what are the hot baseball/football cards these days?

[courtjester123]

Want to buy some baseball/football cards for my nephew, 9yo, and it's been awhile. Should I stick with Topps (still out there?) and Upper Deck or what are the hot cards now? My brothers and I would like to get him a bunch of unopened packs and have a good time seeing what we can find.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

 

[gopunk]

i used to collect baseball cards... my understanding is that the industry is now dead. i don't think they're really popular anymore, unfortunately. i hope i'm wrong.

 

[courtjester123]

I hope so too because I have a bunch of old baseball cards and stuff up in the attic. However, do a search on Ebay for an Alex Rodriguez 1994 rookie card, professionally graded...you'll see $300 to $500 for something in mint condition.

 

[Syrch]

i think topps is now considered old school. Flair...ultra stuff liek that is the newer cards but honestly its been years for me too

 

[Nocturnal]

Donruss Elite is always good for football. Upper Deck SPX and SP Authentic are usually pretty good.

 

[habib89]

just go to a card store, and see which ones are most expensive... the prices usually tell you which one has the rare collectible cards... or pick up a beckett and see which ones have the the highest values... i haven't collected cards in a long time, but ultra and upper deck were good ones back then.. you should get him a box of cards, i remember when i used to buy boxes of cards, that was awesome

 

[SludgeFactory]

Honus Wagner T206 never goes out of style...

 

[alien42]

when i collected cards in the late 80s and early 90s they began to over produce. follow that up with the internet and those cards are worthless unless they are graded 9.9 or 10.

 

[moshquerade]

Don't go with football cards. Stick with baseball cards. Any top brand will do.

 

[Gillbot]

Honus Wagner is a good one.

 

[meltdown75]

I'm a member here, you might want to check out the football / baseball forums.

http://www.sportscardforum.com

Been collecting hockey again for a couple years. If you ever have any questions about hockey cards don't hesitate to pm me. eBay still has a TON of sports card activity - you can usually get cards for 1/2 - 3/4 book value any time but once in a while get some true steals!!

 

[alien42]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
I'm a member here, you might want to check out the football / baseball forums.

http://www.sportscardforum.com

Been collecting hockey again for a couple years. If you ever have any questions about hockey cards don't hesitate to pm me. eBay still has a TON of sports card activity - you can usually get cards for 1/2 - 3/4 book value any time but once in a while get some true steals!!

i collected hockey cards for a short time beginning in 1990. somewhere at my parents there is a box full of tons of 90-91 upperdeck, score, and pro set rookies. i dont follow hockey closely but that years draft was full of future hall of famers. looking on ebay it doesnt look like they are worth squat.

 

[xboxist]

Sports cards WAY overproduced in the 90s, and now the hobby has degenerated into a chase-rare $$ fest. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there have been packs of cards that retailed for over $100 each. The hobby exists, but not the way you knew it. Instead of children sitting around in the park trading cards, it's rich adult men stopping by the card shop on their way home from work, hoping to crack an expensive chase card, and then hoping it comes back graded as a 9.9 or a 10.0 so they can flip it on eBay for thousands.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: alien42

Originally posted by: meltdown75
I'm a member here, you might want to check out the football / baseball forums.

http://www.sportscardforum.com

Been collecting hockey again for a couple years. If you ever have any questions about hockey cards don't hesitate to pm me. eBay still has a TON of sports card activity - you can usually get cards for 1/2 - 3/4 book value any time but once in a while get some true steals!!

i collected hockey cards for a short time beginning in 1990. somewhere at my parents there is a box full of tons of 90-91 upperdeck, score, and pro set rookies. i dont follow hockey closely but that years draft was full of future hall of famers. looking on ebay it doesnt look like they are worth squat.

yes - those are some extremely mass-produced sets from a huge boom at that time. they aren't worth much. the 90-91 score brodeur rookie tops them all at a book value of around 5-10 bucks... 90-91 pro set is garbage. 90-91 upper deck, you have what i think is a great set to look at but the rookies top out at about 5 bucks book value. OPC Premier is probably the top set from that year out of the major brands.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: xboxist
Sports cards WAY overproduced in the 90s, and now the hobby has degenerated into a chase-rare $$ fest. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there have been packs of cards that retailed for over $100 each. The hobby exists, but not the way you knew it. Instead of children sitting around in the park trading cards, it's rich adult men stopping by the card shop on their way home from work, hoping to crack an expensive chase card, and then hoping it comes back graded as a 9.9 or a 10.0 so they can flip it on eBay for thousands.

yep. dudes go to the card shop and drop a grand or so and do a case break of high-end cards to find limited #d cards and/or memorabilia cards and a good number of them are on eBay pretty quick.

