Baseball Cards

[1%er]

I have wanted to start a baseball card collection for my son. He loves the sport and tought it would be cool for him to have both as a collection and maybe worth something someday.

Question for all the experts if you had to start with $1000 to start. Would you buy a few semi rare cards or one of those boxed year collections? Just wondering what would be best return in future. Yes I will buy some packs for him to play around with, but I want to have a collection for him to start with. Already have a comic book collection with some rare ones in it, I'll pass down to him, but don't know much on the card side of things.

Any suggetions would be appreciated.

:0008

 

[The Joker]

I have wanted to start a baseball card collection for my son. He loves the sport and tought it would be cool for him to have both as a collection and maybe worth something someday.

Question for all the experts if you had to start with $1000 to start. Would you buy a few semi rare cards or one of those boxed year collections? Just wondering what would be best return in future. Yes I will buy some packs for him to play around with, but I want to have a collection for him to start with. Already have a comic book collection with some rare ones in it, I'll pass down to him, but don't know much on the card side of things.

Any suggetions would be appreciated.

:0008

Good news is - he is getting in at the lowest point in the history of baseball cards. You can get them waaaay cheaper than you could in the early 90's.

I remember collecting an entire team and watching a game at home and having all the players cards out in front of me do I could pick them up and look at their stats on the back.

With $1000 - I would buy a few big name rare ones (Mantle, Banks, Williams, Dimaggio etc....) then start buying ones he can see on TV.

 

[1%er]

Good news is - he is getting in at the lowest point in the history of baseball cards. You can get them waaaay cheaper than you could in the early 90's.

I remember collecting an entire team and watching a game at home and having all the players cards out in front of me do I could pick them up and look at their stats on the back.

With $1000 - I would buy a few big name rare ones (Mantle, Banks, Williams, Dimaggio etc....) then start buying ones he can see on TV.

Thanks Joker, thats what I thought, to have a few nice ones in a deposti box somehwere then start a collection with some names out there.

Any advice on buying them? Online shops better than bricks and mortar?

Thanks again

 

[Keyser Soze]

Let me know who and what you're looking for. I used to have a card shop in the early 90's and still have quite a bit of inventory. I'm headed to bed now, but let me know and I could help you find some stuff once you determine what you're looking for.

 

[1%er]

Let me know who and what you're looking for. I used to have a card shop in the early 90's and still have quite a bit of inventory. I'm headed to bed now, but let me know and I could help you find some stuff once you determine what you're looking for.

Thanks I appreciate it. I'll check with you in a bit once I look what is looking good in my price range.

 

[Grama]

ebay has a lot of great options all the time for people trying to get rid of collections. you can get a lot of stars and rookies for good prices in bulk. i got 100 cards for 30 bucks the other day and it had a multitude of good cards - just not rare ones. but my son just likes having a lot of cards that he knows who they are.

if i were you i would spend half of it on current stuff and half of it on old stuff. things to definitely get would be:

pujols rookie
ripken rookie
griffey jr rookie
ted williams
mickey mantle
mr cub
pete rose

with the type of money you are starting with you can't go wrong

 

[The Joker]

Thanks Joker, thats what I thought, to have a few nice ones in a deposti box somehwere then start a collection with some names out there.

Any advice on buying them? Online shops better than bricks and mortar?

Thanks again

Let me know who and what you're looking for. I used to have a card shop in the early 90's and still have quite a bit of inventory. I'm headed to bed now, but let me know and I could help you find some stuff once you determine what you're looking for.

ebay has a lot of great options all the time for people trying to get rid of collections. you can get a lot of stars and rookies for good prices in bulk. i got 100 cards for 30 bucks the other day and it had a multitude of good cards - just not rare ones. but my son just likes having a lot of cards that he knows who they are.

if i were you i would spend half of it on current stuff and half of it on old stuff. things to definitely get would be:

pujols rookie
ripken rookie
griffey jr rookie
ted williams
mickey mantle
mr cub
pete rose

with the type of money you are starting with you can't go wrong

I would ask Keyser for assistance and I would also use eBay as you will get a true market value.......

 

[BuckwheatJWN]

First place , and I hate to say this but it's a bad investment. I can't believe one of the others haven't told you this. Too many reasons to explain. Off the top of my head, one is that this generation won't look up to athletes or nostalgia as we do. They are growing up in a throwaway, 15 minutes of fame society.
But if you are going to go through with it, I'll offer a couple tips.
1. Include Roberto Clemente. Not sure if he still is, but when I actively collected, Mantle and he were the top 2. Besides by the time your son is older, we'll be 50% Latin americans.
2. Always get the best conditioned card possible. that way when you go to sell you are only dickering on price.
3. Look at as a hobby first, not an investment.
4. Like most things, read as much as you possibly can on the subject and with an open mind. A guy named Al Rosen "Mr Mint but out a couple good books years ago, but even they are outdated. I remember one piece of advice was to buy RICKEY HENDERSON rookies. Arguably one of the greatest players ever. Rookie card at one time $150. Now about $20 and not selling

I don't mean to mean to be the bearer of bad news, but I got a house full of cards and have not bought anything new since the mid 90's basically. It pains me now to go thru price guides and see how much they dropped in price. Even the "studs" of the day. Ripken, Ryan, Griffey, Bird, Magic, Jordan, Shaq and football forget it.

