https://www.sportscardforum.com/blogs/126663-Evolution-of-a-new-collector-s-collection SportsCardForum is your source for everything related to sports cards for collectors and non-collectors alike! en Thu, 23 Jul 2026 04:32:32 GMT vBulletin 60 https://www.sportscardforum.com/images/misc/rss.jpg https://www.sportscardforum.com/blogs/126663-Evolution-of-a-new-collector-s-collection https://www.sportscardforum.com/entries/2503-Hobby-vs-Blaster-vs-Hanger-vs Fri, 07 Dec 2018 19:22:47 GMT Picking up from my last blog, I had started a collection of 2017 Donruss Football and 2018 Score Football...mainly because these were the first 2 products (and only 2 products) I had purchased to... Picking up from my last blog, I had started a collection of 2017 Donruss Football and 2018 Score Football...mainly because these were the first 2 products (and only 2 products) I had purchased to this point. In my mind, I was just going to become a set collector. Going down to my local wal mart, and buying boxes of donruss and score on occasion. But my research into the hobby led me to some terms. Hanger box? Blaster Box? HOBBY BOX??? What in the world...I thought every box was the same? I punched in these boxes on google...Blaster boxes of 2017 donruss for $15? Hanger boxes for $7? Hobby boxes for $80?? What is the difference? I thought I had the same odds of getting an autograph or mem card out of every configuration. This led me to my next lesson in collecting: Get up to speed on the collector's glossary of terms!

I immediately ran down to Wal Mart in search of a hobby box...no luck! I went to Target in search of a hobby box...no luck!!! I did some google-ing on 'Where do I find hobby boxes?'...ahhhhhhh, at the local card shop (LCS as I would soon learn)! Turns out my 'LCS' isn't so local...about 45 minutes away. So, off to baystate sports cards and memorabilia in Framingham MA I went! I walked in, and immediately was overwhelmed. The shelf was full of football, basketball, baseball, hockey cards, different years and different products...I took a mental note to go home and look up all of these products...so I ask the gentleman for a hobby box of 2017 Donruss and 2018 Score. He hands them to me, and I mentioned how I was a new collector and had never purchased a hobby box before. He gave me a brief rundown on the difference between the different formats, and then tossed me a pack of 2018 Classics for my first visit to the store (the completist in me mandated that now I must collect ALL of 2018 Classics, I'll elaborate in another blog post).

I couldn't get home fast enough. I started ripping pack of Donruss...all of the #'d cards! The parallels! The autograph! Man, I didn't know what I was missing!! I started ripping the 2018 Score...pulled what looked like an index card with a sticker on it..."What in the world is this?" I thought...sticker said something like 'Score Rookie Signatures' and had the name 'Baker Mayfield'. Did some research and learned that I had just pulled my first redemption: A Baker Mayfield auto!!! (I would eventually trade this for a Rob Gronkowski rookie auto).

So this was my lesson in hobby vs blaster vs hanger, and my introduction to the collector's glossary of terms. To sum it up, I have come to the conclusion that hobby boxes get you the best odds of a 'hit', while blaster boxes can be great to complete sets and possibly get a hit at a lower price, while hanger/gravity/fat packs are best at completing base sets. For my next blog, I'll write about the youtube channel that REALLY expanded my collecting knowledge!


A couple pics of my 2018 Score Hobby box hits (I ended up getting 3 total - even got the case hit in one of them, Brian Dawkins on card auto!).
]]> jwlawrence06 https://www.sportscardforum.com/entries/2503-Hobby-vs-Blaster-vs-Hanger-vs https://www.sportscardforum.com/entries/2498-First-Post Fri, 30 Nov 2018 17:39:08 GMT Hi Everyone. First of all I would like to say I am excited to have gotten into the hobby of collecting football cards. Even at 30 years old, I feel a bit of nostalgia while collecting cards, new or... Hi Everyone. First of all I would like to say I am excited to have gotten into the hobby of collecting football cards. Even at 30 years old, I feel a bit of nostalgia while collecting cards, new or old. I wish I had gotten into the hobby a while back, but nonetheless I will enjoy it now.

I got into the hobby when my son was born. I wanted to start something that I could share with him as he got older, and eventually pass off to him. I chose football cards due to my love of the game of football. I have been following the New England Patriots ever since I was 9 (my first game happened to be Super Bowl 31 against the Packers).

I have started this blog to share my journey into the hobby, and get some feedback from others along the way as to how they got into the hobby, and the various avenues of collecting they have found themselves getting in and out of.

My first football card purchase was a blaster box of 2017 Donruss football several months ago. My initial thought was "Well, I need to have EVERY SINGLE card in this set". I would continue to buy blaster and hanger boxes of 2017 Donruss at my local Wal Mart until I decided to buy a hanger box of 2018 Score. Since I had started a collection of 2018 Score I made the decision that "I need to collect the entire 2018 Score and 2017 Donruss football master sets!". Anyone who has been collecting for a while is probably laughing at that last sentence. Believe me...I did a bit of research, came across the checklists for both sets and realized that this would not be possible! Hence...my first lesson in collecting: Collect what you like, and what your budget can afford.

My response to that lesson was what led to my first official 'PC': I decided I would collect the entire set (Base and inserts) of 1 release each year to commemorate all of the players for that particular year of football that I would be watching. Donruss, Score, Classics, Contenders, among others would be affordable enough to make this happen, and all have large enough sets to keep me chasing for a while.

For my next blog, I will discuss my lesson on the difference between Hobby, Blaster, Hanger, Gravity, and every variety of packs that exist in the hobby.


]]> jwlawrence06 https://www.sportscardforum.com/entries/2498-First-Post