Collecting Sports Cards
Anybody else on this board collect sports cards? I've heard interest in the card collecting hobby in increasing. If you collect cards: what types of cards do you collect and how long have you been collecting?
I usually buy one card of each Michigan player during the year they are drafted because they are still wearing the Michigan uniform on the card (and subsequent card sets they are wearing their pro uniform). This has become increasingly expensive as on-card autographs, foil variants and numbered cards have become the new normal.
For example, you can buy a base DPJ card for a dollar or you can buy a flashy Josh Uche card for $200. Not every player has a cheap base card printed. If you want an Uche card, your only option is to buy an autographed card. Great looking cards, but autographs come with a price premium.
Now for the ugly part:
If you want a Ruiz card, your only option is an unlicensed Leaf autograph which has the Block M and winged helmet removed with photoshop because Leaf doesn't own the licensing rights (Panini does).
Panini isn't doing itself any favors either. They just released the draft-focused "Chronicles" card set which features both Patterson and McKeon (undrafted) but does not include Ruiz (1st round) or Uche (2nd round) or Bredeson (4th round). WTF Panini. Onwenu's only card available is from 4 years ago as a high school All American. Want a Danna or Runyan Jr card? You will not find one.
I do enjoy the cards but the hobby does come with some headaches.
I have 10k sports cards packed away. I'm getting back into it a little
I collected as a kid but mistakenly went all in on basketball cards. (It didn't help that it was the late 80's/early 90's and that was one of the most saturated time for the card collecting market) I made to poorest choice of them thinking that Skybox was the coolest one to collect. Skybox 90-91 was possibly the ugliest set of cards ever produce, but damn it it was the 90's and that shit was dope as hell to my junior high self. There was one Jordan from that set that was like an error of something and it goes for a few grand on Ebay but you know i don't have that one.
Ha, but that 91-92 Skybox design was, and still is, lit. Not worth much, but that design looks like it came from a Saved By The Bell set it's so 90s.
I have been collecting a few Michigan player cards recently. I have an older Brady rookie from his MIchigan uni that was graded at a 9.5. I also have some newer cards that have autos that are cheap. $13 for a Mo Wagner Auto Rookie, $18 for Winovich, and like $3 for a Levert Hill.
Its funny you post this because I couple weeks ago I started pulling out my card collection from nearly 30 years ago just to kind of take inventory and reconnect with my childhood a little bit. I'd be interested in getting back into it, but I discovered what I enjoyed most about collecting was opening packs and trying to piece together complete sets that way, and collecting multiples of the star players along the way...but it seems the industry has gone away from that and become very expensive. I stopped collecting around 91-92.
The exhilaration of hoping for a Davd Robinson and settling for that Jon koncak
I've randomly actually made collecting cards a bit of a side hustle during COVID.
Topps launched a special baseball card series called Project 2020.
- They basically picked 20 classic cards, and commissioned 20 artists to make their own "artistic" version of each card.
- 200 Cards total.
- They release 2 cards per day for 48 hours at $20 each
- Once they're gone, they're gone.
- Here's some of the ones they've launched so far.
- Some are awesome. Some are hideous.
I randomly picked up 2 cards early in the series. The problem is you may buy a card of your favorite player, then in the next drop, there might be a cooler version of that same card. That's what happened to me.
Once I got a new Mariano Rivera card, I decided to sell the old one, threw it on ebay, and sold it for $84 (I paid $20 for it). I did some research, and a lot of these cards are going for waaaay more online, just days after the sale closes on Topps.com. Some sell for a couple buck more, some sell for waaaaay more.
So I've been carefully buying some of these cards in bulk, and then flipping them immediately.
So you're buying a card that you don't want for the sole purpose of selling it to someone who does want it... only now they have to pay 5x (or whatev) the cost to use you as a middle man?
That seems shitty. But congrats on making a few bucks, I guess.
Not much different than someone who buys stock they feel will go up, only to turn around and sell it for a profit. Or someone that finds that rare item at a swap meet who turns around and auctions it off.
