What is the best way to PC a player with a limited budget?

[rroboo]

Right now I am PC'ing a player that is a semi-star simply because I am unable to afford Tatis, Trout, Acuna, etc. This player became a rookie in 2019 and currently has no investment potential. I want to try to go all-in on collecting just one player. What are some rules that I should follow? My budget is probably no more than $1,500 per year. For someone who has done this, what is your experience?

For example:

Should I skip unlicensed panini products?

Only minor league and rookie cards or keep it to when the player was/is active.

[rms13]

When I'm collecting for PC I just like cards that look cool to me. Parallels, inserts, refractors, patch autos etc. I personally don't like unlicensed stuff but there are some that do look good. But I don't think there are rules for PC, it's personal.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Most people here flip. Granted, this makes the cards being flipped more expensive - meaning more people will have to flip other cards to be able to afford them.

[doowopbruce]

Only minor league and rookie cards or keep it to when the player was/is active.[/QUOTE]

You got it.

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

First off, you should always skip unlicensed Panini products.

Second, $1,500 a year can get you a few nice Tatis/Acuna/Trout cards. I think long term you’ll be much happier with those. A card or two a month can build a really nice collection.

If you are really dead-set on PCing a low level, cool, go for it! I do the same. It can be fun. Just make sure you really like the player. You can get some cool cards at a low price. I got Jose Devers vintage stock Topps RC for $9. My advice would be to only buy his cheap cards though, and only a few of them. They will probably only get cheaper as time goes on. No need to pile up stacks of them now.

If your only reason for doing this is because you feel you can’t afford the bigger stars, that’s not true! Plenty of great cards out there at an affordable price from all the big modern names. Good luck!

[iluvfish2]

Collect to Collect, and enjoy the chase! Get what your budget allows and be happy with it.

There's always someone who has a bigger wallet or desire. So for some they will focus their collection on cards say over /25, or at least factor in cards with a lower print run as much harder to get and not necessarily a focus for them. But there's deals every day! Just need to find them.

But so many different ways to collect and sadly no rules on any of them. College and/or Minor League, Major League. Easier if just with one team, but if they get traded or move, do you collect the other team as well? Same can be said with Licenced vs non Licenced. IF I like the cards design/layout I'm more apt to get them. Licenced I think will hold more value long term, but we're hitting a spot on the hobby where it may not always be the case and design/layout/looks combined with on card vs auto can really start factoring in the card maybe having more value over others. Brandy loyalty will always play a part with some collectors too.

[rroboo]

Most people here flip. Granted, this makes the cards being flipped more expensive - meaning more people will have to flip other cards to be able to afford them.

I mainly flip as well, using more money than I probably should. I wanted to start this project to protect myself from losing the enjoyment of the hobby. For a majority of what I flip, I could care less about the player.

[base set]

There will be lots of options so as said pick cards you like. I think I would consider 2 things -

Get a 1/1 of the player. You will never get them all but one is nice to have.

Maybe they will appear on some sort of box-topper / oversize card or, or appear on one of the Topps Wall Art releases. A large card can be nice to put in a small stand or frame to display.

[creasecollector]

Great topic, however, try not to let other collectors' influence your collecting needs.

I super collect ever type of card I see, unlicensed or not, because I have fun with it. Other collectors may not, and that's okay. If you like the card enough to want to buy it, do that with every card that you come across that shares the same feelings and you will not only build up a sizeable collection - but something you also enjoy looking at everyday.

How far back you decide to collect depends on the player. If you want to stick to active years only, so be it, but you can also pickup the cards you like from any year. There are no rules to your own collection, only the guidelines you decide to set for yourself.

Have fun :) Player collecting has been a great source of joy for me over the past 10+ years in this hobby.

[chris_ac]

A. Start with rookie year. Base RC, parallels, and even sigs if affordable.
B. As echoed above, if a 1/1 can be obtained reasonably would be a good cornerstone/mood setter to your PC.
C. 1500 spread over a year is $125 per month. Find ways to keep to that with a small margin to make the year run full and if you spend double in a given month, deduct from the following month. Don’t want your budget to have negative surprises.
D. Another aspect is just start with the most recently released product and browse the checklists of every product going forward. Chasing newly produced singles keeps it interesting while backtracking.

