Sports Card Collecting is Alive and Well

This fact was demonstrated at a recent card show held in Wichita, Kansas feautring former NFL and Oklahoma Sooner players Antonio Perkins and Rufis Alexander.

Over 50 card dealers were presenat at the show.

Despite all of the talk about the poor economy, I saw collectors spending big money on autographed baseballs, bats and jerseys.

A bat autographed by all of the Atlanta Braves including rookie sensation Jason Heyward sold for $300.

A baseball signed by many greats including Willie Mays went for $500, which I thought was low.

Jerseys autographed by Troy Aikman, Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter and others gained much attention and brought big bucks for the dealer.

It was easy to pick out the 40 something dealers. They were the ones with the complete sets and unopened boxes from the 80s and 90s.

The modern day dealers were wheeling and dealing jersey cards and piece of the game cards.

The Topps 2008 cards of Brett Favre on a tractor were fetching $100-$300.

Card collectors come in many different forms.

Some collect everything, some their favorite player or team and some collect for profit.

My card collecting began in 1979. when my father brought home a box of Hostess Twinkees with three baseball cards on the bottom, Lou Pinella, George Brett and Rick Reuschel.

From then on, my collection grew by leaps and bounds until the late 90s when I slowed down just a tad.

Now 31 years and over 60,000 cards later I have decided to dabble in the hobby again.

If your looking to start collecting you should decide what type of collector your are going to be.

If you choose to get in to the hobby with profit on your mind, then you will need money and some luck.

Lucky collectors are those that purchase boxes or packs, open them and find that golden gem like a Stephen Strasburg.

This year a Strasburg Superfractor first sold for $16,403. The buyer of the card, Robert J. Power, became the subject of harrassment after a televison interview about the purchase.

It seems some were enraged that someone would spend that kind of money on a baseball card when others are homeless and hungry.

Power sold the card for $21,403.

Chances are the value of Strasburg will dive now that he is looking at surgery. But if he recovers and comes back still as talented as he seems to be, the price will shoot back up.

If you believe luck is not on your side and you want to attempt to make profits at card collecting, then the secret is to find someone who is looking to unload their collections. Then like anything else, buy cheap and sell high.

Basically card collecting can be compared to gambling and or the stock market. One year a card can be high and the next year it can be low.

The key to tracking the value of your collection is the Beckett price guides.

Price guides are available as a monthly publication or a yearly publication.

They are considered the bible of the hobby.

My final suggestion is go to a show and support your area dealers.

With the creation of the Internet most consumers chose online shopping.

For those dealers that did not adapt and create websites, they pretty much were forced to close their doors.

So if you have a chance, go to a shop or show, support your local dealers and have fun.

If you need some starter cards, contact me. It seems in Wichita I had a case of couldn't say no, and came home with way more then I intended.