Advice on Modern Rookie Cards 2000-2019

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

Thanks, Peter. I opted to stay away from the minor leagues produced sets, I believe that the one you mentioned was the only 2012 issue, am I correct?

I believe so.

[bcbgcbrcb]

It’s been just about 2 months now since my original post so I thought it would be a good time to provide an update on how my modern rookie cards collection is going. I am certainly a good deal more knowledgeable than I was previously, thanks to all that provided excellent content here for me. I have been able to take advantage of three sources, local shops (only 2 near me in Central FL), local shows (very few, average one/month) and eBay.

For a while, I was picking up the players that I wanted as long as they were either RC logo year or prior. Now I am realizing that their cards notated “First Year” almost always the Bowman/Bowman Chrome issues are the ones highest in demand amongst base cards, running hand in hand with the Topps Update RC’s for those players.

The ultimate jackpots seem to be the first year Bowman Chrome Refractor Autos. Some of the best ones seem to go for $1,000+

[packs]

I like to dabble in modern too. I bought one of these just in case:

[Peter_Spaeth]

The flip sums it up pretty well -- on paper, he's a tremendous prospect.

[packs]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The flip sums it up pretty well -- on paper, he's a tremendous prospect.

Haha no doubt but I'm hoping one paper leads to another.

[Exhibitman]

Guess it depends on your collecting goal. I just pick the card I find most appealing and try to stay away from the lotto-type cards. Probably my mistake as some of the cards I've not bothered with have skyrocketed.

In the late 70s-80s when I was buying tons of packs to bust I'd just stick the cards in a fail drawer by year and when a RC got hot, like the 1980 Henderson, I'd go into the drawer and see what I had.

[VoodooChild]

From what I've learned about dabbling in modern collecting over the past 10 years is that the serially numbered, autographed, bowman chrome (the ones that have the "1st Bowman Chrome" icon on them) are the most sought after cards generally. I do consider those pre-rookie but they are "on-card" autographs which is also a plus with most collectors. I pretty much learned to stay away from those. There are very few unknown prospects anymore. The top tier 1st Bowman Chrome, serially #'d, autograph prospect cards can run from a few hundred to a couple thousand at first release. Even the second and third tier guys will run in the hundreds.

I now focus on Topps Series 1, Series 2, or Update gold parallel cards with the "RC" logo on them. The gold parallels are serially #'d to the year of the release. So this year they are #'d to /2019 but they don't have any weird refractor/x-fractor look to them. I normally pick most guys up for under $10 but some of the hot rookies could run about $50. Here's the most recent one I picked up from the 2019 Update series:

[BigMeek]

Originally Posted by packs

I like to dabble in modern too. I bought one of these just in case:

Yikes