How big is your card collection?

[Hammerin Hank]

I've been a collector of baseball cards for about five or six years now, and even though I haven't even bought any these last couple years my collection has about 2,000 cards. None of them are very valuable. Perhaps you have some that are. I have that organized by the team the player was on in the card and then alphabetically so I can easily find the card if I need to. Being a Cubs fan, I probably have more Cubs cards than anything else. And there are a lot of Sosa and Griffey cards too. Well, anywho, just tell me about your collection.

[Biggtone23]

I've been collecting for about 10 years now. I have somewhere around 20,000 to 25,000 cards. Most are from the late 80s - early 90s so they are not worth much. Most common cards from these sets book at a penny (Beckett Dec. 03). Some highlights of my collection.
1983 Fleer Tony Gwynn rookie $15.00
1993 Topps Traded Todd Helton Team USA $30.00
2001 Topps Ichiro Rookie $15.00
2002 Topps Barry Bonds 73 Home Run sub set
70 - $25.00
73 - $60.00

[Eddie Collins]

I haven't bought anything in about 6 years, but I have about 5,000 cards

[AutoMick]

Yep...... I was one of those guys whose Mom gave his cards away.

Wow did that hurt me..... she did it when I was about 19 to some kid she was babysitting for. I had the entire Fleer collection of Ted Williams cards...... I had the Mays, Mantle, Aaron, Clemente, Ford, Berra, Wynn, Drysdale, Koufax, Pierce, Howards (Frank and Elston), Fox, Aparicio.......... ahhhhhh that hurts.

I didn't collect again till 1976 when my son was born.... but he never took to the game ..... at least yet and he's 27 now.

So I just kept it for myself.......... I did buy a few football cards and my prized possession there would be Walter Payton's rookie card.

So I've been buying some older cards and have amassed a huge White Sox collection........ as well as some very nice ones including the George Bretts, Nolan Ryans, Tony Gwynns, Sammy Sosa, Willie Stargell, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Roger Clemens, Cal Ripken,, Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Rickey henderson, Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciappara, Alex Rodriguez, Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez..... etc.

I alos have 20+ years of White Sox media Guides...... magazines, and newspapers. I have some posters, some bobble heads and autograph baseballs from Carlton Fisk and Frank Thomas as well as several souviner baseballs gotten from games at old Comiskey Park.

Great hobby....... great game....... but my sight is starting to fail me and it looks as though I will be selling these things in the not too distant future.......

[insanefishpossay]

20,000+, most i got from my dad/grandpa. Almost all are from 1985-1994, dont have much newer stuff, and I haven't actually bought anything for awhile. I have lots of rookies cards, I'll post some when I get the chance

[Zito75]

I used to work in a card shop when I was 16 to about when I was 19. I had around 30,000 cards at one point- but quantity means NOTHING. I am down to around 8-10K now, but have better "quality."
86 Fleer Jordan Rookie in MINT shape
59 Topps Musial
85 Topps McGwire Rookie
83 Topps Gwynn
82 Topps Ripken
'70 Topps Reggie Jackson & Nolan Ryan
89 Upper Deck Griffey

Lots of other various rookies.

[rudy]

I have thousands and thousands and thousands of baseball cards. I wouldnt have given up the hobby if they didn't come out with 650 different sets in each year. The fact that cards became worthless was only a good thing---the hobby became far cheaper. It was never about their worth anyway---it was about collecting all of the cards from your favorite players. I have every single Bo Jackson baseball card every printed, each one in their own case.

When my brother and I were young, about 15 years ago, we used to pick rookies and buy hundreds of their cards. Most of the times it didn't work out: Bruce Ruffin, Hensley Meulens, among so many others just did nothing. We did find one guy who turned out pretty good though: I have over 150 Sammy Sosa rookie cards, and he's not even, nor has he ever been, a favorite of mine.

I don't have any old-school cards...I think my oldest cards are George Brett cards from the mid-70's. My bro and I used to cleect certain player's cards: George Brett, Ruben Sierra, Darryl Strawberry, Eric Davis, and each of our two favorites, mine being Bo, his being Will Clark.

I still find myself dropping in to local card stores once in a while just to buy a few packs, and in some cases, I'll just buy boxes of cards, and spend an afternoon opening packs and making sets the real way. Ever since teh card industry went down, it has become so much cheaper to be a collector again! I'll stick to the late 80's and early 90's though....I still love the thrill of finding Bo cards!

