Fair question. Let me answer it honestly, which is the only way I know how to answer anything.
The Short Version
I grew up in New York in the 1970s as a Yankees fan — which, before anyone in Boston gets too smug about that, was not exactly a hardship. I started collecting baseball cards as a kid the way most kids did back then: buying packs at the drugstore, trading with friends, storing them in shoeboxes with absolutely no regard for the concept of "protecting your investment." Nobody used that phrase in 1978. We just liked the cards.
Life happened. The cards went into storage. Decades passed.
I should also mention — because it's relevant to why I know what I know — that I spent two summers in college working at a baseball card shop. This was 1987 and 1988, which means I had a front-row seat to the hobby right as it lost its mind. The junk wax era was just getting started. People were walking in convinced that cardboard was going to make them rich. The shop was doing brisk business. I was surrounded by cards all day and took full advantage of that proximity, amassing what I considered at the time to be a genuinely impressive collection of rookie cards from some of the best players of that era.
Those rookie cards have not paid for my kid's college tuition. They have not filled my gas tank. They have not, frankly, covered a particularly nice dinner. They are, however, a very handsome collection that I remain fond of, and working in that shop gave me a ground-level education in the hobby that I've never forgotten. Ah, well. Onward.
Then decades later I rediscovered the rest of them — tens of thousands of cards from my childhood alongside everything from those shop years — and made the decision that seemed reasonable at the time: dive back in. Research everything. Protect, sort, and catalog the collection. Get the good ones graded.
I have now spent thousands of dollars on grading, supplies, research, and the occasional card I probably didn't need to buy. I have learned an enormous amount about this hobby. I have not, despite what the more optimistic corners of the internet occasionally suggest is possible, been able to retire on any of it. The Yankees have 27 championships. My card collection has not funded a single one.
Why This Site Exists
When I got back into collecting, I spent a lot of time looking for honest, straightforward information and found that most of what's out there falls into one of a few categories:
- Dealers who have a financial interest in your believing your cards are worth more than they are
- Breathless YouTube channels that exist primarily to sell you on the idea that card collecting is a get-rich-quick opportunity
- Dry, technical guides written by people who clearly know the hobby but have the communication style of a tax form
- Price guides from years ago that no longer reflect anything happening in the actual market
What I couldn't find was someone just telling me the truth in plain language — what things are actually worth, when grading makes sense and when it doesn't, what mistakes to avoid, and what's genuinely exciting about this hobby without the hype machine running in the background.
So I decided to write that myself. You're reading it now.
What I Know and How I Know It
I am not a professional dealer. I am not a grading company employee. I don't have a financial interest in what you buy or sell or submit for grading. I'm a collector who has spent years doing this, made plenty of expensive mistakes, learned from them, and would like to save you the tuition.
I know the junk wax era because I lived through it — I was buying those packs when they were new. I know grading because I've submitted more cards than I should have before I fully understood the math. I know card values because I've researched thousands of them across my own collection, and I know the tools that actually work because I've used them all. Some of what I know came from reading. Most of it came from doing things the wrong way first.
A Few Things You Should Know About My Biases
In the interest of full transparency:
I am a lifelong Yankees fan. This does not affect the accuracy of any card valuation on this site, but it does mean that I will find small opportunities to mention the Yankees' 27 World Series championships in contexts where it is only moderately appropriate. You have been warned.
I have strong feelings about the Boston Red Sox. These feelings are negative. They are also irrelevant to the quality of card advice on this site, and I will extend full professional courtesy to Red Sox cards and Red Sox card collectors. Their team, however, is a different matter.
I believe that most old baseball cards are worth less than people think, and I will tell you so directly. If you came here hoping someone would validate that your 1989 Donruss commons are going to fund your grandchildren's college education, I am not that person. If you came here for accurate information delivered without condescension — with maybe a little condescension about the Red Sox — you're in the right place.
What's Coming
This site is growing. I'm adding guides on a regular basis — more on grading strategy, how to build a collection with intention, what to look for at card shows, and specific deep dives into sets and players that collectors actually ask about. If you have a question you'd like me to tackle, there will eventually be a way to send it to me. For now, start with the guides that are already up. They'll keep you out of trouble.
And if you're a Red Sox fan who made it this far without leaving — well. I respect the persistence. The advice is still good even if your taste in teams is questionable.