Looking at things from different perspectives...
My perspective: Collecting cards in protective cases that have been authenticated and given a numerical grade by a third-party (neither myself nor the seller) is a good (not full-proof) way to avoid being defrauded.
OPs perspective: All third-party authentication/grading of baseball cards is a worthless waste of time and money.
My wife's perspective: All collecting of old pieces of cardboard with pictures of dead people on them is a worthless waste of time and money.
