If you're like me, there's a part of your house that has stacks of cards everywhere. For me, it's the desk in the basement. In my mind, they're all organized and a couple of steps away from being put away properly. But without taking a few extra steps, once I tuck them away, I may lose track of them among the many boxes I've got stacked on various shelves and tucked away in closet bins throughout the house. Organizing your sports card collection isn't tough and doesn't need to cost much, but it's vital for staying on top of what you have. And by putting in some time upfront, you could save a lot more in the long run.
Here are five cheap and easy ways to keep your growing collection organized, your desk clear and your significant other happy. You may be doing some of them already, at least partly. But if you bring them all together, you'll be able to find any of your cards quickly, regardless of the size of your collection.
1. Get Some Order
Getting your cards in order is a must, particularly for any product you bust more than a handful of packs of. Usually, this means numerical order. Thumbing through a pile of 100 cards to pull commons for a trade is easy when they're already arranged. Doing it with a stack that's pack-fresh and mixed up is extremely frustrating and time-consuming. It's also easy to overlook and misplace cards.
Putting a box of cards in order doesn't take that much time. A box of 200 cards might take 15 minutes. It's not like it's a hard job that requires a lot of thought. Flip on the TV and watch some Breaking Bad or sports highlights while you're at it. For large sets, I start out by sorting into stacks based on hundreds (1-99 in stack one, 100-199 in stack two, 200-299 in stack three, etc). From there, I use the same method but into piles of tens (1-9, 10-19, 20-29, etc.). Another great thing about putting your cards in numerical order is that you naturally spend more time with your cards, looking through them and connecting with them.
2. Make a Catalog
This step can be extremely time-consuming and may not be for everyone. If you do much trading online, though, it may be essential. I keep a database of all my cards using Microsoft Access. This way I can quickly sort by year, set, player, team, insert type and more. I probably go a little overboard, but when I started, I had good intentions. Others make similar lists using spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel or Google Docs.
How you collect, trade and sell should dictate how much detail you need. For set builders, simple numerical lists should work. These could even be done with a word processor. However, if you deal a lot in specific players or teams, a spread sheet or database would be better.
I've tried out a couple of online organizational tools but I've yet to find one that's any easier. Usually, looking up and finding the right cards takes more time than a simple spreadsheet entry.
However you decide to catalog your sports card collection, it's vital that you keep it updated by adding new cards and deleting those that you've gotten rid of.
Besides knowing everything that you have, cataloging makes sharing your collection with potential buyers and traders, as well as insurance companies, simple.
3. Feed the Monster
So you've got your cards in order and you know exactly what you have. It's now time to put them away. When I started collecting, I had cards from every set in different boxes. While it kept them separated nicely, soon became tough to find the particular box I was looking for.
I've since moved to monster boxes for almost all my extra cards (I still like my complete sets to be on their lonesome or in a binder). The 3,200-card box seems to be the most convenient, particularly when it comes to storage. 5,000-card boxes also work if you've got the space. I arrange my monster boxes chronologically first, then alphabetically. As one box fills up, I simply go to the shop and add another, continuing on from where I left off.
Organized monster boxes make finding cards from many sets and even years painless. And if they're already organized numerically, it's simple. For around $5, one monster box is also a lot cheaper than buying several plastic 100-count boxes or a handful of smaller cardboard boxes.
4. Divide and Conquer
Even with your collection sorted, cataloged and lined up neatly in monster boxes, the job isn't done yet. The cards are still piled together so finding your Topps Chrome and Bowman Chrome singles still might take some flipping. More flipping means more wasted time. The solution is easy, fast and cheap.
In my office I always have a stash of blank index cards for such occasions. Every time I buy cards from a new set, I grab an index card and use it to make a labelled divider for the set. It does take a small bit of customizing, though. I flip the index card vertically, trim the bottom so it can stand in the monster box and write the year and name of the set on top. Once it's in the already-organized monster box, it gives a nice visual of where cards from any given set are.
Index cards are available at most dollar stores in packs of 100. I have seen heavy-duty card dividers in hobby shops, but they're much more expensive, running about $7 to $10 for 50. They'd be fine if you simply wanted to divide boxes by year, but the cost makes them not the most ideal option for itemized sorting. Index cards may not be as durable, but they are cheap enough that they can be easily replaced.
5. Lastly, Labels
Congratulations! Your desk is clear and your collection is sorted and in its place. You're almost there. But there's one small step left to having a fully organized collection: labeling your boxes.
I usually see monster boxes in two states: written on with a permanent marker or completely clean. Both are less than ideal, particularly if your collection is constantly changing.
