Sport Card collecting

[connorp2]

I’m sure this thread will get moved to Siberia, but does anyone collect cards for investment here?

I don’t care to learn the ins and outs of the stock market and haven’t been able to put anything away, even 401k, paying hundreds of thousands for private hs and college for my son, but this is his semester and I’m figuring out my future investment strategy.

Besides taking advantage of my 401k match, my safe option is fractional commercial real estate investing.

But my son got big into cards as a hobby. All sports and Pokemon too, which I’ll draw the line at lol. However, Pokemon is +46% returns this year and the market seems to have a future with sports too.

I’m not getting into the Pokemon/Magic type stuff, but I’m putting in time on baseball card research for now and was wondering if anyone had tips on it.

It seems to be kind of higher stake gambling, buying prospects before they explode, but also I’m trying to figure out the viability if getting future HOF cards and holding for 20 years etc. Seems it can easily beat the S&P 500 if you’re good. If I’m going to gamble on a stock, that seems like a fun way to do it, 

 

 

 

[L54]

 

[John_Havok]

5 hours ago, connorp2 said:

I’m sure this thread will get moved to Siberia, but does anyone collect cards for investment here?

I don’t care to learn the ins and outs of the stock market and haven’t been able to put anything away, even 401k, paying hundreds of thousands for private hs and college for my son, but this is his semester and I’m figuring out my future investment strategy.

Besides taking advantage of my 401k match, my safe option is fractional commercial real estate investing.

But my son got big into cards as a hobby. All sports and Pokemon too, which I’ll draw the line at lol. However, Pokemon is +46% returns this year and the market seems to have a future with sports too.

I’m not getting into the Pokemon/Magic type stuff, but I’m putting in time on baseball card research for now and was wondering if anyone had tips on it.

It seems to be kind of higher stake gambling, buying prospects before they explode, but also I’m trying to figure out the viability if getting future HOF cards and holding for 20 years etc. Seems it can easily beat the S&P 500 if you’re good. If I’m going to gamble on a stock, that seems like a fun way to do it, 

 

 

 

There's a ton of variance in sports cards in a players first few years. Also depends on the sport... baseball has by the far the most variance just due to the sheer number of players that ultimately end up useless. 

Rookie cards, serial #'d variations of rookie cards, jersey patch cards and autographed cards are basically the only ones that will ever hold or increase their value over time, but only the massive superstars are truly worth "investing" in. It's a real crapshoot getting any of those cards in breaks, buying boxes or even cases. 

[connorp2]

22 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

There's a ton of variance in sports cards in a players first few years. Also depends on the sport... baseball has by the far the most variance just due to the sheer number of players that ultimately end up useless. 

Rookie cards, serial #'d variations of rookie cards, jersey patch cards and autographed cards are basically the only ones that will ever hold or increase their value over time, but only the massive superstars are truly worth "investing" in. It's a real crapshoot getting any of those cards in breaks, buying boxes or even cases. 

Thanks. Yeah I seem to zeroing in of those #’s and like less than /25 graded. The auto ones as you said. Yeah, I wouldn’t trust my luck investing in opening packs. I’d try to get on the ground floor early on a prospect. I’m looking at like say the Vlad rookie cards, but not that $25k ones but like the the ones that are auto and a limited print run and say under $1k. What do you think they may be worth if you held until retirement? If it’s first ballot HOF. Obviously it’s just a guess but what do you think they’d increase? 

[connorp2]

Eury Perez would be a guy I’m looking at too right now before he may blow up, good wise

[connorp2]

2 hours ago, L54 said:

 

lol. That’s good 

[John_Havok]

10 minutes ago, connorp2 said:

Thanks. Yeah I seem to zeroing in of those #’s and like less than /25 graded. The auto ones as you said. Yeah, I wouldn’t trust my luck investing in opening packs. I’d try to get on the ground floor early on a prospect. I’m looking at like say the Vlad rookie cards, but not that $25k ones but like the the ones that are auto and a limited print run and say under $1k. What do you think they may be worth if you held until retirement? If it’s first ballot HOF. Obviously it’s just a guess but what do you think they’d increase? 

Most cards' values dont really increase all that much. Like... say the book value on a Vlad rookie card from 2019 with an autograph and a patch is.. $500. Hypothetically, just a made up number I pulled from the sky. 

By now, the value of that card has pretty much reached its peak since it's 6 years later and the sport has seen what Vlad most likely is. If he keeps up his current level of play, yes, the card would likely increase a modest amount by the time Vlad retires. 

