Back to the hobby...

[Misorski]

So I was one of the poor souls that collected cards as a kid during the 80s & early 90s. I just took out my old cards to take a look for some nostalgia. While doing so I thought it would be interesting to get back into the hobby as an adult and because I know more about baseball players now then I did when I was a kid.

Do you guys have any suggestions on where to start nowadays? Everything is so complicated now with sets and subsets and subsets of subsets and autographs and parallels....it's just crazy.

I love the thrill of the hunt and opening packs so building a set would be something I'd like. But which one?

Any other suggestions to ease back into it would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rmiskid4

[randylaw]

Buy a box of 2015 Topps and start ripping packs. You will get quite a few subset cards and from there you can decide which ones appeal to you and trade the ones you don't want here for what you need.

[omni d]

I was in your boat about a year ago. Read through this website and other like it. You will get more information than you want and will have a clear view as to where u wanna start!

[sanjosefuji]

Welcome back to the hobby! You might want to head over to COMC.com and browse their baseball pages. Since you've already decided upon sets... you can check out different 2015 set designs and find one that attracts you.

If you want to save a little money, you can target some older products that DA, Blowout, and other online dealers are trying to clear out.

Whatever you decide to do... I hope you have fun. Best of luck.

[Misorski]

Thanks for your help guys. I bought a box of Topps 2015 and am almost close to completing it after some trades on zistle.

Another question - I'm moving onto 2015 topps heritage - is there a difference between chrome and chrome refractor for parallels and how do I tell the difference?

[randylaw]

If your question is about what a refractor is in general there is an article on this site, Refractor Mania: A History of Sports Card Refractors that will help out. Sometimes they will say refractor somewhere on the card but most times they don't from my experience. Not sure is the 2015 Heritage cards do or not.

[Misorski]

I did some research on this site about Topps Heritage and it said there is a Chrome and Chrome Refractor. I'm just trying to figure out what the difference is.

[revghost]

The refractor has a silver border and is numbered to 566. The refractor also has a refractor/rainbow finish you can spot by moving the card back and forth in the light. I was in the same boat, collecting as a kid in the 80s and 90s and I just got back into the hobby in 2012. Topps Heritage is a great product to start with, also look out for 2015 Donruss, should be a fun, cheap product to rip and will have some familiar inserts and parallels/subsets as well as designs you are familiar with.

[Misorski]

So what does the chrome look like?

[revghost]

The chrome has a white border with a chrome finish, should be serial numbered to 999. Both chrome and refractor are easy to spot as they are glossy and thicker than the base cards.

[bravescollector1988]

My advice if you're just getting back into the swing of things focus on finishing one set or subset first than move on to another. If you are planning on trying to complete sets by buying packs and boxes when opening the packs try to make sure that you're focusing primarily on looking for the set that you're working on and set the other cards aside. Do be mindful of the hits and parallels though as some of those carry a decent value and should be protected if you plan on doing anything with them in the future. This is how I do my set building and have been able to finish sets quicker because I end up not overlooking a card I didn't think I had. Also with hits be aware that they aren't necessarily going to be in the release and Topps will give you a redemption that you may or may not ever get.