Binder

Now that you’ve fine tuned your thinking about why you’re collecting and what the focus of your collecting is, it’s time to ask yourself “What am I going to collect?” Here is where you decide the “WHO”, or what the true focus of your collection is going to be. I want to throw a thought out on the table since I have discussed the long and short term investing concept. You can do both --- I was not making it a hard and fast rule to pick one or the other. I was pointing out the differences when it comes to defining each category.

The first thing you want to think about is how many players you’re going to invest in for either reason. I have always recommended between 6 and 12, with 12 being the extreme. The fewer you collect, the less the intensity of tracking their progress. I’ve actually gone to the extreme and am currently focusing on 12 different players. But, there are 3 that I’ve placed on highest priority status, 6 that I classify as medium priority, and 3 that I’ve put as possible short term investments with a lower priority.

Secondly, once you decide on which players to collect, stick with the major manufacturers. The following list is the manufacturers I always recommend:

• Topp’s • Upper Deck • Fleer • Donruss/Leaf • Bowman

I’ve recommended these for a number of reasons, but the biggest is because these 5 are the most reputable in the collectibles industry. In addition to these, each one does secondary releases (sometimes under a name that you don’t recognize) or what is referred to in terms such as insert sets, parallel sets, subsets, limited editions, traded sets, and so on. A lot of times, the players in these sets have the tendency to come out of the chute overpriced. Also, when it’s early in the year or season, and sets are just hitting the market, price guides have the tendency to lag on getting the card values installed. This is where you’ll get burned on the price of your cards the easiest. Card shops have the tendency to really gouge the prices until they’re in print. So be really careful. Another caution I have is to make sure if you collect product other than these, look for the MLB logo. This is your guarantee that the cards are sanctioned by Major League Baseball, and will be a safer investment than other manufacturers.

The best recommendation I can offer here is to spend the $4.95 for a one month Online Price Guide subscription (or OPG) at www.beckett.com. Let’s discuss the Beckett issue for a moment. Once you have an OPG, you have two very good search engines to track the value of your cards, as well as how many have been printed during the player’s career. You can type in only the player’s name and it will give you every card from every manufacturer that has ever been printed. They also offer a search by different manufacturers and sets from the current year back to 1950. There were other manufacturers before 1950 obviously, but unless you are a serious investor with serious money, stick with the last 57 years that Beckett covers. Just some personal advice.

Third, and this is another benefit to a Beckett’s OPG, you can list your collection by player, and track their value on an ongoing basis. All you have to do is type in the card once you add it to your collection, and Beckett’s does all the work for you. Prices are updated on the Monday of the current issue’s release at 3:30 pm CST, so you don’t have to worry.

Fourth, create your own database as well as a backup for your cards, and save it to your computer. I have one saved on my flash drive (E :\) and one saved to CD. Excel spreadsheet applications work best, and if you install your formulas in each cell, it makes things even easier. Again, I can’t emphasize enough how critical this aspect of the hobby is. (Remember the formula --- watch, read, and learn.)

The final item on your “To Do” list when it comes to your cards is to make sure that they are packaged in some sort of protective holder. There are five types of protective holders that I recommend. The value of the card determines which holder I use. Here is my personal list based on the type of holder I use and which value range each applies to:

Clear Plastic Sleeves --- these are made from clear polypropylene, come 100 to a pack, and can be purchased on an individual basis, but you’ll save money buying these in lots of 500 or 1,000. A word of caution here, make sure they are labeled “Acid Free – No PVC”, otherwise your cards will yellow over the years. I put every one of my cards that go into semi-rigid holders and top loaders (descriptions to follow).

Semi-rigid holders --- these are made from clear vinyl, usually come packed 200 to the box, and hold standard sized 2” x 3” cards. The only drawback to using these is that they are flexible and can be bent, so be careful. Put your card in a clear sleeve before you put it in this type of holder. I use these for cards that are valued at $1 or less.

Top Loaders --- these are made from a harder clear plastic, are slightly flexible, come 25 to the pack, and can be purchased in four different styles --- regular cards, thicker cards, labeled for Rookie cards, and with colored borders. Again, put your card in a clear plastic sleeve and then in the top loader. I use this style of holder for any cards that are valued between $1 and $3.

Snap-tites --- these are clear and are a harder plastic than Top Loaders. I’ve only seen them shipped separately out of a pack or box, however, every card shop vendor that I have purchased these from give you discounts for bulk buying versus individual buying. These also have a recessed area on one side, so no clear plastic sleeve is needed (actually, the card can’t seat right in the recessed area if it’s in a sleeve). You can purchase these for regular or thicker cards. They are stackable, and because you snap the two sides together, they are called Sanp-tites. I use these for cards that are valued between $3 and $5.

Magnetic, One Screw, or Four Screw Holders --- these are the best holders to protect your cards. They are made from the hardest, non-flexible, clear plastic that you can put your cards in. Again, these can be purchased on an individual basis, but bulk discounts are available from vendors and shops. They have a recessed area for the card to seat in, do not need a clear sleeve and either have a magnetic closure, or a 1 or 4 screw type seal. They are also available for regular and thick cards. I use these for cards that are valued at $5 or more.

So now you also know the best ways to protect your cards. I wanted to bring up another benefit to having the Beckett OPG subscription. You can do comparative price shopping for your cards and supplies with every vendor in the Beckett’s Marketplace.

Another issue I wanted to bring up was my recommendations for housing team sets, or various sets that you might create. There are two different size binders that hold heavy gauge, clear plastic pages that are acid free with no PVC, for housing your different sets --- a two-ring and a three-ring. The two-ring binder’s pages hold four cards; the three-ring binder’s pages hold nine cards. There are also the non-binder type notebooks whose pages are the same. The difference being that you cannot add or remove pages from these like you can with the binder types. There are ten pages in either, so it takes either 40 cards or 90 cards to fill them. And they can be purchased generically labeled, or labeled for most sports.

So let’s recap before I wrap up this segment. By now, your savvy as a collector has grown some. You are watching one of the recommended ESPN programs, you’ve subscribed to one of the recommended publications I mentioned, and you’ve answered the three critical questions discussed to this point in these articles.

In the final segment, I’ll discuss the most critical question of the four, namely what you’re willing to spend, or can afford to spend on building your collection. As always, you can contact me at no1nyyfan55@yahoo.com for comments and questions. Until then, see you in the next issue and happy collecting.