Above all keep focused in your player endeavor. If you start finding yourself spending hard earned dollars on cards that are not fitting the goal and thus would be tossed aside or sold sooner than later, then take a moment and find the path you wish to accomplish. And be a fan! Watch games of your player and feel the rush when they succeed and relish you have a collection to build along the ride.

[panamamyers]

First off, you should always skip unlicensed Panini products.

Second, $1,500 a year can get you a few nice Tatis/Acuna/Trout cards. I think long term you’ll be much happier with those. A card or two a month can build a really nice collection.

If you are really dead-set on PCing a low level, cool, go for it! I do the same. It can be fun. Just make sure you really like the player. You can get some cool cards at a low price. I got Jose Devers vintage stock Topps RC for $9. My advice would be to only buy his cheap cards though, and only a few of them. They will probably only get cheaper as time goes on. No need to pile up stacks of them now.

If your only reason for doing this is because you feel you can’t afford the bigger stars, that’s not true! Plenty of great cards out there at an affordable price from all the big modern names. Good luck!

Great advice about the cards getting cheaper with time.
if it's not a guy with 5 top 5 finishes for either MVP or CY young on his resume then just assume hi cards will be cheaper ten years from now than they are now.

[ThoseBackPages]

absolutely grab Panini Baseball products

are you collecting the player, or the team?

[Retired hobbist]

Right now I am PC'ing a player that is a semi-star simply because I am unable to afford Tatis, Trout, Acuna, etc. This player became a rookie in 2019 and currently has no investment potential. I want to try to go all-in on collecting just one player. What are some rules that I should follow? My budget is probably no more than $1,500 per year. For someone who has done this, what is your experience?

For example:

Should I skip unlicensed panini products?

Only minor league and rookie cards or keep it to when the player was/is active.

Once you get beyond rookie year cards and you only want wall of fame level players it's very easy to pick up non rookie cars for relative peanuts as long as it's modern stuff or near modern stuff.

Even hall of fame players cards post rookie or 2nd year cards are dirt cheap if you want cards near the end of their careers.

This hobby has price points for nearly every level of collector if you are willing to do the research.

[beavers]

I would go for the nicest stuff possible as opposed to volume of cards. Try to acquire the best cards for that player including the most coveted panini cards. I would waste time, funds or focus chasing low to mid tier. You will always be able to acquire those. The nice stuff you need to acquire ASAP before it starts disappearing into boxes to never hit market again. Have fun and good luck!

[NYRE2PECT]

My two cents would be to:

1.) Buy what you like (nothing wrong with Panini cards and some of the designs are simply beautiful to look at).
2.) You can't have them all, so maybe try and pick a lane...Topps, Topps Chrome, Refractors or Variation images, Chronicles, etc.
3.) Look for bulk lots of your player or auctions from the same seller (save on shipping).

[jduds]

A few on here like the Panini unlicensed stuff and I highly suggest it for cheap, but still fun PC stuff (picked up an Ian Anderson /5 for under 10.00 and a Trevor Rogers /25 for 1.00 yesterday).

Pick out a theme if you aren't going after everything. I've got a run of Freddie Freeman topps chrome refractors that are some of my favorite cards that I spent 1-3 bucks on outside of the rookie. There are a lot of cool sets to choose from, but getting a theme moves you from hoarder to collector.

[Randallk34]

Buy cards you can afford......

[Randallk34]

PC cards are cards you like for your personal collection, if you like it, who cares if it an unlicensed panini card?

You're just asking what cards you should invest in, not buy for your pc

[Randallk34]

Guys what cards should I buy for my pc that if the player pans out I can sell for a nice profit?

[oddstuff]

Depending on current card price and with budget in mind, start with 1st Bowman Chrome auto. Then, Topps flagship rookie cards (series 1, 2 or Update) and get numbered parallels. Then go after 1st Bowman/Bowman Chrome or Bowman Draft/Bowman Draft Chrome numbered parallels. Then whatever else.

[ThoseBackPages]

Guys what cards should I buy for my pc that if the player pans out I can sell for a nice profit?

Jeter

[SupermanBrandon]

Guys what cards should I buy for my pc that if the player pans out I can sell for a nice profit?

George Bush

[rroboo]

PC cards are cards you like for your personal collection, if you like it, who cares if it an unlicensed panini card?

