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The Next Card You’re Buying
With football cards coming back into the spotlight and baseball prospect cards still getting plenty of attention, I’m curious what everyone is actually hunting right now.
Not necessarily your biggest PC player. Who is the player you’re looking at and thinking, “I should probably grab some of his cards before the rest of the hobby catches on”?
Could be a rookie, a prospect, a bounce-back candidate, or even an established player you think is undervalued.
And I’m especially interested in the cheaper buys. What’s the guy where you can still find autos, numbered cards, or patches without spending a fortune?
Who are you buying right now?
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18 Replies
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Not that I follow this very well but often I try to buy in off season, so since I collect baseball and WNBA I shouldn’t be buying sports cards now. Pokemon on the other hand…
And with the Pokemon I’m wondering how the big 30th anniversary release will impact things. I’ve seen some previews and they’re really cool cards! But will they flood the market so we all can afford them OR will it be a limited release which means the most popular ones will be out of the price range for most folks??? What’s your guess?
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I’m kind of in the same boat with buying during the season. I know the smart move is probably to wait for the offseason when prices cool off, but actually sticking to that is another story, lol.
The 30th Anniversary Pokémon stuff is what has me really curious right now. Some of the previews look absolutely incredible, and I’m wondering how much supply they’re actually going to put out. The set does have some built-in demand with the classic reprints, 30 different Pikachu cards and some big chase cards, so I have a hard time believing the popular stuff is going to stay cheap.
My guess is that they’ll print a LOT of it, but that probably won’t mean the big hits are cheap. We’ve seen how quickly Pokémon can absorb a huge amount of product when collectors, investors and people chasing specific cards all want the same thing.
I’m actually hoping for a massive print run. Give everybody a chance to rip the set, let the initial hype die down, and then let the singles find their natural prices. If they make it too limited, I think the chase cards are going to be stupid expensive right out of the gate.
What do you guys think? Are you planning to rip 30th Anniversary, buy singles, or just watch the chaos from a safe distance? 😆
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Well sadly scalpers have already preordered most of the 30th anniversary pokemon from what I’ve read. Plus I dont have time to stalk stores like they do so gonna just watch from a distance cause the pokemon market for new releases is absurdly ridiculous.
As far as players gonna start buying into Pete Crow Armstrong as hes getting better and better year by year.
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The Pokémon release market can be absolutely ridiculous when people are racing to preorder everything and flip it immediately. I’d probably rather wait for the initial insanity to settle down and buy the cards I actually want instead of spending all day trying to beat the scalpers. And I really like the Pete Crow-Armstrong call. He’s getting harder to ignore at this point. He just hit his 30th homer of the season and already has another 30/30 season, so the “he’s getting better” argument is looking pretty strong. That’s actually the kind of player I like buying before the hobby completely decides he’s a star. If PCA keeps this up and starts getting serious MVP consideration, I think his cards could get a pretty healthy bump.
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Yeah the pca market is already improving and i also give the new pokemon releases a month or two before i try to get some of them.
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That’s probably the smarter way to approach the Pokémon releases. Let everyone else fight over the initial wave, then come back once the hype and FOMO have cooled off and see where the singles actually settle.
And PCA is exactly the kind of player I’d be watching right now. If he keeps producing, the market eventually has to catch up. I’d much rather buy a guy while people are still debating whether he’s “for real” than after everyone has decided he’s the next big thing.
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Yeah thats why I bought a lot of Dylan Haprer rookie cards. Dudes about to be a stud in the coming years for the Spurs. Only thing stopping him is Fox being the starting pg for now. So i see him winning sixth man next year. Kind of in a Manu Ginobili role for the first couple years.
PCA i only have a rookie card but now is definately the time to buy for him cause the hype is only gonna get higher and higher
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I think PCA is a smart investment. I’ve like him from the start but haven’t chased any of his cards. The fact that he’s in the NL MVP conversation with Shohei says a lot about what people think about his season and skill set. As for the 30th Anniversary Pokemon I won’t be standing in line anywhere so I’ll be waiting for… well something! I’m not sure what! I do look forward to seeing what the set looks like.
