If You Collect Scorecards or Programs, Show 'em Here!

[Belfast1933]

You guys are killing me! Now I TOTALLY want to get into programs too. Some of the cover artwork and/or images are just awesome!

I know this is a silly/hard question but what should I expect from a budget POV compared to cards from the same era? Trying to figure out if my scrawny card budget can afford a few cool programs.

Great thread!

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

You guys are killing me! Now I TOTALLY want to get into programs too. Some of the cover artwork and/or images are just awesome!

I know this is a silly/hard question but what should I expect from a budget POV compared to cards from the same era? Trying to figure out if my scrawny card budget can afford a few cool programs.

Great thread!

Programs are often quite affordable. Generally much more affordable than tickets, and likely more affordable than vintage cards.

There are obviously exceptions, but with the history and artwork and detail (love the old ads etc), I think they are shockingly affordable.

[5-Tool Player]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

Programs are often quite affordable. Generally much more affordable than tickets, and likely more affordable than vintage cards.

There are obviously exceptions, but with the history and artwork and detail (love the old ads etc), I think they are shockingly affordable.

+1......yes affordable and documented history

[Lordstan]

One of my favorites..
My personal scorecard from 1977 when the Mets played the Cubs and the blackout in NYC happened. We were at the game when it all went dark

[Writehooks]

From the sweet science:

- Gunboat Smith vs Georges Carpentier for World White Heavyweight Championship, July 16, 1914 in London
- Duane Bobick vs Kallie Knoetze for World White Heavyweight Championship, January 28, 1978 in Johannesburg, South Africa
- Cassius Clay vs Sonny Liston I for World Heavyweight Championship, February 25, 1964 in Miami, Florida

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by 5-Tool Player

+1......yes affordable and documented history

Programs / scorecards are very affordable and lots of fun, especially when scored, that's why I have so many of them.

[Belfast1933]

Originally Posted by doug.goodman

Programs / scorecards are very affordable and lots of fun, especially when scored, that's why I have so many of them.

Great... how can I get started? What would you experienced collectors advise in terms of what to look for?

- era to explore first?
- cover art matters a lot, I'd assume?
- how do you evaluate condition and reasonable price/value?
- big name player in the score card and/or a specific historic game adds a lot, i'd assume?
- scorecards vs. programs vs. yearbooks... where to focus first?


I still love my cards... but this sounds like a nice, affordable tangent to explore

Thanks all (and if you're selling some cool items, PM me!) I love great cover illustrations

Jeff

[icollectDCsports]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

Great... how can I get started? What would you experienced collectors advise in terms of what to look for?

- era to explore first?
- cover art matters a lot, I'd assume?
- how do you evaluate condition and reasonable price/value?
- big name player in the score card and/or a specific historic game adds a lot, i'd assume?
- scorecards vs. programs vs. yearbooks... where to focus first?


I still love my cards... but this sounds like a nice, affordable tangent to explore

Thanks all (and if you're selling some cool items, PM me!) I love great cover illustrations

Jeff

I think collecting score cards and the like is very personal to the collector. If you're not that familiar with them, my recommendation is that you think about what theme of collecting would appeal to you (team, era, player, event (WS, AS game, etc.)) and jump in. And you don't even need a theme other than what "sparks joy" for you. Also, keep in mind that prices for many of them on eBay can be all over the place for essentially the same item (unless they're WS or AS game programs).

[bigfanNY]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

Great... how can I get started? What would you experienced collectors advise in terms of what to look for?

- era to explore first?
- cover art matters a lot, I'd assume?
- how do you evaluate condition and reasonable price/value?
- big name player in the score card and/or a specific historic game adds a lot, i'd assume?
- scorecards vs. programs vs. yearbooks... where to focus first?


I still love my cards... but this sounds like a nice, affordable tangent to explore

Thanks all (and if you're selling some cool items, PM me!) I love great cover illustrations

Jeff

Jeff Collect whatever appeals to you the most. Favorite era , player, Team.. 100% Best advice I ever got or gave is collect what you love. I will share some of my favorite covers.

[Belfast1933]

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

Jeff Collect whatever appeals to you the most. Favorite era , player, Team.. 100% Best advice I ever got or gave is collect what you love. I will share some of my favorite covers.

Always good advice... i think I may start with pre-war scorecards and see how that journey goes!

[jethrod3]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

Great... how can I get started? What would you experienced collectors advise in terms of what to look for?
- era to explore first?
- cover art matters a lot, I'd assume?
- how do you evaluate condition and reasonable price/value?
- big name player in the score card and/or a specific historic game adds a lot, i'd assume?
- scorecards vs. programs vs. yearbooks... where to focus first?
I still love my cards... but this sounds like a nice, affordable tangent to explore
Thanks all (and if you're selling some cool items, PM me!) I love great cover illustrations

Those are also some good questions. I think it's like a few have already said: Everyone is gonna be different. For me, this is my "great wide open" of collecting. Generally I buy what strikes my fancy (sometimes I buy for the covers, sometimes for the historic event, sometimes for a player, and always from the games that I go to). But for me, condition and eye appeal don't figure prominently into my decision to buy, even though those factors might figure prominently for my card or even ticket purchases.

I prefer my scorecards to be scored, but I think there are some purists that prefer unscored minty scorecards, though admittedly it's difficult to then track them to specific games unless the dates are printed on the scorecards themselves. One such scorecard with a date listed is shown below. Not very pretty, but one of my faves, because it's from the game in which a future home run king hit his first home run!

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

Great... how can I get started? What would you experienced collectors advise in terms of what to look for?

- era to explore first?
- cover art matters a lot, I'd assume?
- how do you evaluate condition and reasonable price/value?
- big name player in the score card and/or a specific historic game adds a lot, i'd assume?
- scorecards vs. programs vs. yearbooks... where to focus first?


I still love my cards... but this sounds like a nice, affordable tangent to explore

Thanks all (and if you're selling some cool items, PM me!) I love great cover illustrations

Jeff

Start on ebay where there are thousands of them available, very many of them for very cheap.

Buy what you like. There is no right and no wrong way to collect.

I prefer scored ones, I used to love figuring out the date using the box scores in my Sporting News collection (which I only collected to date my scorecards), now it's so easy for me to figure out the date from Retrosheet that I would like to sell my TSN collection (shameless plug).

I once bought 7 Reds scorecards from the early 1960s on ebay for $20 including postage and in the process of figuring out the dates found that I had bought Pete Rose's ML debut game.

That kind of stuff happens a lot still.

[jethrod3]

Originally Posted by Belfast1933

I know this is a silly/hard question but what should I expect from a budget POV compared to cards from the same era? Trying to figure out if my scrawny card budget can afford a few cool programs. Great thread!

It's a tough question but also I think it's a great question! Especially when one considers what the next big thing in collecting might be. It might as well be programs and scorecards! Personally I hope that programs and scorecards are where tickets were 5 (or so) years ago---somewhat underappreciated and affordable but then ready to take off in the not-to-distant future. I do, however, think you can get common scorecards from the 40's and 50's (featuring some but not all teams) that would be graded NM that would run about the same price as, or even less than common cards from that era in that condition (certainly less than the high series cards).