseball stars' cards! Compare prices with confidence at the hassle-free eBay site, www.e-mlbcards.com!

New YouTube vids 


Runtime:
views
Comments:


UPPER DECK BASEBALL CARD PULL OF A LIFETIME

Runtime: 142
27782 views
103 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

Great Stuff on eBay 

Loading Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
eBay

New Flickr Photos 

Christmas Eve 2009 by The Suss-Man (way, way behind again)

Christmas Eve 2009

Flea Market Fire by The Suss-Man (way, way behind again)

Flea Market Fire

Flea Market Fire by The Suss-Man (way, way behind again)

Flea Market Fire

355/365 Flea Market Fire by The Suss-Man (way, way behind again)

355/365 Flea Market...

Flea Market Fire by The Suss-Man (way, way behind again)

Flea Market Fire

automatically generated by Flickr

How to spot card burnout? 

A surprising bit of wisdom I met at Baseball Almanac.

"Collectors often decried how money had ruined their hobby, making it hard for them to form meaningful friendships through their cards. Money, however, made the hobby not only profitable but also more serious, more instrumental, and therefore more manly. The same collectors who complained about greed often bragged in the same interview about the value of their cards. Yet money, in turn, made the hobby less akin to child's play and more like work: lonely, competitive, unfulfilling, and alienating." - Author John Bloom in A House of Cards (1997)

Lighten up, people! 'Tis THE hobby, but one among many.

Reader Feedback 

submit

by hearthealth

Hearthealth is basically into Net research, and if he can help it, will teach in college, too.
(more)

Explore related pages

Create a Lens!