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Yeah I need to grab more PCA as I find him. I just think its nuts that people get in lines for the boxes just to scalp them and then theres fights over whos in line its absurd and ruins the hobby and gives the hobby a bad look
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I’m with you on PCA. I think we’re getting to the point where waiting for the hobby to fully catch up could mean paying a lot more later. I’d rather grab a few cards now and be wrong than wait until everyone suddenly decides he’s a superstar. 😂
And the Pokémon situation is crazy. I have zero interest in fighting someone in a parking lot at 6 AM over a box of cards. 😂 I’ll happily let the scalpers do their thing, wait for the market to settle, and pick up the singles I actually want afterward. Much less stressful way to collect.
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Yeah I agree with the Pokemon. Just gonna wait til a show next year or something to look for singles that I like. And buying players mid season before awards season is always a smart move so you can get ahead of the game so to speak
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90s basketball is going insane right now. People have been saying for years that Shaq is severely undervalued, and about 2 weeks ago, he exploded in value. The other guys that always come up in that conversation, but haven’t surged yet are Duncan, Iverson, and maybe Barkley.
90s baseball is moving with Griffey leading the charge and being followed by bonds. I think Frank Thomas has room to grow in that class.
90s football has been lagging behind the others, but I think it’s a matter of time before Barry sanders, Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning, Randy Moss, and maybe TO start to take off. Sanders and manning are moving lately. Look to what is hot in 90s basketball and find the parallels in football. Inserts like platinum portraits, planet metal, etc are much cheaper in football.
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Yes! I’ve seen the Shaq values jump in the last two weeks too. Why do you think?? It’s puzzling to me!
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Though sometimes out of curiosity I’ll ask someone who knows next to nothing about sports if they’ve heard of an athlete, and yes, they’ve heard of Shaq. He’s a part of popular culture so maybe that’s it??
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I think that’s a huge part of it. Shaq crossed over from being an athlete into being a recognizable pop-culture figure. Someone who couldn’t name five NBA players probably still knows who Shaq is.
That kind of mainstream recognition has to matter eventually in the card market. You’re not just selling the basketball player — you’re selling a personality and a piece of someone’s childhood.
Jordan obviously has that on an even bigger level, but Shaq is probably one of the few basketball players from that era who can reach way outside the actual basketball-collecting audience. That could be part of why the market is suddenly waking up to him.
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I think it’s a few things. I think, as you mentioned, Shaq is a part of the culture for many decades now. The Hype around him coming to the NBA is unlike anything I had seen. He was shattering backboards left and right and was even in movies from day 1. Hell, I even listened to his rap album with the fooshnickas (sp?) and played his video games. His shoes are in every wal-mart and he’s been on sports television for years and in every damn commercial. He has many titles and has a case for greatest center ever. In addition to that, he’s likeable. Now, combine that with the fact that Jordan and Kobe have gotten almost unattainable to a decent percentage of the hobby, and people are looking for the next guy they would enjoy collecting.
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Duncan is crazy that his cards arent valued since hes the best pf of all time. I think shaq is cause of him being a dj and apparently hes about to be an owner of the lakers
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I think the 90s football comparison is the really interesting part. Basketball has already shown that there’s a ton of appetite for those 90s-era inserts and designs, and football has so many cards from that same period that still feel relatively affordable.
If Shaq, Jordan, etc. are pulling more attention toward 90s basketball, I could definitely see collectors eventually looking at the football equivalents and realizing they can get some pretty iconic cards for a lot less. Sanders, Rice, Manning and Moss seem like the obvious names to watch.
And I completely agree on Frank Thomas. Griffey and Bonds getting the attention makes sense, but Frank feels like one of those guys where the gap could eventually close. He was an absolute monster and has plenty of those great 90s inserts to chase.
Now you’ve got me wanting to go digging through some 90s football cards.
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