How to Begin Collecting Basketball Cards

For the rabid NBA fan in need a hobby, who do not wish to spend exhorbant amounts of money on jerseys and other memorabilia, collecting basketball cards may be your answer. While the most popula sports card hobby has always been baseball in the United States. Over the years, however, the release of basketball cards have been steadily increasing and basketball card collectors now have a large variety to choose from. The plethora of cards available on the market can be confusing and intimidating to the novice collector. The variety of cards available can also be very confusing when it comes to figuring out what you want to collect. Starting off on the right foot as a collector will help your collection tremendously especially in light of the expensive nature of the hobby.

1. Background information - Before you begin to blindly buy and accumulate basketball cards, you have to familiarize yourself with the product. The two major companies that produce NBA basketball cards are Topps and Upper Deck. The third company Press Pass produce college basketball cards and depicts players in their college uniforms. Basketball products are released at the beginning of each season around September of that year; different products for that season are released at various times up until around June of the next year. The lower-end (read: cheaper) products are released earlier in the year and the high-ended products are released toward the end of the season. There are retail and hobby packs of cards available. The retail packs and boxes are sold at stores such as Target or Wal-Mart, while hobby packs can be found at your local Hobby shops. Hobby packs tend to be more expensive but can produce more valuable cards than retail packs. Boxes sold at retail stores are known as "blaster" boxes in the hobby and usually costs an unbudging $19.99. Hobby boxes are usually available for $50 to $300 a box.

Basketball cards can be divided into several main types: base (your normal everyday cards), inserts (special cards of players that occurs at a less frequent rate than base cards), rookies (cards of players who are rookies that season), numbered (insert cards that are short printed and have numbers stamped on them)game-used (inserts that contain pieces of jersey used by that player in a game, there are multicolor patch versions which are more valuable), autographed (authentic and certified autographed cards of the pictured player), and the redemption card (a card which allows you to redeem an authentic autographed or memorabilia card through the company). While this might all sound overwhelming or confusing, everything will become easier and clearer as you get yourself deeper into the hobby.

2. Jump right in - After digesting some of that background information, it's a good idea to just purchase a few packs, blaster box, or hobby box of cards. Any box and any brand will do really. The important part is just seeing what the cards look like and to see the different types of cards and experience how fun it is to open some packs. It's best to buy recent releases so that you will know who most of the players are as well as eliminating any problems an expired redemption card may cause. Some of the best products to start with include "Topps", "Topps Chrome", "Upper Deck", "Fleer", and "Bowman's Draft Pick and Stars".

3. Narrowing your focus - After your first pack/box break and getting a feel of what cards are like, it is extremely important to figure out what the focus of your collection will be. You can build a collection around your favorite player, favorite team, a type of card (refractors), a set (97-98 Upper Deck), or even a theme (Team USA cards). Remember that your goal is to collect and not just merely accumulate. Many people buy everything they think is a great deal and dabble in every player they remotely like and end up with a diluted collection of semi-stars and low value cards. The sooner you can narrow your focus the sooner you can work toward building an impressive collection. Remember that this is an expensive hobby and having a goal to your collecting habits will save you both time and money.

4. Obtaining a Beckett Basketball magazine - A price guide is essential to any sports card collector, it prevents you from being ripped off and allows you to figure out which cards in your possession are valuable and which ones can be used for your bird's chew toy. Most of the collector's go by the values in the HI column indicated by Beckett and refer to this as the Book Value or BV. The values are merely a guide and are not indicative of how much cash you can obtain for these cards also known as sell value or SV.

5. Obtaining hobby supplies - A big part of collecting cards is protecting them. Supplies needed includes hard plastic top loaders, soft plastic penny sleeves, 9 card three hole punched pages, and a box for your commons. As to how you wish to organize your cards once you have them in a protective place that is up to you.

6. Setting a budget - Unless you are Mr. Moneybags, then it is probably wise to figure out how much money you wish to spend on cards each month. The addicting nature of this hobby makes it very easy to over spend on cards. The last thing you want is for a fun hobby to create marital or familial strife! There's a thin line between a hobby and an addiction, so controlling yourself from time to time is a good thing!

7. Finding a local shop - The decreasing number of card shops makes finding one in your local area more and more difficult. However, if you are lucky enough to live near one, definitely go and check it out. You can attempt to find a card shop through card company sites like Topps.com or Upperdeck.com. A good card shop will keep you up to date with recent products, allow you to pick up supplies, pick up some cheap singles, and mingle with like minded collectors. Beware, though, as items in the hobby shops are often much more expensive than shopping online. That said, if the prices are not unreasonably high, then it's always great to support your local dealers.

8. Online adventures - Collecting in this new age is exciting due to the internet. Auction sites such as eBay are great places to obtain rare and unique cards for your collection. Online trading forums such as Sports Card Forum provide you an opportunity to trade away unwanted cards to collectors for cards that you do want. Sites such as Dave and Adam card world allow you to purchase boxes of cards at a cheap price.

The new basketball season is upon us and with it comes exciting new cards. Cards allow you to collect signature and jersey's of your favorite players and bring you closer to the game than ever before! Happy collecting!