... UNLESS Vlad goes on a monster tear for the next 5+ years and people start taking about being a sure-fire 1st ballot HOF, in which case it would see a larger increase for sure as collectors would try to snatch them up, with preference of course for cards that have been graded, and graded high from either PSA or Beckett. There's a few other grading services out there but PSA and Beckett are easily the most highly regarded. 

For me to estimate a modest bs large increase though.... 20% to maybe 50%? Highly unlikely any card from his 2019 doubles in value from this point going forward. But, the lower the serial number, ya never really know. They don't even generally put values on cards with a printed run of 10 or less because there's so little movement on them it's just a "get what you can get" for it. 

It's kinda hard to predict what the market might be in 20 years though... for all we know physical trading cards won't even be a thing by then and nobody will care. 

[connorp2]

Thanks. That’s informative, especially about the peaking thing. Yeah, again, the best move seems to be buying at the right time, like Nick Kurtz and such. Risky of course too. I do see people like on eBay remain stubborn with say Royce Lewis and they’re holding out hope they’ll get their money back, rather than selling off. I have read objective people think the market will grow. I do think it’s kind of how our society has shifted. If I did invest a chunk of money over the next handful of years, I’d be looking at market warning signs.

[John_Havok]

8 minutes ago, connorp2 said:

Thanks. That’s informative, especially about the peaking thing. Yeah, again, the best move seems to be buying at the right time, like Nick Kurtz and such. Risky of course too. I do see people like on eBay remain stubborn with say Royce Lewis and they’re holding out hope they’ll get their money back, rather than selling off. I have read objective people think the market will grow. I do think it’s kind of how our society has shifted. If I did invest a chunk of money over the next handful of years, I’d be looking at market warning signs.

Kurtz would be a decent buy, just not on cards like this, the guy wants 26,500 USD for it. Good for him if he gets it, but that's not a card ya buy on speculation 

[John_Havok]

32 minutes ago, connorp2 said:

Thanks. That’s informative, especially about the peaking thing. Yeah, again, the best move seems to be buying at the right time, like Nick Kurtz and such. Risky of course too. I do see people like on eBay remain stubborn with say Royce Lewis and they’re holding out hope they’ll get their money back, rather than selling off. I have read objective people think the market will grow. I do think it’s kind of how our society has shifted. If I did invest a chunk of money over the next handful of years, I’d be looking at market warning signs.

The other way to go...

Is buy every rookie you can feasably find thats within your criteria, auto, patch, /25, rookie that hasn't done squat yet, but you feel they're about to explode. etc.  Why? 

Example from my own experience from NHL cards, I bought up all the Tage Thompson rookies I could find in 2017 because a) they were cheap and I thought there was real upside. Spent like ... 25$ to get a bunch of his rookies. He does absolutely nothing for the first 3 or 4 years of his career, then explodes for 40 goals in 2021-22. Those cards will drastically jump in value from bordering on worthless to a few hundred each depending on sport and player. 

In my case, i put in 25, got back close to $1000 in 4 years. Did I miss on several other guys i did the same thing with? absolutely. The hit on Thompson more than made up for it though. That's a lot more speculative and gambley though, especially with baseball. 

[connorp2]

41 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Kurtz would be a decent buy, just not on cards like this, the guy wants 26,500 USD for it. Good for him if he gets it, but that's not a card ya buy on speculation 

Yeah. I think I’m going to stay $500 and under for quite awhile until I understand it all and watch how cards increase and decrease 

[connorp2]

26 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

The other way to go...

Is buy every rookie you can feasably find thats within your criteria, auto, patch, /25, rookie that hasn't done squat yet, but you feel they're about to explode. etc.  Why? 

Example from my own experience from NHL cards, I bought up all the Tage Thompson rookies I could find in 2017 because a) they were cheap and I thought there was real upside. Spent like ... 25$ to get a bunch of his rookies. He does absolutely nothing for the first 3 or 4 years of his career, then explodes for 40 goals in 2021-22. Those cards will drastically jump in value from bordering on worthless to a few hundred each depending on sport and player. 

In my case, i put in 25, got back close to $1000 in 4 years. Did I miss on several other guys i did the same thing with? absolutely. The hit on Thompson more than made up for it though. That's a lot more speculative and gambley though, especially with baseball. 

Yeah, I actually thought of this. Like with a guy early on before he pops off in the minors even. Maybe if the ceiling is there and he wasn’t like a #1 overall where the price is already high and you get on the train and start buying up what you said 

[connorp2]

Thanks man. I’m really starting to look at this, so your tips are appreciated. I have my son but I don’t trust him all the way on this sort of stuff lol. He’s still young and impressionable. 

