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Old 03-24-2019, 07:35 PM   #1
ForeverRoyalKC
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Any of you baseball card collectors?

I am 50 and haven't collected cards since I was about 12. I was an avid collector with every baseball card collector stereotype attached to me. Got some cards every grocery trip with my mom, serious trading sessions with friends, did the "Need it, need it, got it, need it, got it....etc" like in the movie, "Big."
So I am JUST starting to pick it up again because of everything the hobby has to offer. I was wondering if any of you are collecting now and what your modern favorite and least favorite designs are. I really like the 2017 and '18 Topps with the cross bars/logo and the wave/logo. They kinda rekindled the interest.
What are your likes, dislikes and do you have an advice for someone on a budget??
P.S. I love the 30 card packs from Dollar Tree! Talkin' about revisiting my childhood! Pretty cool getting a 1979 Joe Sambito in mint condition!
P.P.S. I HATE borders. I love the picture taking up the whole card. Feels like the border is a waste of space. JMO.

Last edited by ForeverRoyalKC; 03-24-2019 at 07:38 PM.
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Old 03-25-2019, 11:41 AM   #2
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Advice, don't live outside the US. You can only get retail over here and there mostly Amazon, if you want hobby your talking a fortune for shipping and pretty much £1-$1 exchange rate. I got A&G last year but tried Topps this year, only got back into collecting myself last year after about an 8 year rest.

About 10 years ago I broke my leg so was of work and had time on my hands so I wrote to every team asking for autographs, got a decent response so why I'm retired I've got time on my hands again, this time going to send a card of one player of each team see what response I get this time. By the way best teams to write to back then we're the New York teams, not only autos but books, media guides etc.
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Old 03-25-2019, 12:19 PM   #3
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Baseball cards? You mean like in PT, but real? That would be an awesome concept; we should market those right away!

No, these things don't exist over here. Soccer cards do, but baseball? What is baseball?
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Old 03-25-2019, 04:52 PM   #4
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There used to be one shop as I know of in Liverpool, used to go every month. Not much choice but made a day of it to have a chat with someone with the same interests, he ended up running it from his home but think I ended up his only customer so he gave up altogether.
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Old 03-25-2019, 05:05 PM   #5
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I used to collect baseball cards back in the 90s but it seemed the market got saturated with additional companies (Fleer, Donruss) coming in. Also, it doesn't seem as challenging with Costco selling sets of cards.
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Old 04-07-2019, 12:13 PM   #6
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I've still got a collection in my basement. I've got a '71 Nolan Ryan, a rookie Rickey Henderson. A rookie Robbie Alomar. An off center rookie Ozzie. Probably rookies of a lot of steroid era players. I've got an unopened box from around 1990.

If you're actively collecting, you should put out feelers on the board about it. I'll be willing to bet you'll find dozens of guys like me who collected in the 80's and 90's with some collections that we don't much care about anymore. Cards from that era are probably as bottomed out as they're going to get.

Regarding borders, I kinda liked the wood paneling of the 1987 Topps set. It's not all bad.
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Old 04-07-2019, 03:11 PM   #7
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I have tons of baseball cards from the 80s primarily, I do love them. Not worth anything, but I got over that a long time ago. Ironically, it's much cheaper today to buy unopened packs from the 1980s and 1990s than it is to buy packs from this year!

The market is far more saturated today than it was in the past. Yes, it's ironic since there's effectively only one company now (Topps).

1988
Donruss (660) Donruss All Stars (64) Donruss Baseball's Best (336) Donruss The Rookies (56)
Fleer (660) Fleer Star Stickers (132) Fleer Update (132)
Score (660) Score Rookie & Traded (110)
Sportflics (225) Sportflics Gamewinners (25)
Topps (792) Topps Big (264) Topps Stickers (198) Topps Traded (132)
Classic Blue (50) Classic Red (50)
Leaf (264)
O-Pee-Chee (396) O-Pee-Chee Stickers (198)
Pacific Legends (110)
Panini Stickers (480)


2018
Bowman (100) Bowman Chrome (100) Bowman Draft (200) Bowman High Tek (Consists of 7 sets, with 81 distinct variations) Bowman Platinum (100) Bowman's Best (99)
Donruss (270) Donruss Optic (175)
Leaf (5)
Panini Chronicles (60) Panini Diamond Kings (150) Panini Flawless (85) Panini Immaculate Collection (146) Panini National Treasures (215) Panini Stars & Stripes (100)
Stadium Club (300)
Topps (700 not including variations of same card number, some variations of the same card number are even different players ) Topps Finest (125) Topps Allen & Ginter (350) Topps Archives (320) Topps Archives Signature Series (consists of about 60 sub sets) Topps Archives Signature Series Retired Player Edition (consists of about 60 sub sets) Topps Archive Snapshots (50) Topps Big League (400, not including variations of same card number) Topps Chrome (200) Topps Chrome Sapphire Edition (702) Topps Chrome Update Edition (100) Topps Clearly Authentic (52) Topps Definitive (46) Topps Diamond Icons (80) Topps Dynasty (consists of about 15 subsets) Topps Fire (200) Topps Five Star (77) Topps Gallery (200) Topps Gold Label (100) Topps Gypsy Queen (320, not including variations of same card number) Topps Heritage (725, not including variations of same card number) Topps High Tek (112) Topps Holiday (200) Topps Inception (100) Topps Luminaries (consists of about 20 subsets) Topps Museum Collection (100) Topps Opening Day (200, not including variations of same card number) Topps Tier One (consists of about 30 subsets) Topps Transcendent Collection (50) Topps Transcendent Collection Japan Edition (50) Topps Tribute (90) Topps Triple Threads (100) Topps Update (300, not including variations of same card number)


