Any baseball card gurus on the board?

[cd12]

Need help! With the arrival of my new son I had the idea to buy him a complete set of 2012 baseball cards to save and might continue to do this every year. I collected cards in my childhood but back then Topps was about the only ones around. What brand is the best today? I'm really doing this as a keepsake type thing but if he wants to cash in someday I would like to get the best available.

[Scotty's Flat Top]

I remember the old days when I was on the come up and baseball cards came with a rectangular stick of gum that could break teeth and jawbones

[VOLinthaNATI]

Fleer

[VOLinthaNATI]

Donruss

[Scotty's Flat Top]

Upper Deck

[VOLinthaNATI]

Bowman

[VOLinthaNATI]

Leaf

[005]

BaseballCardPedia.com

[_vol]

Score

[cd12]

Thats the problem with so many companies now days which would you reccomend?

[_vol]

Originally Posted by cd12

Thats the problem with so many companies now days which would you reccomend?

Like anything else, comes down to a few key factors.

1) Rarity
2) Condition
3) Demand

In the last 20+ years all of the player cards are definitely NOT rare (over-produced if anything) and have relatively low demand with a few rare exceptions.

Most all of the high-value cards are circa 1950s and before.

[cd12]

Originally Posted by _vol

Like anything else, comes down to a few key factors.

1) Rarity
2) Condition
3) Demand

In the last 20+ years all of the player cards are definitely NOT rare (over-produced if anything) and have relatively low demand with a few rare exceptions.

Most all of the high-value cards are circa 1950s and before.

I guess what I'm asking.. Would a Topps Albert Pujols rookie card be worth any more or less than a Fleer, Bowman, Leaf etc?

[_vol]

Originally Posted by cd12

I guess what I'm asking.. Would a Topps Albert Pujols rookie card be worth any more or less than a Fleer, Bowman, Leaf etc?

Typically, the manufacturer of a given player will reap some merit, but in today's market there's very slim margins between the mass-produced cards.

[shelbyvillevol]

I haven't collected in years, but in my heyday (early to mid-90's) Upper Deck was probably the top manufacturer. Not sure if that is still the case. I wish I could sell all of mine.

[Slydell]

It's a crap shoot. Depends on who is in the set as a rookie and how their career turns out. Three boxes from my collection as an example. 1991 Topps full set sealed=worth about what I paid 20 years ago. Same with the 1991 Fleer set and the 1991 Topps traded set.