You're just asking what cards you should invest in, not buy for your pc

Quite the opposite. I am picking two players per year to PC for non-investment purposes. The idea is to challenge myself in PC'ing as much as I can with a limited budget and wanted ideas on how to do it. I am not talking any prospect. I already have separate money set aside for prospects and know better to not ask for any advice on this forum on investments.

As for a budget, I think I am deciding on skipping any unlicensed, paper stock (except for iconic parallels such as the black and gold flagship), and any non-flagship product. Just standard Topps chrome (No Ben Baller) throughout Rookie and veteran years. The player's card has to have the team logo I am collecting. One veteran and one rookie per year.

Money not spent for the year will be carried over which should make it doable for higher-up rookie players in future years. I think this will work with $1,500.

[ThoseBackPages]

Quite the opposite. I am picking two players per year to PC for non-investment purposes. The idea is to challenge myself in PC'ing as much as I can with a limited budget and wanted ideas on how to do it. I am not talking any prospect. I already have separate money set aside for prospects and know better to not ask for any advice on this forum on investments.

As for a budget, I think I am deciding on skipping any unlicensed, paper stock (except for iconic parallels such as the black and gold flagship), and any non-flagship product. Just standard Topps chrome (No Ben Baller) throughout Rookie and veteran years. The player's card has to have the team logo I am collecting. One veteran and one rookie per year.

Money not spent for the year will be carried over which should make it doable for higher-up rookie players in future years. I think this will work with $1,500.

so which is it? as much as possible or not? LOL

[rroboo]

so which is it? as much as possible or not? LOL

With a $1,500 budget, you can't purchase every product released. I am a little all over the place with what I want to do. The problem is low #/d cards even for veterans can become expensive when someone can set the price to whatever they want. Not limiting the products will just eat up what I can work with.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Understand your market and the people in it. In other words, don’t get taken advantage of by the many unscrupulous people in the hobby trying to get you to pay more and don’t give into FOMO.

[ThoseBackPages]

With a $1,500 budget, you can't purchase every product released.

singles? why not?

if he's a scrub, he shouldnt be in the top releases, so that makes it easier for sure

[Randallk34]

You collecting the cards for your pc that you like, that you don't care if tomorrow they become worthless. Asking for help on what cards you pc is dumb and makes no sense.

[Randallk34]

Guys Aaron Hicks is my favorite player. What cards should I like for my pc of his? Please tell me what to like. Should I like a panini rookie card or a topps rookie card. This is not an investment, I'm just asking what I should like. I only have 1500 to buy what I like, this is not for resale purposes, I just don't know what to like. I just want to enjoy these cards forever and this is not an investment, Hicks is my favorite and always will be, what cards do I enjoy?

You wanna pc Joe blow that you like. You look for Joe blow cards you like and buy them, it's that easy. Shouldn't matter if it's a topps 1/5 psa 10 pop 1 or a fruity pebbles box insert with a dent in it. If you like it, you buy it for your pc.

[Tom Oates]

I PC Griffey, Piazza, and Jeter. I am slowly filling in gaps in my collection at .18 cents a card on Sportlots. I usually look to see what the sellers lowest shipping option is and then I see how many cards I can get at that shipping level. Usually I can pick up four cards for .18 cents each and only pay plain white envelope shipping prices. So, for under $2.00 I can add a few random cards to my PC. Sometimes I find a seller that has great shipping options for up to ten cards. I just divide the total (cards+shipping) to calculate the cost per card to see what is the better deal. Disclaimer: I do have a sportlots store so I am both a buyer and seller on the site. Looking is free so do your own research if you question what I have stated.

[DawnBTVS]

Quite the opposite. I am picking two players per year to PC for non-investment purposes. The idea is to challenge myself in PC'ing as much as I can with a limited budget and wanted ideas on how to do it. I am not talking any prospect. I already have separate money set aside for prospects and know better to not ask for any advice on this forum on investments.

As for a budget, I think I am deciding on skipping any unlicensed, paper stock (except for iconic parallels such as the black and gold flagship), and any non-flagship product. Just standard Topps chrome (No Ben Baller) throughout Rookie and veteran years. The player's card has to have the team logo I am collecting. One veteran and one rookie per year.

Money not spent for the year will be carried over which should make it doable for higher-up rookie players in future years. I think this will work with $1,500.

