Anybody collect baseball cards? I have a question

acoustic guy

Last year on an inpulse I bought a large handfull of Topps Baseball cards from 1982, 85, 88 and 89 I think. One guy said to save them and do not open them. But if I don't, how will I know if I have any good ones?
Is there a difference?
What should I do?

BetterThanYou

acoustic guy wrote:

Last year on an inpulse I bought a large handfull of Topps Baseball cards from 1982, 85, 88 and 89 I think. One guy said to save them and do not open them. But if I don't, how will I know if I have any good ones?
Is there a difference?
What should I do?

i'm no expert, but i'd open them. how much were each pack? i doubt if you leave them sealed that you'd be sitting on a goldmine. if you have the same type of luck as me, you've got a handfull of common cards.

Strangest Tribe

acoustic guy wrote:

Last year on an inpulse I bought a large handfull of Topps Baseball cards from 1982, 85, 88 and 89 I think. One guy said to save them and do not open them. But if I don't, how will I know if I have any good ones?
Is there a difference?
What should I do?

Open them. You have a shot at a 1982 Cal Ripken rookie card

1985 had Clemens, McGwire and Puckett rookies.

88 and 89 kinda suck, Randy Johnson

Unopened wax packs from the mid 70's and earlier are more valuable if left unopened.

Unopened wax packs from the 80's were produced by the millions kinda like Beanie Babies they'll never be valuable because they made so so so many...it was the height of card collecting and some of the crapiest steroid infested superstars ever came from the 80's.

Steve Dunne

i haven't collected cards in so long, late 70's early 80s. but i got a lot of oddball shit from the 77-78 era yanks. i don't even know if they're worth anything, but it's cool to know they're just sittin' there in my basement.

BinFrog

Strangest Tribe wrote:

Open them. You have a shot at a 1982 Cal Ripken rookie card

1985 had Clemens, McGwire and Puckett rookies.

88 and 89 kinda suck, Randy Johnson

Unopened wax packs from the mid 70's and earlier are more valuable if left unopened.

Unopened wax packs from the 80's were produced by the millions kinda like Beanie Babies they'll never be valuable because they made so so so many...it was the height of card collecting and some of the crapiest steroid infested superstars ever came from the 80's.

Unopened '75 packs are possible gold mines (Brett, Carter, Yount, etc etc etc)

markymark550

Like others have said, since they're from the 80s I don't think they are going to be all that valuable sitting in the pack unopened. I'd open them, look to see who you got, and if any were good or worth keeping store them someplace in mint condition.

BetterThanYou

Strangest Tribe wrote:

Open them. You have a shot at a 1982 Cal Ripken rookie card

1985 had Clemens, McGwire and Puckett rookies.

88 and 89 kinda suck, Randy Johnson

Unopened wax packs from the mid 70's and earlier are more valuable if left unopened.

Unopened wax packs from the 80's were produced by the millions kinda like Beanie Babies they'll never be valuable because they made so so so many...it was the height of card collecting and some of the crapiest steroid infested superstars ever came from the 80's.

isn't the true ripken rookie from the '82 traded set?

gobrowns19

Strangest Tribe wrote:

Unopened wax packs from the 80's were produced by the millions kinda like Beanie Babies they'll never be valuable because they made so so so many...it was the height of card collecting and some of the crapiest steroid infested superstars ever came from the 80's.

yeah, i just gave up on my beanie baby collection not long ago, haha.

But dang, I miss spending hours organizing my cards sometimes. I'm going to look at them the next time I see my dad. I remember one Favre card I have, the first time I saw it and it had him in a Falcons jersey and i was just like, 'Dad what the heck!!" Haha.

Also, when I was around 5 or something, i got some unopened cards from my grandpa, opened them and bent them up. Looked at them again when I was around 13 and there was a Troy Aikman rookie card. :(

pj10alive42

That they arent worth a damn anymore. I learned it the hard way.... I was planning on paying for college with my giant collection from when I was a kid - SYL

in_hiding79

pj10alive42 wrote:

That they arent worth a damn anymore. I learned it the hard way.... I was planning on paying for college with my giant collection from when I was a kid - SYL

That was so nice of you!!!

patrickredeyes

acoustic guy wrote:

Last year on an inpulse I bought a large handfull of Topps Baseball cards from 1982, 85, 88 and 89 I think. One guy said to save them and do not open them. But if I don't, how will I know if I have any good ones?
Is there a difference?
What should I do?

You bought Wax packs of cards or just piles of cards from those yrs?

I would NOT OPEN them they are worth more and maybe alot more to somebody else.

pj10alive42

in_hiding79 wrote:

That was so nice of you!!!

http://www.theskyiscrape.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=75091&start=53

jimed14

BinFrog wrote:

Unopened '75 packs are possible gold mines (Brett, Carter, Yount, etc etc etc)

don't forget James Edward Rice!!!

#14

I have tons of baseball cards from the 70s and 80s ... and yeah, most probably aren't worth much. But, the memories are great.

BinFrog

jimed14 wrote:

don't forget James Edward Rice!!!

#14

I have tons of baseball cards from the 70s and 80s ... and yeah, most probably aren't worth much. But, the memories are great.

Hence the "etc etc etc" part

I have every Topps set going back to my birth year: 1976.

NY PJ1

when i was 12

Indian Summer

the sports cards market bottomed out in the late 90's. Not worth much anymore, but there are still some die hard collectors out there that will pay.

acoustic guy

I opened them LOL
I had to look, I found Reggie Jackson and a few others that were big names but no Ripken or the other Big $$ names.
A handfull of Phillies though

Trailer

Indian Summer wrote:

the sports cards market bottomed out in the late 90's. Not worth much anymore, but there are still some die hard collectors out there that will pay.

what about the 2003 NBA cards... lebron, carmelo, wade, etc. i'm pretty sure some of those autograph jersey cards are just as good as any of the cards in the 90's.. if not better

edit: well maybe not Wade.. he kinda sucks now