Markers are permanent and can't be erased. If I get some older cards, I can't just toss them into my box of recent releases. I need to go back and shift cards forward or backward. Using markers, the only way I can make the change is with ugly scribbles. And after more than a couple of card shifts, the side panels aren't legible anymore.
No labels lead to a toss-up when it comes time to pull or add cards. If your collection is limited to less than a handful of boxes, this is probably okay. But once you get more than a few boxes, you're wasting time.
After years of going with the scribble method, I've changed gears for labeling the outsides of my boxes. I got a pack of file folder labels and simply write the box configuration on them. The sticker then goes on the end of the box so when I go to the stack, I can easily pick out exactly the one I need. If the makeup of the box changes, I simply write a new label and place it on top of the old one. It's a fast and cheap solution that makes my boxes more attractive.
Finally, you have an organized sports card collection. To keep it that way, simply repeat these five easy steps every time you get new cards - even if it's just a couple of packs. Trust me, those stacks can add up quickly. And when the piles do appear, the stress of being disorganized, plus the dagger looks from the other people you share your home with, will return as well.
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Related Topics:How To: Organization
Organizing My Trading Cards! Jason Visenberg Comedian
Organizing My Trading Cards!
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Growing up a sports fanatics nothing was more exciting then opening up a new pack of cards. Particularly in the pre-internet (or early internet) days it was the best way to learn about players, memorize their statistics and build an encyclopedia level of knowledge. My go to spot was a place called Sluggers in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada (featured in the documentary Jack of All Trades) and in the US it was Field of Dreams. Between my brother and I we amassed quite a collection, but like a lot of kids cards end up fading in to the background and it becomes something your mother wants to get rid of so she can clear out space in her house.
While looking for things to do during the pandemic, my parents shipped my cards down to me in LA. The boxes came and there was a lot! The boxes were heaving and opening them up brought back a lot of memories. I had some of my more “special” cards in top loaders there were a lot in binders and even more loose cards in boxes. So I set out a goal organize my collection!
Some of the Top Loader Cards
I was 1-2 years too old to get wrapped up in the Pokémon whirlwind so I either saved (or cost myself) thousands of dollars. The majority of my cards are Basketball, though there is a little Baseball and Football in the mix. So I set out on my quest!
There are a lot of methodologies, but it is important to make a decision so you can dig in and go to work. Some of the most popular ways to organize:
By Series and Card Number
So if you have a complete series you can have them ordered by their number
Definitely a lot of work as you need to gather all loose cards by series, then sort numerically
Alphabetically
By Team
By Player
By Year
Ultimately I decided on a hybrid approach of Team and Player. I took items out of existing binders and boxes and went through all my cards and created 3 separate piles:
Hall of Famers: The players that defined the era. MVPs, Multiple Time All-Stars
Notables: Solid players, maybe made an All-Star Team or have some significance now (like a former player turned coach, commentator etc)
Scrubs: The dudes you need to look up on wikipedia as you have little or no recollection of
From here the Hall of Famers got all stored together, the notables spanned a few boxes and the scrubs were a plenty and put in the furthest back of the closet (as that would be the final portion). Then came the next phase the actual sorting.
How the sorting process looked
Hall of Famers were all sorted by individual player. Each player would get there own binder pages which would get placed in alphabetical order
Anything super cool was isolated to be put in top loaders
Notables were sorted by team and then each team got binder pages which would eventually get sorted and placed in binder in alphabetical order
Scrubs were sorted by team and then placed in a giant storage box in alphabetical order
All Older Cards (later 70s/early 80s) went in to Binders
Also made a binder for USA Basketball cards
A while! It was a fairly long process spread out over the course of several weeks. It wasn’t all on consuming, so every night I’d clean up each night and just store the cards in ordering so everything wasn’t lying around all the time and getting in the way. On nights if I was half watching TV (TV is on but I’m on my phone/computer), I’d try to do the cards instead. I felt a lot less drained then I did after spending all those hours on my phone! It was also a fun trip down memory lane, so it had a good nostalgia factor. I still remember getting some of the cards, I also had 1 sheet of Portland Trail Blazers cards that hung up in the office of my grandparents store, so it always brings back great memories.
This hung on the walls of my grandparents store for years, so it’s cool to have it in my possession
I still had a lot of sheets and binders from my youth that survived so that was a good start. Though I found that I quickly needed more sheets and a few more binders + a big storage box for the less eventful cards. Here where the items that I liked.
I bought some new top loaders:
Ultra Pro: Easy and affordable. It’s always good just to have some on hand
I bought a lot of different sheets:
DO NOT Buy the Amazon Basic Sheets!!!