Presently I'm trying to get a collection of Clemente's which are in near mint condition (Grade 7). I'm doing it because he was my favorite growing up, not because in 20 years I'll double my money. Good luck

 

[The Joker]

First place , and I hate to say this but it's a bad investment. I can't believe one of the others haven't told you this.

Yeah - it is, however......who knows what the future holds and the other side of this is that this is something a father and son can together......that's the real investment.

 

[BuckwheatJWN]

Oh, and don't buy JERKS even if they are present ones who everyone is impressed with. (Bonds, Clemens, etc) Although sometimes it's a gamble. We knew Bonds was one before the steroids, but Clemens, McGuire, etc were afterwards. Although I have many of them that I'll part with. :0008 LOL

I imagine there's a lot of guys on here who have collections stashed away that they would love to help you out. Probably better than checking ebay, card shows, or card shops. We'd be afraid you'd call us out if we ripped you off. LOL

 

[BuckwheatJWN]

I agree JOKER, but I hated selling cards to my friends and having them ask later "What's the price upto now?" and if I wanted to buy them back as if I had sold them gold or silver.

Another interesting thing to do is collected every TOPPS Factory SET from the year your kid was born or put together the set from your year of birth. But again collect, not invest.

 

[shawn555]

Where do live?

Do you have a favorite team which your son will probably end up liking as well?

That could be a good place to start.

I have a few friends who made the mistake of having children and I have started them off by getting them like the 2010 ravens topps set and a binder with plastic sleeve pages.

It does not cost alot and its a good way for the kids to enjoy the cards without spending alot.

PSA graded vintage stuff has the best chance of actually gaining value in time.

If you have any more questions let me know, I spent most of my youth playing sports and collecting cards and watching sports and I have managed to maintain my complete sports nerd style life today.

 

[ppabart]

I also have a decent collection from back in the late 80s and early 90s. But I also have some cards from the 50s and 60s. Get my Email from Jack if you wanna chat.....my wife would love it if I got rid of some of this stuff.....I have boxes and boxes of cards!

 

[MadJack]

I have enough to open a store. I bought during the rage as well and could kick myself. PLUS, when we all bought these cards from the 80's and 90's people took care of them, not like the 50's and 60's when we used them for a motor sound for our bikes. These cards will never be worth anything because there are shitpiles of them everywhere. I should go through mine and see what an auctioneer can get for them.

 

[MadJack]

I just went to ebay and checked one card just to see what kind of price and because I know the value when I got it. 1975 Topps George Brett Rookie. Just horrible what I saw. :sadwave:

 

[MadJack]

And my son had 3 girls. WTF am I going to do with these things?

 

[airportis]

The only thing worth real money now is the autographs and game used cards.

A thousand bucks could MAYBE get you a Jordan/Kobe autograph.

Nobody cares about those cards from back in the day that have nothing on them unless theyre a huge name rookie.

The rage now is autographs and thats what is worth the most.


Just an example but here is what im talking about....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Michael-Jordan-...24841106?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item3cb4695a92


That comes from an extremely high end product, and boxes of that probably run close to $500 or more, depending on the year.

Years where players like LeBron has a rookie in the product, you are going to pay more for the box because of the possibility of him being in there.

The card I linked comes from a "box" where I believe the box contains 1 pack of cards, with 4 cards in it. And it runs you about $80 bucks I believe just checking on eBay quickly.

I think in each "box" you get 1 autograph and few other things.

Yeah its quite expensive if you're going high end.

Its going to be a very expensive hobby if you want him to have a collection that's worth a lot of money down the line, because like you can see, you could spend that whole $1,000 on just one card.

 

[Trampled Underfoot]

I just went to ebay and checked one card just to see what kind of price and because I know the value when I got it. 1975 Topps George Brett Rookie. Just horrible what I saw. :sadwave:

Wasn't that card worth around $300?

 

[MadJack]

Wasn't that card worth around $300?

Yep, between $200-$300, him and Yount both.

I went after complete sets and top rookies.

Just checked Ripken rookie that was around $90-$120. Looks like he can be had for $5-$10.

:facepalm:

 

[Trampled Underfoot]

I guess now is the time to buy that 84 Donruss set that I wanted as a kid.