If anyone is to blame for this (and I don't necessarily think blame is justified) it's Topps. Not the person who is buying low and selling high. I've never understood the fury directed at people who engage in arbitrage. Whether its tickets, collectibles, real estate, stocks, etc. The person paying $80 wouldn't even have the card at all if not for the flipper selling it to them.
This is pretty much how all commerce works.
Pretty sure when Target buys a truck full of potatoes, it's not because the people at Target want french fries, it's to resell them for a profit.
These cards are available for 48 hours and there's no limit on how many can be sold, so it's not like me buying them locks out anyone else (like with a concert/sporting event).
If you want to pay $20, buy it then. You want to buy it after then, resellers are your only option.
You’re totally right, that Bob Gibson “artwork” is an abomination. It reminds me of something that would end up on Saturday Night Live (like the holiday cake Eddie Murphy baked that caught on fire and opened a portal to Hell).
AFAICS card collecting last made sense in 1970-something. Maybe not even then. Since then every card has been printed millions of times, which tends to drive down prices.
That's why my favorite cards are error cards.
You might want to check out the Panini Contenders card for DPJ. I'm pretty sure that's Chris Evans pictured - I can't recall Peoples-Jones ever wearing the number 12.
For common mass produced cards you are correct. The value is in cards that are one of one or are limited in number to 10 or less.
The one of one cards can fetch a high premium depending on the player.
I just got rid of thousands of cards from 1979-1997. Got tired of moving them every time I moved. They get heavy. Some kids were looking for old sports cards as hobby during COVID shutdown and I extracted a few sentimental ones and gave them the rest. If I’d put that money in Apple stock back then instead, I’d be rich. Ah, hindsight. Remember the card books that would tell you how much your Don Mattingly rookie was worth? Turns out not that much. Enjoy it for a hobby and that’s about it.
I used to buy the Beckett guide and price out my cards and stuff. My favorites were always the Jersey cards. I even made a jersey card of myself once. Still have it it’s pretty awesome.
I soured on it after cards started tanking in value. I vaguely remember I had some rookie autograph card that was worth like $200 according to Beckett, then the next year he was out of the league and it wasnt even listed in the magazine. That’s when I grew out of it.
I had the same experience that you did. I went through an old box of cards that I had in individual hard cases and started to look up their values. Turns out, they're hard worth the material they're printed on. I had a Pedro Martinez limited jersey card that I was pretty excited about and it is worth like $2.40 now. I don't get it.
I collect football cards of Michigan players and coaches (over 300 different ones) in their Michigan uniform only. I used to get the ones with their pro uniforms, but it got too expensive and took up too much room. I sold off the pro, unlicensed photoshopped college and senior bowl ones (which included a dozen Brady rookie cards) and was able to finance my hobby strictly from the profit until recently. I have almost 3000 cards (including nearly 200 of Charles Woodson and well over 400 autographed cards from various players). I also check eBay on a regular basis and pick up custom made cards - they don't hold any resale value, but that way I have cards of players like Ruiz, Runyan, Cole, Collins, Dax Hill and Ambry Thomas. I know I spend too much time and money on it, but why stop now?
I used to collect card like it was my job when I was a teenager and Upper Deck was running the show. Loved the feeling of opening a box of cards. One highlight being when I pullled a LeBron James autographed rookie card that I subsequently was able to get rated 9.5/10 (i'll be sitting on that for a while, its already tripled in value since I pulled it). I found that basketball was the easiest to collect/flip for profit because of the star power of the league. I always found football to be totally hit or miss.
My brother has a crazy collection. 20k(bought for $300) LeBron rookie, 10k Pokemon card and bunch of stuff he just sits on.
Grading is the name of the game. Don't even bother looking at a Jordan rookie unless it's graded.
I collect Baseball cards. Fell out of it for a long while,but the quarantine brought me back. Got my son into it this time. He's been working on the 2020 Opening day Topps cards.