They were super flimsy and all the cards fell out like anytime they moved, they’re also super wide which is strange
I ended up with the Ultra Pro Sheets as well as some that came with the IDJWVU binder
I bought 3 Different Binders:
The IDJWVU was a nice binder, I was able to fit all of my older cards in there, it is a good size easy to store. I liked having something waterproof especially for those older cards
The TopDeck binder is huge! It’s really big, but seemingly was the only option that offered 16 cards per sheet and I used this for my hall of fame players (I had 30 players featured in this binder). The sheets are built in and it does look awesome once they are all set and displayed
The Ultra Pro is the old reliable. It’s a good enough size to load with sheets.
For Everything else I bought a storage box:
It was pretty massive, but I filled like 80% of it, so it was worth it.
I’d love to know how you keep you card collection organized? Also would love to know about any good card shops (either in person or on-line)!
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The most expensive basketball cards of November-December - Hobby: Collectible cards - Blogs
Hobby: Collectible cards
Blog
Hello everyone!
After a short break, the top most expensive basketball cards are back. Today we will capture 2 months - November and December.
In order for the cards of different periods to be presented in the top, I divided it into three parts: before the 90s, the 90s and the first half of the 00s and the last 10 years.
Let's go from new cards to old ones (most often this means an increase in cost).
So, the top 4 most expensive new cards.
4) In fourth place is a 1/1 LeBron James card from Flawless 2015-16 with the NBA logo. They paid $10,300 for it.
3) Next is newcomer Steph Curry from Topps Chrome 2009-10. The gold parallel in this collection has a circulation of 50 copies. Added to this is the almost perfect condition of the card, and the total price is $10,600.
2) And the same amount was paid for a Karl-Anthony Towns card with a mourning patch dedicated to Flip Saunders of Flawless 2015-16.
1) And in the first place, 2 league logos and two Golden State stars - the same Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. It's the same Flawless collection from last season. The price of this card is $12,000 without one dollar.
Further older cards. I will say in advance that all 4 are from the second half of the 90s
4-3) And open the top two cards of Michael Jordan with a jersey and an autograph. In the first case, the card in this form was inserted into the blocks of the Upper Deck 19 collection98-99 - a kind of parallel with the autograph with a circulation of 23 copies. $10,999 was paid for the card. And the second card in the collection of the previous season was a regular unnumbered jersey. For a re-release in 2013, an autograph was at stake in the Jordan collection. The resulting result was estimated at $15,000.
2) Next, another overlay of the top newcomer from Topps Chrome. This time it's Kobe Bryant and the 1995-96 collection. Plus, the card itself is in excellent condition. Price $17500.
1) And in the first place is the red parallel Metall Universe PMG by Michael Jordan with an edition of only 100 copies. In addition, the card number 23/100 is of additional interest. It should also be noted that the card was sent to the PSA for an authenticity check, but not for a condition assessment. The rating would not be high - edge damage (not rare for cards of this sub-series) is visible to the naked eye. As a result, the card was sold for $21453.
Well, the oldest top contains only the classic rookie cards of future NBA legends.
4) And this list opens with Wilt Chamberlain's map from the Fleer collection from 1961. The condition of the card is 9 points out of 10 possible, and the price is $32,211.
3-2) Next, two cards from rookie Michael Jordan. Moreover, for a rarer 9-point card from Star-85, they paid more ($40,207) than for a 10-point card from Fleer-86 ($35,999).
1) Well, absolutely out of competition is the triple card of Larry Bird, Julius Irving and Magic Johnson - the main newcomers of the 1979 season-80 from Topps. Three members of the Hall of Fame + the perfect condition of the card itself gave a total of $96423.
Thank you for your attention!
How to play fantasy league?
This season in the Parimatch Championship of the Nizhny Novgorod region we are again waiting for the fantasy league, which has already managed to catch the fancy of many fans over the past year.
How fantasy league works :
1) A user registers on fantione.com. You can register through Vkontakte with one click, or you can use an email address, but then the mail will need to be confirmed - without confirmation it will not be possible to play fantasy.
2) Then the user searches for the league he needs (the list of active leagues will be on the main page). In our case, this is the Major League of the Championship of the Nizhny Novgorod Region.
3) After selecting a league, the user goes to its page, clicks "Play" and becomes a member.
4) Next, you need to open the card sets to find out which players can be fielded for the upcoming fantasy tour. You will have 15 sets of cards. Each set contains 5 cards (for each position - point guard, attacking defender, small forward, heavy forward, center).
