Rookie Cards Are For Trading

Every year we get bombarded with new sets, filled to the brim with the next crop of can't miss rookies. And every year, we fall for their treachery. It still confounds me that people will rip packs and throw away everything but the rookies.

There's big money in rookie cards. This year's crop has been hot since the first sets came out earlier this year. Tatis. Guerrero. Alonso. Jimenez. Hiura. Kieboom. Biggio. Senzel.

Maybe the hype is justified, maybe not. I have a hard time believing any of these guys will hold value long. Josh Donaldson has had an amazing career thus far, plays for the fan favorite Braves and yet his 2010 rookies fetch pennies.

Unless a player is truly special, their rookie card is probably gonna peak during their rookie season or the next. Acuna broke out this year and his 2018's reached astronomical numbers by modern standards. Will they hold up? I hope so, but who really knows.

Oh, but I remember Todd Van Poppel. I remember Gregg Jeffries. I remember Kevin Maas, Billy Beane, Jeremy Burnitz, Reggie Sanders, Tom "Flash" Gordon, Gregg Olson. Also all can't miss prospects whose rookie cards fetched good premiums in the day. And what happened to them? They missed.

I decided long ago that I wasn't collecting cards to make money. Nowadays, any rookie I pull is always on the trade block for Dodgers. Doesn't really matter which Dodgers cards. I had much rather have them than rookie cards anyday.

I'll keep my Dodgers rookies, but not because I think they'll be worth a million dollars, but because that's my crew. I'm a Dodger for life 

You can have my Reggie Sanders and Todd Van Poppels. 

I think I will hold onto this Burnitz though.