Trials and Errors of Collecting the Top Rookie Cards

   Stupid! This is the word that comes to mind when I recollect my financial past. From ages 8 to 12 I spent more money on trading cards than the New York Knicks did during the Isiah Thomas era…well at least it seemed that way at the time. Every Friday when school would get out for the weekend, a group of friends and I would go up to “Sev” (what we called 7-Eleven) where we would buy the cheapest pack of basketball trading cards. Fleer was usually the brand, running at about $1.99 a pack. Other top names included Hoops, Donruss, Skybox and Upper Deck, which ran upwards of $3.50 a pack.

   When we were rookie-card collectors, it was only on the rarest of occasions that we were fortunate enough to witness the purchase of Upper Deck cards, let alone buy a pack ourselves. Going into the hobby, my main objective was to collect as many cards as possible. It didn’t matter to me if I had a Jordan rookie or a Bison Dele rookie, it was all the same. However, things began to change once I got introduced to the Becket.

   Becket is a magazine that lists the monetary value of every single card ever made. Today they have Beckets for everything from XFL to Pokemon cards. Sometimes I would collect baseball and football cards, but I was more fascinated with basketball. I used to dream that I owned a 1963 Bill Russell worth upwards of $500, but in actuality, my highest-valued card was a Mitch Richmond rookie worth $3.50, not even the worth of two packs of cards. When people talk about collecting cards back in the day, they sometimes say that all they wanted was the bubble gum. Not me; in fact, they stopped including the gum before my era.

   The thing that fascinated me so much about buying a fresh new pack was the chance—the slim chance that you might be lucky enough to have flipped to the limited edition, double-sided misprint Magic Johnson. The thrill is similar to that of putting $20 on a three-team parlay or playing Kino as you eat a prime-rib dinner in Las Vegas. As I matured in the card game and I began to actually trade with my friends, I thought I was a pro. I soon realized, however, that I was but a mere amateur, as associates and even my own friends would take advantage of me.

   Although we were friends, whenever someone had a hella dope card, we were jealous. I can remember feeling happy deep down when my best friend came crying to me with a crumpled up wad of paper in his hand. He had told me that he left his John Stockton rookie card in his pants and his mom washed them. I felt a little sympathy for the kid because the card was worth $25, and that was a lot! But with a card like a Stockton rookie, you got to keep that puppy in an air-tight, sealed lamination if you know what I mean.

   Similar incidents happened to me too. I once gave up my whole 1990 Hoops basketball collection for what I thought was a signed Byron Scott. It turned out that the card was a forgery, but it was my own fault because, come to think of it, it looked like something my sister would have signed with a pen in her mouth. As I gained more experience in the card game, I began to get pretty good, if that’s even possible. I was acquiring all the top names of all the top brands. Jordans, Dominiques and unfortunately, way too many Olden Polynice rookies. I had three thick folders full of quality cards—the problem was nobody wanted to buy them. This whole time I thought I was going to make money, but I didn’t realize that I needed to give it time.

   One day, I set up a stand with a buddy of mine and in three hours we sold but one card for 25 cents. The guy who bought the card only did out of pity, as he found it amusing that we actually had an  Ahmad Rashad trading card. I wound up selling my entire collection later that year for no more than $30—a collection that took me four years and hundreds of dollars to build. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I’ll never forget the smell of a new pack of high-gloss cards.

   Today, I still have a couple pride and joys laying around the house. A McDonald's Shaquille O’Neal rookie, Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson limited edition, and the entire 1992 Barcelona Dream Team set. Decades Later, I’m still very far away from my ROI, so if you are interested in any of these cards let me know. Come to think of it, I might even have an “autographed” Byron Scott rookie.