Bookmark These 3 Free Card Collecting Tools Right Now!
Collecting cards can be expensive, so we found some helpful card collecting tools that shouldn't cost you money.
Each Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter For Collectors has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets!
This Week’s Newsletter Highlights!
⚾🏈🏀 BOOKMARK THESE 3 FREE CARD COLLECTING TOOLS RIGHT NOW!
⚾ CARDS THAT MAKE US HAPPY!
⚾ A CLOSER LOOK: 1954 TOPPS BASEBALL SET DESIGN
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
As an Amazon Associate and a member of the eBay Partner Network, I earn commissions from qualifying purchases. Here’s a link to my Amazon storefront where I link to all my favorite card-collecting supplies. Thank you for supporting our affiliations by making purchases through us! Also, all sports card images come courtesy of BuySportsCards.com.
⚾🏈🏀 3 FREE CARD COLLECTING TOOLS YOU SHOULD BOOKMARK RIGHT NOW!
Our target audience is the card collector working with a limited budget. If you’re buying $1,500 boxes and buying into case breaks, we’re probably not the newsletter for you. We’re trying to help collectors who are either trying to spin several $2 cards into $5 sales, so they can buy a $200 card, or those who are trying to build out a cool sports card collection without wasting a ton of money on stuff they don’t want. In that vein, this trio of card-collecting tools can help you!
1. Complete Visual Image Guide To Parallels, Refractors, Foil & Holographic Trading Cards by Sundo Cards
I came across this fella on Reddit, and I love it! Ever get a card and wonder, “What the heck kinda parallel is this?” Thankfully, this tool exists, and can help you defog your brain. From Panini to Topps to Upper Deck and more, they do a great job of helping you understand what you’re looking at! From baseball to basketball to football to hockey and more! I don’t believe he has all of the 2025 Topps Series 1 parallels in there yet, but he does have it up to date through 2024 at least.
While it’s true, there are apps like CollX out there, that will tell you the parallel and the value, it does become a premium subscription service at some point. Plus, I like to see all the different parallels at once, to see which ones I like the most.
2. Articles About “All-Under” Age Teams
What kinda weird subheading is this? It doesn’t even make sense. What I’m trying to say is, every year, there are articles written that list off the best players under a certain age. Card collectors can use these articles to build out a list of “Players I Should Probably Collect.” Here’s a sampling for each sport:
Baseball: “MLB’s All-Under-25 Team” by The Athletic
Basketball: “Top 25 Players Under 25 Years Old” by HoopsHype
Football: Articles generally come out midsummer.
Hockey: “Ranking the Top NHL Players Under 23” by The Athletic
I understand that The Athletic is not a free tool, but some articles are free. Plus, these articles should give you an idea of what to search for on your own.
3. “Average Rookie Card Rankings” by David Gonos (Hey!)
You might have noticed these videos come through in the past, but I want to dig in a little here to explain it more. Every time Topps releases a new flagship set (Topps Series 1, Series 2 and Topps Update), several content creators will look at the checklist and then release their “Rookie Card Rankings,” including myself.
I grab the rankings from several content creators, including CardLines and Scottie B Sports Cards, mash them all together and average them out. This gives the viewer a better view of which rookie cards they should be collecting from this set, as it’s a consensus view, just like Average Draft Position helps Fantasy Baseball owners.
You can check out my 52 free card collecting tools article here! And check out this great set of tools by Ballcard Genius!
⚾ CARDS THAT MAKE US HAPPY! 1986 DONRUSS JOSE CANSECO #39
Happy Hobbyist Scott Hedrick joins the fray with one of his favorite cards from yesteryear.
Talk about an iconic card for someone my age… this is the one.
A few years before a certain start-up company had the gumption to put a 20-year-old “Kid” in an airbrushed hat as the No. 1 card in their debut set, there was this beautiful piece of cardboard.
Just look at him. That fresh-faced lothario with the hint of a playful smile, and that macho mustache (OK, maybe you got me there). His innocent look belying what truly lie inside: the confidence and swagger of 1,000 normal men.
This card absolutely captured the hobby for a few years, culminating in 1988 with Jose becoming the first member of the 40-40 club in MLB history, winning the American League MVP award, and leading his Oakland Athletics to the World Series that year.
During that baseball season, Oakland and their “Bash Brothers” were just a flat-out cool team. But Jose was the one who all the boys would talk about at school, and his best rookie card was the one everyone.
It was sometime in early 1990 that my brother, Dad, and I took our weekly Saturday trip to our local card shop. My Dad was never one to buy “expensive” older packs, but we would always come out of the shop with a single or two, and a couple packs of the newest release.
To this day, I’m not sure if it was my constant hounding, or that the topic du jour in the shop that morning happened to be the skyrocketing rate of that ‘86 Donruss Canseco rookie card, but at one point, my normally frugal Dad asked the owner for one single pack of 1986 Donruss baseball.
