Adhesives/Backing for Displaying Baseball Cards

[WorldBaseballFan]

My son has a few cards of his favorite players (all commons not worth very much) we wanted to display on his wall. I'm not a fan of those baseball card holders.

Does anyone have an adhesive/backing they recommend or have used to display baseball cards? I'm thinking of maybe a foamcore board would be good, but not sure on the acid free adhesive.

Any suggestions out there?

[Ben Grimm]

Cards don't make good presentation pieces, but if that's what he's got - and they're commons - you can duct tape them in all honesty. In my adventures with my nephew (who was looking to do the same thing), I got him to look at 8"x10" photos instead. Much more presentable and really cost very little since they're reproductions.

For about $3 a picture, I bought some Mylar covers to put on top. I then pinned them to a corkboard I put on his bedroom wall. Four years later, he's still looking for more pictures - where I take him to a show here and there - and wants to build on it. So far he has about 12 and it looks really sweet.

My friend had a card shop in my neihborhood in the 90s when cards were selling well. He had a nice wall-mount thing that was the shape of a ballpark with slots at every position. The idea was that you'd fill those positions with a card. Looked nice but I never saw one cheaper than $30 and some being hand-made over $200.

Personally, I'd go black foamcore since the white stock of the cards will at least stand out. For mounting - go cheap IMO. These cards can be replaced for pennies or your son simply gets next year's as a replacement.

[WorldBaseballFan]

Re: Adhesives/Backing for Displaying Baseball Cards

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate that you put so much thought and time into your response.

You've confirmed that Foamcore is the way to go.

But does ducttape have too much acid? Will that eat through the cards eventually?

Do you have experience with other types of adhesive.

[Mike D.]

I wonder if you could get some kind of velcro tape at a craft store and make something where you stuck one side of the tape to the Foamcore and the other to the card backs.

Then, you could swap cards out, move them around, etc.

[Ben Grimm]

I used to have some of that. It comes in long strips that you can get cut at most craft shops. Each side is one huge spool. For cards, you'd only need a half inch or so and two feet of length could go a very long way.

[Ben Grimm]

I was being a bit facetious (sp?) with the duct tape. Any kind of adhesive will work. The acid on anything you use will be no more damaging to the cards than simply exposing them to the air. Even cardboard carries properties of paper - air, fire, moisture all effect them. By the time you see any acid damage, your son will likely have kids of his own.