 

[Coquito]

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: xboxist
Sports cards WAY overproduced in the 90s, and now the hobby has degenerated into a chase-rare $$ fest. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there have been packs of cards that retailed for over $100 each. The hobby exists, but not the way you knew it. Instead of children sitting around in the park trading cards, it's rich adult men stopping by the card shop on their way home from work, hoping to crack an expensive chase card, and then hoping it comes back graded as a 9.9 or a 10.0 so they can flip it on eBay for thousands.

yep. dudes go to the card shop and drop a grand or so and do a case break of high-end cards to find limited #d cards and/or memorabilia cards and a good number of them are on eBay pretty quick.

Once the card shop stated smelling less like spilled soda, & more like Pierre Cardin, it was time to move on.

 

[Quasmo]

I've got an autographed Mickey Mantle. I have a letter of authenticty, it's about 5x7. I also collected baseball cards during the card boom. I have ALOT of them, I should go home and see what I have.

 

[alien42]

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: xboxist
Sports cards WAY overproduced in the 90s, and now the hobby has degenerated into a chase-rare $$ fest. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there have been packs of cards that retailed for over $100 each. The hobby exists, but not the way you knew it. Instead of children sitting around in the park trading cards, it's rich adult men stopping by the card shop on their way home from work, hoping to crack an expensive chase card, and then hoping it comes back graded as a 9.9 or a 10.0 so they can flip it on eBay for thousands.

yep. dudes go to the card shop and drop a grand or so and do a case break of high-end cards to find limited #d cards and/or memorabilia cards and a good number of them are on eBay pretty quick.

sounds like a lottery for the rich

i remember the year that Shaq was a rookie you could find the upper deck packs with the rare cards because the cards very slicker and the packs were loose.

 

[zerocool1]

Originally posted by: SludgeFactory
Honus Wagner T206 never goes out of style...

lol

 

[zerocool1]

Originally posted by: alien42

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: xboxist
Sports cards WAY overproduced in the 90s, and now the hobby has degenerated into a chase-rare $$ fest. I'm not exaggerating when I say that there have been packs of cards that retailed for over $100 each. The hobby exists, but not the way you knew it. Instead of children sitting around in the park trading cards, it's rich adult men stopping by the card shop on their way home from work, hoping to crack an expensive chase card, and then hoping it comes back graded as a 9.9 or a 10.0 so they can flip it on eBay for thousands.

yep. dudes go to the card shop and drop a grand or so and do a case break of high-end cards to find limited #d cards and/or memorabilia cards and a good number of them are on eBay pretty quick.

sounds like a lottery for the rich

i remember the year that Shaq was a rookie you could find the upper deck packs with the rare cards because the cards very slicker and the packs were loose.

it almost seems like a nostalgia for their days of youth.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: Quasmo
I've got an autographed Mickey Mantle. I have a letter of authenticty, it's about 5x7. I also collected baseball cards during the card boom. I have ALOT of them, I should go home and see what I have.

i have a lot of cards from the '50's given to me by my uncle, but none are signed. some of them are worth something individually, but likely i'll sell the set at some point.

what i do have is an authenticated MLB life insurance policy signed by Babe Ruth.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Quasmo
I've got an autographed Mickey Mantle. I have a letter of authenticty, it's about 5x7. I also collected baseball cards during the card boom. I have ALOT of them, I should go home and see what I have.

I have loads of older cards. I just keep them locked away.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: courtjester123
Want to buy some baseball/football cards for my nephew, 9yo, and it's been awhile. Should I stick with Topps (still out there?) and Upper Deck or what are the hot cards now? My brothers and I would like to get him a bunch of unopened packs and have a good time seeing what we can find.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

Like someone else said, to my understanding, the industry is dead. It was a thriving hobby in before the late 90's. I have boxes of cards, mostly 80's and 90's, football and basketball, that Im planning on giving to my kids one day.

It's sad to see such a hobby die down like this, because I remember it as being very fun and exciting.

With that said, I remember Upperdeck always made quality cards (with the exception of the Collectors Choice sets). I also liked Fleer and Fleer Ultra.

 

[meltdown75]

The industry isn't dead.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
The industry isn't dead.

I support this post.... oh and, meltdown for President.