Collecting Sports Cards: An Introduction

Different Ways People Collect Sports Cards

• Player Collecting - This popular sports card collecting method involves centering on collecting cards of one or more specific players. This is a great way for fans to connect with their favorite MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL stars.
• Team Collecting - As the name implies, this type of collector focuses on collecting sports cards from a specific team or teams. Often time they will still emphasize some players over others, but the primary focus is still on the team rather then a single player.
• Prospecting - Calling all stock market speculators. Seriously, the art of sports card prospecting is very much along the same lines as Wall Street. It involves collecting players' rookie cards and/or pre-rookie cards in a speculative fashion. Buy low, sell high. While many aim to make money from their prospecting, the real driving force behind it is the thrill of seeing your chosen prospects hit it big (well, at least some of them hit it big).
• Hall of Fame Collecting - While there are many variations of this theme, hall of fame collectors typically try to collect one rookie card, autograph, or memorabilia item from all, or some, of their chosen sports hall of fame. The most popular is without a doubt the MLB hall of fame.
• Set Collecting - Perhaps the least heralded methods of collecting, set collecting involves putting a set together by hand. For some sets, namely Topps, set collectors can take the "easy" way out and buy the preassembled complete factory sealed sets. Some of the most popular sets to collect include 1950's and 1960's Topps baseball card sets, Topps Allen and Ginter, and Upper Deck Goudey.