[John_Havok]

Just now, connorp2 said:

Thanks man. I’m really starting to look at this, so your tips are appreciated. I have my son but I don’t trust him all the way on this sort of stuff lol. He’s still young and impressionable. 

No problem. 

If you're looking at market prices... you can pick up Beckett's price guide for literally any sport and there's a new issue every month, or they have it online as well for a subscription cost. 

Or, for quick hits, search Ebay for the exact cards and look at recent confirmed sales. People ask for crazy amounts all the time and they never sell. 

[connorp2]

51 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

No problem. 

If you're looking at market prices... you can pick up Beckett's price guide for literally any sport and there's a new issue every month, or they have it online as well for a subscription cost. 

Or, for quick hits, search Ebay for the exact cards and look at recent confirmed sales. People ask for crazy amounts all the time and they never sell. 

Yeah I like bargains, so I’m watching auctions for now for research and comparing what they sell for to what Buy now might’ve done but probably time I get Beckett. I remember being excited to get the magazine in the 80’s/early 90s. Think I stopped collecting in 92 at 13yo

as for crazy prices, I just saw a Browns S Sanders card for $120k lol 

[mphenhef]

10 hours ago, connorp2 said:

I’m sure this thread will get moved to Siberia, but does anyone collect cards for investment here?

I don’t care to learn the ins and outs of the stock market and haven’t been able to put anything away, even 401k, paying hundreds of thousands for private hs and college for my son, but this is his semester and I’m figuring out my future investment strategy.

Besides taking advantage of my 401k match, my safe option is fractional commercial real estate investing.

But my son got big into cards as a hobby. All sports and Pokemon too, which I’ll draw the line at lol. However, Pokemon is +46% returns this year and the market seems to have a future with sports too.

I’m not getting into the Pokemon/Magic type stuff, but I’m putting in time on baseball card research for now and was wondering if anyone had tips on it.

It seems to be kind of higher stake gambling, buying prospects before they explode, but also I’m trying to figure out the viability if getting future HOF cards and holding for 20 years etc. Seems it can easily beat the S&P 500 if you’re good. If I’m going to gamble on a stock, that seems like a fun way to do it, 

 

 

 

So I collected a ton of Shaq and MJ cards including a ton of Shaq rookies back in the day thinking they would appreciate in value.  They are mostly worth $1-2 each now if that.  That happened during the boom and cards are in a boom period again now.  I wouldn’t suggest it as an investment strategy.

[L54]

4 hours ago, connorp2 said:

lol. That’s good 

Imagine how worthless a Wander Franco rookie card is lol 

[connorp2]

37 minutes ago, mphenhef said:

So I collected a ton of Shaq and MJ cards including a ton of Shaq rookies back in the day thinking they would appreciate in value.  They are mostly worth $1-2 each now if that.  That happened during the boom and cards are in a boom period again now.  I wouldn’t suggest it as an investment strategy.

Yeah I think it’s a different game now though. I remember the 1987 Bonds rookie card worth like $10 and 1990 Griffey Upper Deck $100 when it was popular etc, but they purposely create rare cards now. Paul Skenes $1m card. Trout sold a few years back for $4m. All these guys like Judge and Vlad $50k-$100k for their best cards. When I was younger, the most expensive card that wasn’t a Honus Wagner was 1952 Mickey Mantle and it was like $25k I think and it went for $12.6m couple years ago. But mostly all those regular Topps cards weren’t anything even near this level. 

[connorp2]

44 minutes ago, L54 said:

Imagine how worthless a Wander Franco rookie card is lol 

That was worth a Google to get a kick out of it. $200k his card went for at auction in 2021 and it wasn’t his most valuable, as it was 1/5. The 1/1 looks like it got to $500k in value, but only cause it was a little dinged on condition, or could’ve been more. That’s a tough loss lol 

[Pendleton]

I like the first Bowman cards, essentially their first major release as a pro. You get a numbered first Bowman auto for a prospect and it can blow up like a penny stock.  

I bought a numbered Sam Shaw (Canadian born Jays prospect) first Bowman auto earlier this year 

[connorp2]

1 hour ago, mphenhef said:

So I collected a ton of Shaq and MJ cards including a ton of Shaq rookies back in the day thinking they would appreciate in value.  They are mostly worth $1-2 each now if that.  That happened during the boom and cards are in a boom period again now.  I wouldn’t suggest it as an investment strategy.