So if you add up all the subsets in 2018, that's about 240-250 sets, primarily put out by a single company.

In the 1980s, companies really overproduced their cards which causes the "low value". They were reacting consumer demand which was bordering on insanity. The news was flooded with how collectors were buying 1950s and 1960s card sets for thousands of dollars and consumers (me included, although I was pre-teenage) were incredibly naive, not understanding it was the scarcity of the cards from the 1950s that made them valuable. Hence when there were 10 million 1987 Topps Don Mattingly cards out there, they weren't going to be worth anything no matter how good Mattingly became.

The companies overproduced but in some sense other aspects were still fairly pure. The sets had meaning (here is the set of all players for 1988, here are the traded or new players, here are the all stars, here are record breakers, etc.)

Today is much worse in my opinion. Topps effectively designs it so it's practically impossible to collect all the cards within a given year.

They have dozens of sets which are nothing more than random mish-moshes of hall of famers, the cream of the crop players from today and the hottest rookies. You'll get Bryce Harper, Babe Ruth and Amed Rosario in a pack. The end goal just seems to be "how do we print 150 unique Aaron Judge cards this year?"

Many of their sets just have star players with the same card number and 3-4 different variations for that single card. And that might be cool if it wasn't literally one of three dozen random subsets/variations to collect which push it from "cool" to "obsessive/overwhelming".

Hell, the main 2018 set, card number 629 was Max Scherzer, but there was also a variant of 629 that was Sandy Koufax. Why? No reason other than to give gambling addicts something else to chase. They add about 273 cards to the 700 card set, and that's not even including all the subsets.

If you want to see how much of a joke collecting has become and how much it's just designed to exploit the gambling mentality, just read the odds on a modern day pack of cards.
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Old 04-07-2019, 04:40 PM   #8
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It's funny that you used 1988 as your baseline year because that's when the oversaturation got out of hand and the bottom started to fall out. IIRC other than Donruss, Fleer and Topps all of those other companies were brand new in '88. The 1988 Topps collection, which I own, is worth less now than when I originally bought it. It has never, AFAIK, been worth a single penny more than what I paid for it in 1988.

Topps was already doing that mixing of players even back then. They had one thing called 'Topps Home Run Kings' where they took the 40 or 50 top career home run hitters and created cards out of them.

All that said, I thought Score had the nicest cards of that group back then. All of their years looked pretty good, front and back. It's a shame they didn't stick.

I don't like what Topps is doing now, but I understand why from a business perspective. They're aware that baseball card collecting is never going to become a mainstream hobby again and are selling to people who are already hooked. They're cynical and they're right.
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Old 04-07-2019, 07:54 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by One Post Wonder View Post
It's funny that you used 1988 as your baseline year because that's when the oversaturation got out of hand and the bottom started to fall out. IIRC other than Donruss, Fleer and Topps all of those other companies were brand new in '88. The 1988 Topps collection, which I own, is worth less now than when I originally bought it. It has never, AFAIK, been worth a single penny more than what I paid for it in 1988.

Topps was already doing that mixing of players even back then. They had one thing called 'Topps Home Run Kings' where they took the 40 or 50 top career home run hitters and created cards out of them.

All that said, I thought Score had the nicest cards of that group back then. All of their years looked pretty good, front and back. It's a shame they didn't stick.

I don't like what Topps is doing now, but I understand why from a business perspective. They're aware that baseball card collecting is never going to become a mainstream hobby again and are selling to people who are already hooked. They're cynical and they're right.
Yeah, 1987-1988 was really it. People will say that all cards from the 1980s are worthless. Certainly when you compare the 1980s to the prior decades, sure. But if you look for unopened packs from the 80s, around 1987 forward, if you're paying more than $10-12 a box (including shipping) that's probably excessive. At 1986, it gets to about $30-36. At 1985, it's probably in the $50s-60s. From 1980-1984, most unopened boxes are probably minimum around $100.

