Baseball Cards - A Beginners Guide To Collecting

This is a brief overview of baseball cards and how one should go about collecting them if they are seeking to collect as a form of investing.

Baseball cards are a great way to start a collection while at the same time making a small investment. Before you read on let me say that cards are not a good way to invest money if you are looking for stellar returns. Rather you should collect baseball cards for your own enjoyment and the fact that they will increase in value will be your "cherry on the top" so to speak.

As a rule of thumb the older the baseball card the more it is worth. However, as with most rules it has its list of exceptions. BB cards that were made in the current year or the year before hold a type of new factor that artificially inflates their value during this time. Once the card is 2-3 years old its value will drastically decrease in most circumstances. You can expect the value on a standard card to drop between 30%-80% after its first 2 years. For special cards such as those outside of the companies basic set, aka die cuts and promos you can expect their value to drop by at least half after the first year. One exception to this rule is memorabilia cards. 

These are cards that have a physical piece of the game attached to them such as a strip of a jersey or a wood chip from a bat. These memorabilia cards have held their value better then standard cards in the past.

If you truly enjoy collecting then I would recommend purchasing rookie cards or baseball cards made in the year 1980 or earlier. Rookie cards tend to increase in value as they age. This is due to the fact that a player will only be a rookie for one year and hence once the year is gone there is a limited number of rookie cards for that player. Cards made before 1980 are well into the nostalgic phase for many people and hence have some value in that department.

By John Severin