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⚾50 Years of Collecting Sports Cards: What I Wish I Knew Then⚾

David Gonos

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✅Our Lists of the Best Rookie Cards From Every Year in Each Sport!✅
⚾ Baseball: https://davidgonos.com/who-are-the-be...
🏀 Basketball: https://davidgonos.com/who-are-the-be...
🏈 Football: https://davidgonos.com/best-football-...
🏒 Hockey: https://davidgonos.com/best-hockey-ro...

I've been collecting sports cards in one form or another for over 50 years. So what would I tell the younger version of myself if I could go back?

Probably to eat fewer donuts and appreciate my hairline. 😂

But when it comes to sports cards, I've learned a LOT.

In this first Happy Hobby Long Play, pull up a chair and let's talk cards for a while. I'm looking back at collecting in the 1970s and '80s, the rise of rookie cards and Beckett, the Junk Wax Era, inserts and premium cards in the '90s, leaving and returning to the hobby, and how dramatically collecting has changed today.

More importantly, I'm sharing the mistakes I've made along the way — buying into hype, accumulating cards without a plan, treating cards like investments, worrying about what other collectors wanted and spending money on cards I eventually wondered why I owned.

We'll also talk about what I'd tell today's Comeback Collector, why it's OK to leave the hobby and come back, why I believe you should buy singles to build your collection and rip wax for entertainment, and what I'd do differently if I had to rebuild my entire collection tomorrow.

After 50 years, I've realized something:

A great collection isn't necessarily the most valuable collection. It's one you'd still be excited to own if nobody else ever saw it.

☕ So grab some coffee, sort some cards, organize your collection or just pull up a chair in our virtual card shop. We've got an hour to talk sports cards.

⚾ ROOKIE CARD RESOURCES
Looking for the best rookie cards from baseball, football, basketball, hockey and more? Visit BestRookieCardsEver.com.

💬 QUESTION FOR YOU
What's ONE thing you know about collecting sports cards now that you wish you'd known when you started? Tell me in the comments. Your answers might become a future Happy Hobby video!

CHAPTERS
00:00 What I'd Tell My Younger Collector Self
06:00 When Sports Card Collecting Was Simple
20:30 When Rookie Cards Changed How I Collected
26:30 How Your Grandma Helped Create the Junk Wax Era
32:30 Inserts, Upper Deck & the 1990s
39:30 Leaving the Hobby — and Coming Back
44:00 8 Collecting Mistakes I Wish I'd Avoided
51:30 My Advice for Comeback Collectors
56:30 Things I've Changed My Mind About
1:01:00 If I Had to Start My Collection Over
1:05:00 What Actually Makes a Great Sports Card Collection?

I wrote a deeper breakdown of Returning to the Hobby on my website, here: https://davidgonos.com/returning-for-...

👍 If you enjoyed this video, please Like, Subscribe, and share it with another collector who might appreciate a different way of thinking about the hobby.

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✅ Build a better sports card collection with a real-world budget!

🌎 Our Free Happy Hobby Sports Cards Universe 🌎
👉 Website: https://davidgonos.com/
📰 Newsletter: https://gonos.substack.com/
🎧 Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/pg/podcast...

From YouTube videos to podcasts to newsletters and our website, we share tips, history and humor with fellow card collectors, hoping to help improve their collections with less money!

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✅Thank you for supporting our channel! As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases! Here's a link to the Sports Card supplies that I love: https://www.amazon.com/shop/davidgonos

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👉Ways to Contact David Gonos👈

Connect with me on:
-Twitter/X @DavidGonos / davidgonos
-Instagram @DavidGonos / davidgonos
-Facebook / davidgonoswriter
-TikTok / davidgonos.cards
-Link Tree https://linktr.ee/gonos

Email me: GonosCards@gmail.com

Mail me:
DavidGonos.com
P.O. Box 36
Georgetown, TX 78627

#HappyHobby

14 Comments

@matthewtestani3536 6 days ago Pinned

My dad would bring me home cards after work. I remember having some 77, 78 cards but the 1st set I remember really being into was the 79 set. Then I really got into the 1980 set (the summer I was 8). I also grew up in upstate New York as a Yankees fan and was just hunting Reggie, Thurman, Guidry, Goose Gossage, Willie Randolph, Nettles etc. I still have the Rickey Henderson and Ozzie Smith rookies I pulled from those years but they are pretty beat up as we looked at them every day. Was a different time.
My dad has the classic story of having these classic sets from the late 50s, early 60s - my grandfather owned a candy store so he had a play set and a nice set that he kept - and of course my grandmother threw them out while he was in the Air Force because they were for kids.

@Cteodorski 6 days ago

I still love my way over printed '87 Topps with the wood grain

@michaelh2970 6 days ago

I loved the old stuff but I was the biggest fan of baseball and loved the players that my dad talked about. It just felt like there was something else about that era . My dad was born in’47 and he still watches every single reds game no matter what their record is.

@godisgreat8462 6 days ago

I remember mowing lawns for other people to buy packs. In my family of 10 sisters and 8 brothers the girls got everything tv etc and the boys all the chores and bunk beds. So besides house chores I helped neighbors to get money for cards and comics.

@TimDengate 5 days ago

The first year I collected cards was 1970 when my Dad bought me some packs when we were on vacation. That got me hooked and I started buying cards every year until the mid 1980’s. Favourite sets still 1973 set. Love the cool action shots in that set.

@maralfwoj 6 days ago

'82 Topps were my favorite, particularly Carlton Fisk on Action.

@ErikWittmann-pt5yv 6 days ago

I remember getting some 1975 Topps mini cards that came one card per loaf of bread. Sunbean bread if I remember correctly. Only got a few cards this way. Did anyone else get some cards this way in ‘75?
1979 and 1980 is when I really got into card collecting. I stopped after 1989. Came back to it in 2015. I love the vintage and building Topps sets ‘52-1980. Love the nostalgia of it all.
Thanks for the interesting content Dave! I love it.

@KarlfromOz 5 days ago

Hey David,, really appreciate your thoughts/philosophy on collecting cards and “do’s and don’t” !!!,,, sage advice !!!!!

@ezekielsportmemorabilia7939 6 days ago

1987 Topps factory set

@Sam-m6h7l 5 days ago (edited)

I started in the late 80's and I like my card simple and clean, so I'm sure your lists of best rookie cards aren't the same as mine. I don't like fancy, shiny graphics in the background, no patches or autos. As a kid I bought packs, when I have the money, in search of rookie cards. Then trying to put together a complete set out of all the commons were a lot of fun but expensive. For the past 30 years, I've opened about 10 packs just for old time sake but mostly bought graded HOF rookie singles. Now, I just sit back and watch my investment grow. As per my last update calculation, I'm up about $21.49 LOL.

@ItsJustaSpeculativeFiction 3 days ago (edited)

Just as bad as collecting oversized cards are these grown ass adults running around saying the phrase, “breakers delight”. Never say those words. Also, I’m returning to the hobby after a 15yr break. Love your positivity.