I’m not going to look up Shaq bc I wasn’t collecting then but I remember the Fleer MJ rookie card quite well. $200 in Mint condition 1990. With auto, sold $3m not long ago. Oof. That wasn’t a rare card and you saw at shows all the time. 

[John_Havok]

37 minutes ago, connorp2 said:

I’m not going to look up Shaq bc I wasn’t collecting then but I remember the Fleer MJ rookie card quite well. $200 in Mint condition 1990. With auto, sold $3m not long ago. Oof. That wasn’t a rare card and you saw at shows all the time. 

One thing I will tell you... a lot of those high end sports cards, antiques, art etc....that go up for auction and go for millions... a lot of the time its just rich criminals money laundering. 

Like, is there a reason for the same Wayne Gretzky rookie card to have been sold multiple times over the past 15 years going from a value of under 100k, to over 3.75 million. 

[GoBlue41]

Collecting sports cards is pretty fun. My son and I have enjoyed collecting together for a few years now. I used to collect when I was a kid and then the "Junk Wax" era happened where so many new card companies entered the hobby and the cards were mass produced to the point where the new cards were worthless in the late 80's and early 90's. It has started to remind me of those times right now. Everything is super inflated it seems and I'm just waiting for the bottom to fall out. Yes, there are numbered cards, but when there are so many companies and so many variations out there, are the cards really that scarce?? I'm just hesitant to dive in right now, but that's just me. I'm probably way off here. Just be careful spending money you can't afford to lose or money that is set aside for retirement. :)

[John_Havok]

52 minutes ago, GoBlue41 said:

Collecting sports cards is pretty fun. My son and I have enjoyed collecting together for a few years now. I used to collect when I was a kid and then the "Junk Wax" era happened where so many new card companies entered the hobby and the cards were mass produced to the point where the new cards were worthless in the late 80's and early 90's. It has started to remind me of those times right now. Everything is super inflated it seems and I'm just waiting for the bottom to fall out. Yes, there are numbered cards, but when there are so many companies and so many variations out there, are the cards really that scarce?? I'm just hesitant to dive in right now, but that's just me. I'm probably way off here. Just be careful spending money you can't afford to lose or money that is set aside for retirement. :)

I know what you mean on the part where you said "are the cards really that scarce?" 

That depends on how you look at it. Like...base cards are about at worthless at it gets from a pure monetary perspective, and there's way more of those than people really want from a collectors perspective. But, there are far fewer cards printed every year overall than there was way back in the late 80s early 90s.

Upper Deck has exclusive rights for the NHL, so all cards with NHL licensed players and logos are made by UD. Sure, UD puts out other branded sets like O-Pee-Chee, but at the end of the day its still UD manufactured. They're the "low end" cards. I can almost appreciate UDs upper end lines like Black Diamond or the Cup, where there are essentially no base cards because even those are serial numbered and every single card per pack are low serial numbered, patched, autographed etc and the quality they put into those cards is really high. 

For baseball...Bowman is the king. 

NBA? Panini has had the exlcusive rights since 2009, until next year when Topps takes over.

NFL? Same as the NBA. Panini had the rights and just lost them to Topps.

NBA cards were really weird over the past years with Panini having the exclusive rights to NBA branded cards...but Topps had exclusive deals with certain players (LeBron being one, and more) which meant you could find LeBron cards in Panini, but you'd never find one with his autograph, they were all made by Topps....but no Topps card could use the NBA logo, or any NBA team logos on their cards. 

Don't even get me started on sticker autographs vs on-card autographs...

[connorp2]

9 hours ago, John_Havok said:

One thing I will tell you... a lot of those high end sports cards, antiques, art etc....that go up for auction and go for millions... a lot of the time its just rich criminals money laundering. 

Like, is there a reason for the same Wayne Gretzky rookie card to have been sold multiple times over the past 15 years going from a value of under 100k, to over 3.75 million. 

Maybe sometimes but who cares if they’re buying it, it’s just figuring out what society might be into. $2m for the first Mario game. Most of us had it lol. Like none of our dads was saying I’m going to buy one for $20 and keep a copy in my safe lol 

[connorp2]

5 hours ago, GoBlue41 said:

Collecting sports cards is pretty fun. My son and I have enjoyed collecting together for a few years now. I used to collect when I was a kid and then the "Junk Wax" era happened where so many new card companies entered the hobby and the cards were mass produced to the point where the new cards were worthless in the late 80's and early 90's. It has started to remind me of those times right now. Everything is super inflated it seems and I'm just waiting for the bottom to fall out. Yes, there are numbered cards, but when there are so many companies and so many variations out there, are the cards really that scarce?? I'm just hesitant to dive in right now, but that's just me. I'm probably way off here. Just be careful spending money you can't afford to lose or money that is set aside for retirement. :)

