Published: August 02, 2008 12:14 pm      

Card collecting is a hobby that can pay big dividends

Wouldn’t it be great if parents could find a hobby to participate in with their children where they both slowed down, talked to each other and shared quality time together?

What if this hobby was available rain or shine and had the potential to be highly profitable?

Interested, but sounding too good to be true?

Well, there is such a hobby — collecting sports cards.

With all the high-tech, whiz-bang gadgets coming out at every turn, a parent can quickly feel overwhelmed when trying to communicate with his children. Card collecting is a medium any parent can use to increase quality time with their children.

Just imagine the fun of going to the store, purchasing a few packs of cards and ripping them open to see what you've got.

Baseball cards are like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, ‘you never know what you’re gonna get.’

Maybe it’s a card that has a piece of game used memorbillia attached, an autographed card, a serial numbered rare card or just one from your favorite team.

The fun begins when you and your children share the excitement together of a great find.

Perhaps you could tell your son or daughter a story about the player that you remember.

Maybe a player did well in a ball game you were both watching. It’s exciting to go through your collection of cards and find that player, making an even better memory for your children of something you did together.

Sports cards are available everywhere, at your local discount store, at garage sales or traded among friends.

There are many organizations and clubs that sell and trade cards.

Cards are available from almost every sport. Baseball, football and basketball are the most popular. Wrestling cards, however, are quickly gaining in popularity.

Most cards are categorized into four areas. They are common cards which are not listed in most price guides: cool cards that you like regardless of their monetary value, premium cards which are all valued at more than $5 each and complete sets, which are normally left in their original boxes.

Collectors can also organize their cards by favorite team, players or sport.

Most people go for the premium cards which are numbered short runs, autographed or include part of the jersey, bat or other item used by a player.

Just how valuable can they be? A lucky collector recently pulled an excellent card from a pack. It was an Adrian Peterson autographed rookie card with a piece of his jersey that included the Minnesota Viking mascot. It was on an online auction site with a bid of more than $3,500.

McAlester News-Capital Photo Editor Kevin Harvison is an avid card collector. He has made several good finds in his years of collecting.

“My best find was when I was in college, in 1991. Money was tight, but I stopped in a store to get a bag of chips and a can of pop. At the last second I changed my mind and instead bought a pack of cards from a box on the counter. In the pack there was an autographed Mickey Mantle card which I later sold for $1,000. That was a lot of money back then,” Harvison said.

“The advent of memorabilia or game used cards has brought a whole new realm to collecting. It’s like getting a piece of history on a card,” Harvison added.

“Imagine getting a piece of Babe Ruth’s bat or a jersey that he used. A lot of times the card companies use cut autographs from older players like Ty Cobb or Joe DiMaggio.

“I am a huge Oklahoma Sooners fan and the other day I opened a pack that contained a signed Billy Simms card. That was really special to me,” Harvison added.

Common cards have value too. A card that may not be worth much today may be a hot item years down the road.

Mark McGwire or Kurt Warner are prime examples. For several years after they became professional players, you can bet that a lot of people threw their cards out because they weren’t big stars.

With a well organized collection, you can quickly go back and see if you have today's hot card.

Card collecting is a well established hobby that has lots of reference materials and participants. The hobby seems poised to be strong for years to come. Who knows, the right card might just pay part of your child’s college expenses.

Contact Glen Eller at geller@mcalesternews.com