It's Like Playing Sports Just Without The Sweat & Muscle Strains

Collecting sports cards is a very appealing hobby. Most people prefer to choose the cards depending on what sports they like watching the most. Some prefer baseball cards, some football and some hockey. You can then focus on the team or players you like. Collection of cards can be done online or physically depending on terms of agreement and proximity.

Do you know the origin of sports cards?

Mostly manufacturers of sports cards had the intention of promoting their tobacco companies and other products. After the 1930's several companies started using the cards for advertisements, followed after the war by cars.

How to obtain sports cards

There are two major ways of obtaining your sport cards. If you have sufficient cash you can purchase them through online shops. This can be in packs, sets or individuals depending on your budget. Or you can get them from the dealers.

Secondly, don't neglect talking to your family members. Older family members often have old collections stored away and do not know what to do with them - so you can let them know you are a card collector.

Another way is trading cards with other collectors. Get to know the community and join collectors and sports fans forums and chat groups.

Sometimes you just need to collect last year's sports cards and manufacturers do not produce them. These are much easier and cheaper to get from other card collectors by swapping or buying their cards.

After collecting your cards, you need to store them in a secure place - damaged, creased cards lose most of their value. Most collectors create an album for their collections. Some prefer to store them in boxes or drawers depending on the reliability of their storage area.

How much does a sports card cost?

There is no standard cost - it is purely driven by demand and availability. There are several guides on values but there is no absolute one other than what someone is willing to pay. It could be 50c or $10,000.

Who Is My Favorite..?

Wow, there's a question I sometimes get hit with and I can never answer it :-)

Which is my favorite card? Usually the one I'm looking at when you ask me. I love pretty much all sports cards and sports for that matter too. So I can easily waste hours browsing through old or new ones.

You might just as well ask me which is my favorite sport, sportsman or athlete! Again, it's usually whatever I'm watching, or whoever I'm reading about at the time. That could be football, or it could be a serious muscle building weight lifting monster of a guy. I admire that kind of dedication that all athletes have to reach their peak potential of fitness and muscle. That takes not only time and dedication, but also a certain mental strength that most of us just don't have. It's what separates the real world class athletes from the crowd.

I also have a great admiration for the personal trainers and coaches of those athletes. These guys are unsung heroes that know everything there is to know about nutrition, building muscle, burning fat, maximising endurance and creating a fitness machine that just keeps on performing until the final whistle. Most of those world class trainers are just not available to the rest of us of course, but there are plenty of online training materials you can access. You don't have to want to be world class in your sport, just better. Courses like AdonisGoldenRatioTraining.com open up those experts to us 'home athletes' effectively because, this one at least, is tailored and customized to your particular body type. There is no one-size fits all workout program - makes sense as some of us can't do 5 regular press ups whilst others can run matharons.

What Basketball Cards Are Worth Big Money?

Some cards are worth a few bucks, others next to nothing. The right card though to the right person can be worth pretty much enough to buy a house with. It usually comes down to an auction, and not surprisingly it's the old cards that go for big bucks. If you're collecting new cards right now, do it because you enjoy it and love those sportspeople and athletes. Because collectors these days are more aware that certain collectibles can appreciate in value, there's going to be a lot more of the current modern items about in future. Which means they won't be worth nearly as much - rarity creates value, not simply age.