5) After opening all the cards, ideally, you need to look at what has fallen out. There will almost certainly be duplicate cards - duplicates can be removed, leaving only 1 card of the same cards available. When deleted, the user receives points, which can then be exchanged for new sets of cards (1000 points for 1 set). Removal of a simple card - 100 points, removal of a silver card - 200 points, removal of a gold card - 500 points. The difference in the color of the card is the bonuses that are awarded for each useful action by the player. Regular cards have no bonuses, silver cards have 1 bonus, gold cards have 3 bonuses. Bonuses and which cards drop out are all randomly generated. There will always be 1 silver card in one set. Possibility of getting into the gold card set - 10%. You can delete not only duplicate cards, but also cards of players that, in the user's opinion, will not be useful in fantasy, and he will not put them on upcoming rounds. It is impossible to remove a previously played card in one of the rounds. It is also not recommended to delete everything in a row - a situation may occur that there is no player in the position, and then 0 fantasy points will be awarded to the user for this position.
6) When all the cards are open, you need to go to the selection of the composition in the menu. The choice of the composition is 5 players for the next games, one player for each position. You just need to scroll down and choose from among the available cards those that, in the opinion of the user, will be most useful in the next tour. The choice is simple - scroll down, find a card from the available ones, click on it, and it should automatically appear at the top. Click "Save", etc. no need. Everything is saved. Changes to the selected five can be made before the start of the first game in the upcoming round. You can replace an already issued card if the changes are not blocked yet.
7) After choosing the composition, you can go to the prediction league. The League of Predictions is an additional opportunity to earn points for new sets of cards. There you need to guess the outcomes of matches and some random events. Correct predictions go to the overall standings, as well as to the standings of points that can be sprayed.
At the end of all games, the results for the round are processed, and the site in the "Leaders" section displays user data with their five players by fantasy points. And in the section "Statistics" - indicators of fantasy-points of the players of our Championship. By default, summary indicators are opened, but you can switch to a specific tour.
Please note that one round in the Parimatch Championship of the Nizhny Novgorod region lasts 2 weeks, but in the fantasy league we play for a week, so points are calculated every Monday.
You can play the Fantasy League here - https://fantione.com/
Other news from the "5x5 Basketball" category regions reached the semi-final of the Russian Championship
November 1, 2022
2 national teams will perform at once at the Preliminary stage of the Russian Championship among juniors born in 2007.
Basketball 5x5
2 teams at once will perform at the Preliminary stage of the Russian Championship among youths born in 2007.
And if they're already organized numerically, it's simple. For around $5, one monster box is also a lot cheaper than buying several plastic 100-count boxes or a handful of smaller cardboard boxes.
Using markers, the only way I can make the change is with ugly scribbles. And after more than a couple of card shifts, the side panels aren't legible anymore.
Trust me, those stacks can add up quickly. And when the piles do appear, the stress of being disorganized, plus the dagger looks from the other people you share your home with, will return as well.
99
95
Learn more here
So I set out a goal organize my collection!
MVPs, Multiple Time All-Stars
It wasn’t all on consuming, so every night I’d clean up each night and just store the cards in ordering so everything wasn’t lying around all the time and getting in the way. On nights if I was half watching TV (TV is on but I’m on my phone/computer), I’d try to do the cards instead. I felt a lot less drained then I did after spending all those hours on my phone! It was also a fun trip down memory lane, so it had a good nostalgia factor. I still remember getting some of the cards, I also had 1 sheet of Portland Trail Blazers cards that hung up in the office of my grandparents store, so it always brings back great memories.
It’s always good just to have some on hand
In the first case, the card in this form was inserted into the blocks of the Upper Deck 19 collection98-99 - a kind of parallel with the autograph with a circulation of 23 copies. $10,999 was paid for the card. And the second card in the collection of the previous season was a regular unnumbered jersey. For a re-release in 2013, an autograph was at stake in the Jordan collection. The resulting result was estimated at $15,000. 
As a result, the card was sold for $21453. 
There will almost certainly be duplicate cards - duplicates can be removed, leaving only 1 card of the same cards available. When deleted, the user receives points, which can then be exchanged for new sets of cards (1000 points for 1 set). Removal of a simple card - 100 points, removal of a silver card - 200 points, removal of a gold card - 500 points. The difference in the color of the card is the bonuses that are awarded for each useful action by the player. Regular cards have no bonuses, silver cards have 1 bonus, gold cards have 3 bonuses. Bonuses and which cards drop out are all randomly generated. There will always be 1 silver card in one set. Possibility of getting into the gold card set - 10%. You can delete not only duplicate cards, but also cards of players that, in the user's opinion, will not be useful in fantasy, and he will not put them on upcoming rounds. It is impossible to remove a previously played card in one of the rounds. It is also not recommended to delete everything in a row - a situation may occur that there is no player in the position, and then 0 fantasy points will be awarded to the user for this position.
