How to Grade Your Baseball Cards

There is a very clear cut grading standard in the card collecting hobby. As with any valuable collectibles grading is extremely important when it comes to determining the price of the card.

That being said, before we move on, I'd like to first address the confusion about grading older cards. Some novice collectors and dealers have a tendency to grade older cards in a more lax manner.

This is a big mistake. While older cards are very often much more valuable in any grade than newer cards, they should be graded with exactly the same standards.

It's this universal principal that makes this system work so well.

Here are the grades in the Baseball card collecting hobby.

Centering

Slightly Off Center, (OC)- 60/40: Looking close at at this card, you'll find it has one border wider than the opposite.

OC- 70/30: Has one border more than twice as wide as the other.

OC-80/20: Almost no border on one side.

Mis-cut:- Part of this card is missing and may show part of another card that was on the printing sheet when it was cut.

Corner Wear

This is the most scrutinized grading criteria in card collecting.

Corner with a very slight wear: It's still sharp, but there is the faintest of wear showing. On black bordered cards this shows as a white dot.

Fuzzy corner: Corner still comes to a point, but point has begun to fray.

Slightly rounded corner: Fraying has increased to where the point is diminished.

Rounded corner: The point is completely gone.

Badly rounded corner: The corner is completely round and rough.

Creases

Because creases can be difficult to show in pictures, they should be noted by the seller in the description of an online sale.

Light crease: Barely noticeable upon inspection, may not be seen when card is in plastic holder.

Medium crease: Noticeable when looked at from an arms distance but doesn't detract from the looks of the card.

Heavy crease: One that has broken through the picture surface, it's the first thing you see when looking at a card.

Alterations

Trimming and retouching of borders is unacceptable under any circumstances.

Miscellaneous Flaws

Here are minor flaws that lower the condition by 1 to 4 grades depending on severity.

Bubbles or lumps in the surface
Gum stains
Slanted borders
Notching
Off center backs
Wrinkles
Scratched off cartoons
Rubber band marks
Scratches
Surface impressions
Warping
Loss of gloss
Condition

Mint (Mt) No flaws or wear, four perfect corners, 60/40 or better centering, original gloss, smooth edges, no print spots or focus issues.

Near Mint (NrMt-Mt) One minor flaw. Any one of the following would lower a card from Mint to NrMt-Mt:
One corner with a slight touch of wear. Barely noticeable print spots or focus issue.

Excellent Mint (ExMt) A card with two or three fuzzy, but not rounded corners. Centering no worse than 80/20. May have no more than two of the following: slightly rough edges, very slightly discolored borders, minor print spots, color or focus imperfections. Must have original gloss and original color borders.

Excellent (Ex) A card with four fuzzy but definitely not rounded corners, centering no worse than 80/20. May have a small amount of original gloss loss, slightly discolored borders, minor print spots, color or focus imperfections.

Very Good (Vg) Has been handled but not abused. Slightly rounded corners, slight notching on edges, a significant amount of gloss lost from the surface but no scuffing and moderate discoloration of borders. May have a few slight creases.

Good (G), Fair (F), Poor (P): A well-worn, mishandled, or abused card: badly rounded corners, scuffing, most or all original gloss missing, very discolored borders, heavy creases. A card in any of these three grades are used as "fillers" until something better comes along.

Thanks for reading and have fun!