Yeah, I remember the small-box sets like Baseball's All Time Home Run Kings. Fleer did a ton of those too. I wouldn't consider them the same thing. They were wholly separate sets at really low price points, and they often had a theme (like season highlights or current superstars). They weren't sold in packs or inserted into packs either (although there were ones that were incidental - ironically nobody really wanted them).

Sportsflic started in 1986 proper.

Panini started that year, but to be honest here in NJ, I never saw those stickers period. Not even at hobby stores.

O-Pee-Chee goes back to at least the 1970s where they licensed Topps to create smaller sets for Canada.

Leaf too - they had been making cards since at least the 1960s - but their foray back into the main sets started in 1985 by producing a Donruss set for Canada, much like Topps/O-Pee-Chee (although Leaf and Donruss actually had the same parent company starting in 1983).

Pacific did start that year, but they weren't competing with the big four. Their sets were all older retired players.

Classic started in 1987, as a trivia board game. I do remember it having some cache here in the NJ area as a potential rival to the big guys.

Score was fantastic, the early Score sets are some of my all time favorites. Completely derailed by Upper Deck the following year - since the dramatic quality upgrade Score introduced in 1988 lasted precisely that one season before Upper Deck bested them.

But Score was great to me for these reasons:
1. Excellent card stock
2. Vibrant colors
3. All stats on the back of the card (Donruss and Upper Deck had only a few years).
4. Fantastic photos

The first year had an excellent design. The next 3-4 Score sets weren't as good, but still pretty decent.
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Old 02-08-2020, 08:06 AM   #10
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Received some 1976 Topps cards off eBay this morning - 13 Oakland Athletics with signed Jim Todd & Ray Fosse cards

I'm not a serious collector, I just pick things up I think are cool, heh
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Old 02-08-2020, 07:27 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ForeverRoyalKC View Post
I am 50 and haven't collected cards since I was about 12. I was an avid collector with every baseball card collector stereotype attached to me. Got some cards every grocery trip with my mom, serious trading sessions with friends, did the "Need it, need it, got it, need it, got it....etc" like in the movie, "Big."
So I am JUST starting to pick it up again because of everything the hobby has to offer. I was wondering if any of you are collecting now and what your modern favorite and least favorite designs are. I really like the 2017 and '18 Topps with the cross bars/logo and the wave/logo. They kinda rekindled the interest.
What are your likes, dislikes and do you have an advice for someone on a budget??
P.S. I love the 30 card packs from Dollar Tree! Talkin' about revisiting my childhood! Pretty cool getting a 1979 Joe Sambito in mint condition!
P.P.S. I HATE borders. I love the picture taking up the whole card. Feels like the border is a waste of space. JMO.
Let me tell you a sad story about baseball cards. I still think of it to this day. Back when I was 15, I'm 52 now, my friend sold two Mickey mantle rookie cards for 15 bucks each. They were actually his father's cards that he snuck out to sell. He wanted some money and didn't think much of it. I was also ignorant about it as well at the time.
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Old 02-09-2020, 10:38 AM   #12
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Let me tell you a sad story about baseball cards. I still think of it to this day. Back when I was 15, I'm 52 now, my friend sold two Mickey mantle rookie cards for 15 bucks each. They were actually his father's cards that he snuck out to sell. He wanted some money and didn't think much of it. I was also ignorant about it as well at the time.
I used to think the baseball card show was the coolest thing in the world when it came to town. Then as I got older I figured out how unscrupulous those "dealers" were. Uh sir, the book says it is worth $10.00. Yea, kid but I'm a dealer and dealer prices say we pay you $2.00 for the card. WTF. Let's just say I learned real quick, but I still remember how those guys operated and your story brought that memory back to the forefront of my mind. That was really awful how your friend got fleeced like that.
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Old 02-10-2020, 05:59 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by ForeverRoyalKC View Post
I am 50 and haven't collected cards since I was about 12...

So I am JUST starting to pick it up again because of everything the hobby has to offer. I was wondering if any of you are collecting now and what your modern favorite and least favorite designs are...
I had a few cards when I was a kid. Began "collecting" when I was in my 40s and 50s. Baseball cards were another way for my wife and I to enjoy baseball, since we here in Cleveland had such a wonderful team back in the mid 1990s. At one card show I bought an Omar Visquel card from when he was with the Mariners. I have no idea if it's worth anything. I just enjoy having it.

I'm in my 60s now, and rarely buy cards these days. But from time to time I look through my collection and reminisce. I review the stats and try to picture the players of the past while they were in their prime. I wonder if kids still buy baseball cards...

I have no favorite designs, but I strongly dislike cards with silver or gold foil borders, bright colors, etc. Just give me a decent photo of the player and lots of stats.
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Old 02-11-2020, 11:40 AM   #14
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Thank you very much. Awesome.
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Old 02-11-2020, 03:26 PM   #15
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I just went through 2 giant bins of (mostly) baseball cards and memorabilia with the kids last weekend. Fun times.

Not sure what I'll ever do with them all.
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