Yeah. I don’t think that’s bad advice either. I don’t think it’ll collapse but maybe a correction. Of course people have been saying Bitcoin would be worthless for awhile. But last night I’m looking up Blaze Jordan and Dylan Beavers, prospects I like outside the Top 100 Pipeline and their best cards are like $300-500 and it’s like, come on lol. Theres a 90% chance they’re just guys in the league at most. I’m not counting the crazier stuff like $1500 Dylan Beavers 1/1 and assuming as JH said, sellers dreaming. As like you, my son doing it also is driving it. He was really into it and I was just being a good dad and being like “yeah cool” when he’d be telling me about it but at 22yo now, it’ll kind of be a cool thing to keep the bond there 

[jaysblue]

22 hours ago, John_Havok said:

Kurtz would be a decent buy, just not on cards like this, the guy wants 26,500 USD for it. Good for him if he gets it, but that's not a card ya buy on speculation 

Yeah good luck getting $26K USD for it lol.

Even if you buy it for less like $10-15K, if you need to sell it tomorrow, who is giving you $10-15K for it right now? 

[jaysblue]

On 8/16/2025 at 6:33 AM, connorp2 said:

I’m sure this thread will get moved to Siberia, but does anyone collect cards for investment here?

I don’t care to learn the ins and outs of the stock market and haven’t been able to put anything away, even 401k, paying hundreds of thousands for private hs and college for my son, but this is his semester and I’m figuring out my future investment strategy.

Besides taking advantage of my 401k match, my safe option is fractional commercial real estate investing.

But my son got big into cards as a hobby. All sports and Pokemon too, which I’ll draw the line at lol. However, Pokemon is +46% returns this year and the market seems to have a future with sports too.

I’m not getting into the Pokemon/Magic type stuff, but I’m putting in time on baseball card research for now and was wondering if anyone had tips on it.

It seems to be kind of higher stake gambling, buying prospects before they explode, but also I’m trying to figure out the viability if getting future HOF cards and holding for 20 years etc. Seems it can easily beat the S&P 500 if you’re good. If I’m going to gamble on a stock, that seems like a fun way to do it, 

 

 

 

It's a scam IMO and a business. 

You need to hope you get that special rookie card in that set and that its in perfect condition for it to be worth money. 

These companies like Beckett and PSA make money from grading cards. Costs $40-50 to grade one card and you have to send it to California. If I have a card that is expected to worth a couple thousand, I ain't doing that haha. You can usually get cards graded on the spot when they have the sports show every fall and spring at the International Centre in Toronto.

As well, they control the market in terms of how many 10's or 9's there are. What happens if your card is really a 9+ but they only give you a 8 something? So your card is worth less, even though it could be worth more. 

If you have a card worth lets say $5K book value, you're never getting that full book value when you sell. 

Lastly, it's the eye of the beholder. You need to find the right buyer for a certain card or sports item which could take time. Even if a card is worth $10-20K, you can't just unload it right away unless you find the right buyer. Not many people have that kind of cash lying around especially in this economy. At least with stocks, you can cashout anytime and get your money within 48 hours. 

As well, given the current state of the economy and high cost of living pretty much across Canada and the US, people have less disposable income and are going to think twice about spending that money on hobbies like sports cards and memorabilia. Trust me, even as a die-cast model collector, I see it in that hobby as well now. 

 

[jaysblue]

As well, given the Canadian market, hockey cards are the most popular here for collecting and resale. 

If you really want to pour some money into this hobby, look for a Sidney Crosby rookie card graded a 9 or 10, and hope that it continues to increase in value after he retires, which it should. He's already won a couple of Stanley Cups and the Gold Medal for Canada. His card isn't going down in value over time. It's a safer bet than McDavid or an Auston Matthews rookie card haha. 

If McDavid or Matthews never win the cup, their rookie cards are worthless. 

[John_Havok]

2 hours ago, jaysblue said:

As well, given the Canadian market, hockey cards are the most popular here for collecting and resale. 

If you really want to pour some money into this hobby, look for a Sidney Crosby rookie card graded a 9 or 10, and hope that it continues to increase in value after he retires, which it should. He's already won a couple of Stanley Cups and the Gold Medal for Canada. His card isn't going down in value over time. It's a safer bet than McDavid or an Auston Matthews rookie card haha. 

If McDavid or Matthews never win the cup, their rookie cards are worthless. 

Not true at all. They just wont see the post Cup increase in value prior to retirement.