Teach me about Baseball Cards

Big Dookie

I was at my parents' house last night, and they were cleaning out some stuff and ran across a large collection of baseball cards. Upon examination, I realized they were mine from when I collected them a LONG time ago. Seriously, these things are almost twenty years old. Now, I wasn't really into it all that much when I did collect them, but it appears I collected quite a few (it seemed like it anyway, but maybe not - I know nothing about this stuff).

I've got an album full of cards from around 1988-1990 with one card for almost every member of every major league team from that period - these are all Dunruss cards. And then I also have a shoebox that is stuffed with a variety of cards from around the same time period - these range from Donruss, Fleer, Bowman, and Upper Deck. I have no idea what's in this collection other than what I've sifted through already. All together, just a ball-park estimate (lawl), I'd guess I have about 1500-2000 cards, most of them from around 1988-1990. I also have a few packs of cards from this time period that were never even opened.

So, is it possible any of these cards are worth anything? Should I keep holding onto them? I honestly know nothing about these things. I've only looked through maybe 1/8 of the collection so far, but I've already found a few that may be worth something I hope.

Craig Biggio - Fleer Rookie Card
Ken Griffey Jr. - Donruss Rated Rookie
Jose Canseco - Rookie Card (can't remember brand - Fleer I think)
Mark McGwire - Bowman Rookie Card

Among a few others, but I can't remember them all right now. Looking these up on places like Ebay, they don't appear to be worth a whole lot. However, I have no real desire to hold on to them or keep collecting or anything. I guess my question is, should I just keep holding on to these things, or could I actually make some money selling them? And if so, what is the best way to go about doing that? Thanks!

Edit - I should clarify. I THINK those cards listed above are rookie cards. The Ken Griffey Jr. card I'm positive is a rookie card, but the others I'm not positive about. But they appear to be at least.

ASimPerson

Here's the thing about baseball cards.

During your (and my) parent's generation, when they left the house their parents just threw away the cards. So the people who still had them were few, and so these were worth money. This became a big deal in the mid-80's late-90's. People starting thinking "well, if I save them for a long time they'll eventually be worth something" and baseball card companies responded by making a ton of cards in every version possible.

Problem is, no one is throwing away their mass-produced cards anymore, so they're still not worth much more than they were when they were new. As you noted, they're not selling for much on ebay.

Here's some more info about it: http://futureconsiderations.blogspot.com/2007/05/desperate-plea-from-those-of-us-with.html

Horseshoe

I know you may not think it's a good idea, but I would keep them. All the cards I collected are the same era, and it's amazing that some of those guys are still playing. It's kinda cool when you think about it. Later in life, you might look back at them and have some good memories associated with them. That's better than money.

Also... you never know. If you ever have a son or daughter who is really into baseball, they will really treasure something like that. I have my father's baseball cards from the late 50's and early 60's, and they are really special. I don't think I'll ever sell them because someday when my Dad is gone I will still have something of his from when he was a kid. That's also better than money.

If something like that doesn't happen, the cards will by then be more valuable, and you can sell them for more, and someone else will be able to appreciate them.

King Kong

The cards you listed also happen to be from more "generic" card companies. IIRC and this was many moons ago, I remember Bowman and Donruss were both cards not really worth a fuck unless you got the whoppity do gold edged Donruss card. Upper Deck was where it's at.

If you really want values pick up a copy of Beckett (I think they are still around).

whuppins

As others have said, they're not going to be worth much, monetarily speaking. The market for baseball cards crashed around the exact time your cards are from and has never really recovered. I collected pretty religiously from '87 to '93 or so and I'm still stashing 10,000+ cards at my parents' place, but I don't know how much longer I'll feel like I should keep them.

Part of the problem was sharply increased production toward the late 80's/early 90's. Topps, Donruss, and even Upper Deck started issuing factory sets where you could buy the entire collection of every card produced in a given season for like $35, eliminating the "collecting" aspect and diluting the value so much that any cards from that era are worth essentially the paper they're printed on. You can pick up a Beckett guide to verify this -- there are a few exceptions -- but unfortunately, the fact that card companies multiplied like rabbits and flooded the market with their product means that fortune you thought you'd have will probably never materialize. Anything pre-1986 is probably going to hold its value a little better, but on the whole, the baseball card market is not exactly a cash cow. If you want to keep those cards, do it for the sentimental value.

Oh, P.S., you may want to hang on to the sealed packs. Even from down years, those things will generally be worth a little something.

Big Dookie

Cool, sounds like I'm probably never going to make a fortune off of these things then. Which isn't too surprising I guess, but I still figured I'd check. Thanks for the responses guys. It looks like I'll just hold on to them and maybe give them to my (eventual, hopefully) son down the road. That would be pretty neat to pass down - especially the Craig Biggio rookie card, now that he has 3000 hits and has a pretty good chance of being in the hall of fame one day. I just need to find a good way to store these things now. Despite most of them just being thrown in a shoebox, they're still in pretty good shape - in fact, I'd say most of them are in mint or near-mint condition, and I'd like to keep them that way. I guess it's time to invest in some plastic sleeves.

Anyway, thanks again guys!

King Kong

Be aware that some plastic sleeves can actually damaged your cards. The best thing to do is buy the long white boxes (for lack of a better term) and store them in those.

Sun will also do damage to cards so the white boxes help prevent against that. Also for your more rare cards they have those hard plastic single card sleeves. My first pack of baseball cards I have bought at the age of 13 where a 1990 pack of upper decks with the coveted Michael Jordan. He, to this day, 17 years later sits in a double thick hard plastic case that you have to use a quarter or coin to wedge open. Just stop in your local hobby shop and you should be able to find all this stuff.

Endomatic

What about Hockey Cards?

I still have a shitload from when I was little... circa 1989 and stuff. Opeechee (some), Upper Deck (mostly), some holographic ones from McDonalds when they first started making those, what other companies were there? I got a bunch of different ones.

I have some good cards, plenty of Wayne Gretzky, Sergei Federov, I think I might have a Pavel Bure rookie, you know, some oldies. Plus I have an autographed Wayne Gretzky 8x10 from circa 1983 when he played for the Edmonton Oilers. That's gotta be worth something.

whuppins

King Kong wrote: »

Be aware that some plastic sleeves can actually damaged your cards. The best thing to do is buy the long white boxes (for lack of a better term) and store them in those.

Sun will also do damage to cards so the white boxes help prevent against that. Also for your more rare cards they have those hard plastic single card sleeves. My first pack of baseball cards I have bought at the age of 13 where a 1990 pack of upper decks with the coveted Michael Jordan. He, to this day, 17 years later sits in a double thick hard plastic case that you have to use a quarter or coin to wedge open. Just stop in your local hobby shop and you should be able to find all this stuff.

Heh heh, that MJ card was what I thought of when I saw this topic, and it's a good example of the market's failure to launch. I bought it for like $25 when it was first out, put it in one of those hard plastic cases, and waited for the price to go up. Over the next few months it went to $30, then $35, then $28, then $23, then it hung around $17 for the next, oh, 16 years. Still have him and my '89 Donruss Griffey rookie card in those big hard plastic cases, more for the memories than their value.