[The Mick]

I've been a fanatical card/memorabilia collector for most of my life. I have thousands of cards - but over the last few years I have gone more team specific (Yankees-Steelers-Penguins-and autographed cards).

My sports memorabilia collection has actually gotten "out-of-hand" so to speak and it helps to have an understanding wife. I look at it as both a hobby and an investment. I figure my kids will be able to get several thousand for it after I am gone.

That may be a while though as I'm only 31. (haha)

[Chisox73]

I have most Topps sets dating back to 1973.I've only stuck with Topps.I'm one of the few who buy the cards for the sheer enjoyment of collecting.

Sometime next year,I want to start building my 1972 Topps set.I have all the White Sox players from that set,including Dick Allen.

I also collect team photo cards from the '60s and '70s.My favorite team card is the 1970 Topps Seattle Pilots team photo card(#713).The only Pilots team card issued.

[Utter Chaos]

I've been collecting non-stop since 1969. There were a few down periods like girls, high-school, girls, college and more girls but I still managed to buy some every year and keep my mom from throwing them out (even though she threatened to many times).

In the 80's I tried collecting everything there was but it got to be too much so now I just concentrate on the Topps regular issues. I have them all from 1963-2003 plus 1957 and 1960. I still need about 500 more to complete my goal which is the entire Topps run from 1952 on. I also have an Old Judge card from the 1800's, some T206's, Goudeys, Leafs, lots of old Bowmans, etc.

I'm guessing the total number of my collection is around 150,000. I collect for the enjoyment rather than the value. I enjoy reading the backs of the old cards to learn info like Dee received a purple heart for WWII or Archie is an English teacher in the off-season. Nowadays it's stuff like Joe and Dave share the same agent or Sam signed with the Yankees because they offered him the most money.

[Atlanta Braves Freak]

My card collection started at Camden Yards int 1998 when I bought 100 cards for a dollar. Now my collection has increased to about 550. I organize mine by team, and when my collection wasn't big I would go in depth, by last name!

[4-Man_Rotation]

I collected as a kid ... and stopped buying through my teen years ... then got married and have spent probably TOO much money on them these last few years.

I collect only certain players. I'm a huge Randy Johnson fan and have 620 different cards of him alone. I also like Ichiro, Barry Zito, A-Rod and Mark Grace. I have several hundred of each of them ... among others pertaining to hometown heroes ...

Some of my faves are:

-1987 Topps Tiffany Rafael Palmeiro PSA 9
-2002 Topps Heritage Certified Auto Hank Blalock
-1994 Flair Alex Rodriguez (RC)
-2001 UD Victory Ichiro (RC) BGS 9.5

and one I got for my B-day last week ... a piece of Game-Used base from 10/22/00 when Clemens (accidentally) threw the bat at Piazza in the WS.

[trillian42]

I've only been collecting for about six months...mostly Twins cards...have about 2000 now...another 1200 or so coming in the mail any time now (*fingers crossed*)...I started out collecting my favorite player. Unfortunately this weekend I had to do the tragic...moved him from the 'Current' to 'Former' binder.

I like to get the huge lots on ebay...preferrably UN-picked through...but haven't really gotten anything fantastic yet.

Love flipping through the bargain bins in the local card shop during my lunch break. Don't go too often though--the boys always look at me a little funny!

[abolishthedh]

In 1993 I had about 4200, and then I decided to sell the most valuable cards off and keep about 10% of the collection. What I have kept includes the gritty gamer type players, because these are the players I most admire. These are the players who I will probably be reminiscing about years from now!

It turned out to be a well timed decision, I suppose.

Everything I own is Topps, because I never gave any credibility to the new kids on the block companies. Fleer and Donruss are legitimate makers because they have been around, but Upper Deck and the other me-too companies were the very reason I decided to sell in 1993. More companies in the market meant that the money factor was more important to collectors and the industry, and I couldn't relate to it so I got out. I haven't collected in several years. The current collection has remained in the 400s.

Yet, the players I have kept are stored because of the power of that small cardboard paper with a bad photo. The industry exists because of sentiment, not wallets. Money can be spent, but sentimental value is priceless.

[Jose_Reyes_Revolution]

I mostly collect MLB Showdown. I have almost every card of those (2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 sets). I have about 1,000 other regular baseball cards, and about 6,000 hockey cards. So all together I have just less than 10,000 cards (baseball + hockey)