Baseball Card Collecting for Beginners

In March 2020, as Americans sheltered at home and faced the sobering realities of a disease that was killing thousands daily, they also sought a release, a distraction. Normally, baseball played that role for millions, but Major League Baseball was forced to put the season on hold. Suddenly, baseball fans sought alternatives-woodworking, knitting, baking, and, quite notably, sports card collecting. Some had collected before and still had cards stashed away. Others were newcomers. Both groups quickly found the hobby overwhelming. Sports card collecting had experienced sea change since the junk-wax era heyday of the mid- to late-1980s and early '90s.  For me, the card collecting was a small joy in a dark time, but it just wasn't enough. I needed more baseball in my life. I missed the game. I needed to see the green grass and the dirt and the nine players on the field with an opposing player at bat. Amidst this crisis, an unlikely hero emerged: the Korean government and something ...

If you're like me, you started to collect cards in the days when card companies issued only one version of each card. Or maybe you're completely new to collecting. In either case, today's products, which can feature 20 or more versions of the same card, can lead to confusion and even frustration. Well, plop down in that spot where you watch your team every night and read on to bone up on parallel cards. You have a lot to learn. So let's break it down into simple parts. Parallels vs. Variations The difference between a parallel and a variation card can be confusing. But there's an easy way to distinguish the two. A variation card is all about the image. The photo used for a variation card differs from the base card. Meanwhile, a parallel card has the same photo as the base card. A parallel is usually different than the base card because of the design of the border or because of some special type of treatment to the card stock. So, if the border is blue, it's a pa...

If you're like most new or returning baseball card collectors, your overabundance of free time during the pandemic left you anxious for something to do. Then you heard the buzz about how greedy opportunists were locking horns (and even trading punches) with each other--and with true collectors--to buy up all of the newly stocked cards in retail stores.  You've probably seen the video before. And, since you're here, we can assume that your natural reaction was, "Hey, looks like fun!" While some of you are completely new to collecting, who can blame those 40- and 50-something folks who have returned to collecting from their long hiatus? After all, that mid-life crisis is leaving us with a void to fill, and we have fatter paychecks than we had 30 years ago. Plus, who doesn't want to throw a punch now and then to blow off some of that steam from being caught in a post-workday traffic jam? I fell into the returning collector category when I decided in March 2021 to...

For the past few years, people looking to turn a quick buck have been buying up the cards from retail shelves to sell online through eBay, Amazon and other sites. You can buy unopened retail from third-party vendors (i.e. Joe from down the street) on Walmart.com and Target.com. So you need to be careful when buying cards. These resellers charge more than the true retail price for cards. For example, 2021 Topps Chrome blaster packs were selling directly from Target for $29.99 on the company's website while a reseller had the same product for sale at $39.99 on Walmart's website. These resellers have been succeeding by simply buying up all of the stock. But the shift to online sales by companies like Target have made it more difficult for the crooks to control the market. Most companies put a limit on how many boxes of cards you can purchase, and that seems to be helping to keep stock available for collectors. When buying online, be sure to search for "sports cards" and ...