Michael Salfino, Collectibles Columnist at The Athletic, joins us to discuss how new cards are fun, but vintage cards can turn a regular collector into a sports card historian!
Was familiar with Salfino from fantasy, and it especially warms my heart when I find out all these fantasy guys are into the hobby that I now love the most! Really wonderful and entertaining discussion! Love the whole idea of pointing out graded vintage blue chippers for 100ish bucks, absolute must buys.
Oh, and album for each player including Mantle, Mays, etc? Sounds like Salfino must have an amazing collection. Makes these modern blasters/megas I constantly buy shrink up real quickly when you think about what vintage card(s) could be landed instead… Awesome job, fellas, enjoyed it, thanks!
Yeah, his collection has to just be insane -- a whole Mays binder and a whole Mantle binder!?!?!! Crazy.
As for you, though, don't discount all the joy you got out of ripping that stuff -- that's a value in itself! But yeah, I wish I had more vintage as opposed to 2021 Panini Chronicles Draft Picks commons. hahahahahaa
Great info about finding a reasonable price on a vintage card. Love the tip about the SGC grades with the extra .5 for better centering. I am like you David with how I purchase, but I would rather have better centering with ok corners vs great corners and poor centering.
Yeah, I wonder where I got the whole thing about not caring about corners as much. Maybe it was just my justification for getting the cards I want, even if they are off-centered, as opposed to spending another $20-$25 and finding the same card with great centering.
Side note: On the awesome podcast, "Golden Age of Cardboard," they're always talking vintage cards, and the host ranked the things he wants most. I don't remember how his went, but it had me thinking about my wants:
Ranking My Wants
1. The Card -- IOW, you just want that card, no matter what! Then other factors come into play.
2. The card authenticated by a grading company. -- Is it real? We can all buy cheaper raw cards, but we don't know if they're fake.
3. The card graded by PSA - Ideal for resale and fitting into my displays.
4. The card graded by SGC - Good for resale, great for beauty, but too many SGCs and my display won't fit them!
5. The card graded by any grading company (CGC, BGS, HGA).
6. Good corners.
7. Good centering.
It's waaaaaay down there on my list, hahaha! My guess is most people move centering up as high as third.
I love this priority list. I think I put corners and centering as a 3a and 3b. As for company grading, I am not too picky of purchasing. Now if submitting, I like to look at the card and the coloring of it and team colors. Some look better with the PSA red and some look better with the SGC black.
Was familiar with Salfino from fantasy, and it especially warms my heart when I find out all these fantasy guys are into the hobby that I now love the most! Really wonderful and entertaining discussion! Love the whole idea of pointing out graded vintage blue chippers for 100ish bucks, absolute must buys.
Oh, and album for each player including Mantle, Mays, etc? Sounds like Salfino must have an amazing collection. Makes these modern blasters/megas I constantly buy shrink up real quickly when you think about what vintage card(s) could be landed instead… Awesome job, fellas, enjoyed it, thanks!
Yeah, his collection has to just be insane -- a whole Mays binder and a whole Mantle binder!?!?!! Crazy.
As for you, though, don't discount all the joy you got out of ripping that stuff -- that's a value in itself! But yeah, I wish I had more vintage as opposed to 2021 Panini Chronicles Draft Picks commons. hahahahahaa
Great info about finding a reasonable price on a vintage card. Love the tip about the SGC grades with the extra .5 for better centering. I am like you David with how I purchase, but I would rather have better centering with ok corners vs great corners and poor centering.
Yeah, I wonder where I got the whole thing about not caring about corners as much. Maybe it was just my justification for getting the cards I want, even if they are off-centered, as opposed to spending another $20-$25 and finding the same card with great centering.
Side note: On the awesome podcast, "Golden Age of Cardboard," they're always talking vintage cards, and the host ranked the things he wants most. I don't remember how his went, but it had me thinking about my wants:
Ranking My Wants
1. The Card -- IOW, you just want that card, no matter what! Then other factors come into play.
2. The card authenticated by a grading company. -- Is it real? We can all buy cheaper raw cards, but we don't know if they're fake.
3. The card graded by PSA - Ideal for resale and fitting into my displays.
4. The card graded by SGC - Good for resale, great for beauty, but too many SGCs and my display won't fit them!
5. The card graded by any grading company (CGC, BGS, HGA).
6. Good corners.
7. Good centering.
It's waaaaaay down there on my list, hahaha! My guess is most people move centering up as high as third.
I love this priority list. I think I put corners and centering as a 3a and 3b. As for company grading, I am not too picky of purchasing. Now if submitting, I like to look at the card and the coloring of it and team colors. Some look better with the PSA red and some look better with the SGC black.
Yeah, makes sense, for sure.