If you are truly PCing those 2 particular players, then you are buying up the singles. Trying to PC through breaks or buying boxes is an inane way to try and get your two targets, which will lead to frustration, and wasting your money.

Depending on the players involved, you can very easily stretch $125 a month to 10-15 cards a month just for a particular player ($8 per card) but you also have to decide if you want to collect their cards raw or already graded. The latter will definitely cost you a lot more and may also impact your enjoyment if you're paying $45 for a PSA 9 instead of $10 raw for the exact same card.

If you're also taking out all the "non-flagship" and targeting Topps Chrome... are you really PCing that player? Comes off more like you're trying to "invest" in the player under the guise of a PC. If you really wanted to PC the players, you shouldn't be pigeon-holing yourself into such a small window. Assuming both players have 12-year careers... that's 36? cards per player for your PCs if it's mainly base Topps Chrome (12 minimum) + some parallels e.g. the Topps Golds.

I PC Pedro Martinez but I mainly target 1999-2004 where possible because that was when he was at the height of his powers and I watched him on NESN all the time. With that said, I've also collected cards of his from all years and all brands because I care about Pedro Martinez, not necessarily what somebody else says the top brand is or what the flagship product is. Believe me, I'm not even spending $125 a month on him either but I also aim for raw over graded.

EDIT: If you are trying to PC 2 players per year (2 players in 2021, 2 different players in 2022, 2 different players in 2023?) then that's a recipe for spreading yourself very thin unless you really love all those players.

[meucci67]

I did this for Jack Wilson from the Pirates back in the day…. Ended up getting into bidding war after bidding war with 2 other collectors for just about everything except for base cards. It got to the point where it was no longer fun to collect him so I just quit and turned my attention to something else. In retrospect, I should have just stuck with base cards and inserts.

Michael

[marl1220]

You collecting the cards for your pc that you like, that you don't care if tomorrow they become worthless. Asking for help on what cards you pc is dumb and makes no sense.

https://i.imgur.com/ugRG3Dk.gif

[rroboo]

I did this for Jack Wilson from the Pirates back in the day…. Ended up getting into bidding war after bidding war with 2 other collectors for just about everything except for base cards. It got to the point where it was no longer fun to collect him so I just quit and turned my attention to something else. In retrospect, I should have just stuck with base cards and inserts.

Michael

I am being incredibly incoherent by going back and forth between what I want to do for mainly this reason and probably will end up scraping the player collecting idea.

[k13]

99% of cards are $20 or less.

You can't even get $20 for a Mike Trout Topps Chrome refractor.

[hochunk5]

I did this with someone from my favorite team who is good but not the main star. I like the advice someone gave above of pick a lane and stick with it. I enjoyed putting together rainbows and stuck to the main flagship chrome sets. There were plenty of parallels to chase that didnt break the bank and it is kinda cool when you track down the /1 and /5 versions. They are rare but not super expensive for the lesser stars. That way when i was done i had something cool to display as well cause if it is your pc half the fun is displaying it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oraclesports]

buy what u can afford

[towerymt]

Buy ungraded cards at auction.

[Noel3]

Trade whenever possible. I’ve helped out people and they’ve surprised me with nice cards in return. That being said be careful as I did have my Carmelo Authentix and two KG rookies ripped off during a trade.

[Rage]

The best way is whatever brings you the most joy.

I recently started PC'ing a cheap player for fun since I wanted to be able collect a bunch of cool parallels and rainbows without breaking the bank.

Figure out which cards of your player are the ones you like, and then start collecting those!

I would start by focusing on just one player, and one product. You can choose to collect a rainbow of a certain card in that product, or you could get one card of the player from each product that you like.

The options are literally endless....just buy what you can afford that you enjoy

Good luck and have fun!

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

I am being incredibly incoherent by going back and forth between what I want to do for mainly this reason and probably will end up scraping the player collecting idea.

Probably for the best. It sounds like your main reason for doing this is because you feel priced-out of the superstars, but that’s not really the case, you can find them, you just have to put in the work (and buy fewer cards on a monthly basis). Also, if you are primarily a flipper, and this player doesn’t amount to much in his career, you’ll feel like you wanted your money on a bunch of worthless cards. If you do want to super-PC a player, I would suggest to find one who is either retired or near retirement. That way you can be sure of the player’s place in the game and in your heart.