My brother and I looked at each other in complete shock. Mr. Delong promptly opened the glass case from which the box called to potential suitors like a siren to the rocks, and plucked a pack, collecting a $10 bill from my father in exchange.
My Dad then positioned himself where my brother and I could watch him slowly open the pack. At one point, as he moved the top card to the right, I caught a glimpse of that beautiful “Rated Rookie” logo! As he pulled the card completely away, my brother and I yelped with excitement! He did it! My old man had pulled the card of my dreams in one single pack!
What an unbelievable feeling that was! We stayed well into the afternoon that day at the card shop, my father even turning down a crisp $100 bill for the card that day.
Good job, Dad.
That card is still worth a lot more than that to me.
[Editor’s Note: This story is what card collecting is all about.]
⚾ A CLOSER LOOK: 1954 TOPPS BASEBALL SET DESIGN
Happy Hobbyist Alan Camuto is a graphic designer who once worked on Topps set designs. He agreed to share his design insights on older Topps flagship set designs with us every couple weeks!
The 1954 Topps Baseball set is one of my personal favorites from the 1950s, and it’s easy to see why, with its combination of two silhouetted player images, a full-color headshot, and a smaller black-and-white action shot set against bright, bold backgrounds.
I particularly love how each card includes a team logo and a facsimile signature, adding a personal touch to the presentation. The backs are equally fascinating, with alternating color schemes and a mix of player stats, biographies, and illustrated panels that make each card feel like a piece of history.
Ted Williams’ cards, at #1 and #250, bookend the set perfectly. The card at #250 is especially unique, featuring nine illustrated panels instead of stats.
Another standout card is #139, celebrating the Eddie and Johnny O’Brien, as the first twins to play for the same MLB team. I love these little features that make the set even more memorable.
The white border, which appears on only three sides, adds to the set’s distinctive look. It created a printing challenge, with every other row printed upside down to avoid miscuts. This innovative approach made the set feel special to me as a designer.
The set also features rookie cards of legends like Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Al Kaline, cementing its place in baseball card history. Topps has paid tribute to this design in modern sets, like the 2023 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary and 2006’s WWE Heritage II.
For me, the 1954 set will always remain a timeless classic.
Alan, a dedicated Mets fan, designed trading cards for Topps, Fleer, and Rittenhouse from 2000 to 2007. After a 35-year break from collecting, he recently returned to the hobby, reconnecting with the cards and players he once helped showcase.
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
Send me the answer to this question – you could win this free card from me! 2022 Topps Stadium Club Roansy Contreras Autographed Rookie Card from Patrick Imhoff’s personal collection!
Who is the only player to have a Topps Rookie All-Star Cup on two cards, in different years?
Email your answer to gonoscards@gmail.com and you can win this 2022 Topps Stadium Club Roansy Contreras Autographed Rookie Card! Rather than take the first person who answers it right, I’m going to do a random drawing of all the people who answer this question before midnight, Friday, March 21st. The winner will be announced in the March 27 newsletter.
From March 6 newsletter: Which baseball player had both his 2,000th and 3,000th base hit on the same day, Aug. 6, six years apart? Prize: 2008 Topps Opening Day Joey Votto #218 Red Team Color Match Rookie Card. Answer this question before midnight, Friday, March 14. The winner will be announced in the March 20 newsletter.
From Feb. 27 newsletter: Which 1986 Fleer Basketball card is the only one with a “Traded” logo on the front? The Answer: Well, I botched this question. There are actually a few players with that logo on their card, so I drew a random guesser as the winner. The winner: Guy Westhoff! The prize is 2020-21 Panini Chronicles Marquee Tyrese Haliburton #241 Rookie Card.
From Feb. 20 newsletter: Last week’s question: Which year of Topps Series 1 is believed to have the highest production run for each base card? The prize: 1976 Topps All-Time All-Stars Mickey Cochrane card! We never got a winner for this one, so I’m going to retire it, and break it out again later!
Coming Next Week!
⚾🏈🏀 UNDERSTANDING THE MIND OF THE CARD COLLECTOR!
🏈⚾🏀 SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
⚾ PATRICK’S PROSPECT PICKS
🏈🏀⚾ OUR 5 MOST POPULAR NEWSLETTER ISSUES EVERRR!
***Important Card-Collecting Articles on DavidGonos.com***
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Have a #HappyHobby!
Podcast Music: "I dunno" by grapes - 2008 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)
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Pulling that '86 Donruss Canseco card way back when compared to what it would be like if your Dad pulled it today:
"I'm shaking!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Ahhhhh, it's off center. Throw it out."
"Is it numbered?"
"Is it an on-card auto!?!"
"Is it a blackjackcheckerprizmbooger refractor parallel?
Haha, great story, Scott -- great job all around, by you and Alan!
Great issue all around! Glad to be a contributor to it. I think it's time for me to add a 1986 Jose Canseco Rated Rookie Card, one of the most covered cards of my childhood, to my collection.