Question for team collectors

[pitt127]

Quick question.. Do you guys who collect teams also collect minor league issued cards for your team? I recently bought a Kansas City Royals lot on eBay and it had some early '90s Classic brand cards. These are minor league teams that were associated with KC but aren't recognized by Beckett as Royals cards. Please let me know your opinions. Thanks!

Alex

 

[bonzomoretti]

Alex,
First of all, good luck with your Royals collection. I collect Mets team sets and do not consider their Minor League teams as part of my collection. I take it to a very literal level...New York Mets Team Sets, not Tidewater Mets, Binghamton Mets etc.....That's not to say I do not have any Minor League Mets cards in my collection. Sometimes I will take Mets Minor Leaguers to "fill-in" a trade. Hope this helps. Mike

 

[Scobes]

I definitely include Phillies minor league cards a part of my collection. Especially Reading Phillies - since they were the first professional games I ever attended!!

Scobes

 

[pitt127]

Alex,
First of all, good luck with your Royals collection. I collect Mets team sets and do not consider their Minor League teams as part of my collection. I take it to a very literal level...New York Mets Team Sets, not Tidewater Mets, Binghamton Mets etc.....That's not to say I do not have any Minor League Mets cards in my collection. Sometimes I will take Mets Minor Leaguers to "fill-in" a trade. Hope this helps. Mike

Thanks for the reply. That's kind of the way I was leaning. What about like the USA team cards? I have a couple of Alex Gordon from 04-05 that I really don't know what I should do with.

 

[pitt127]

I definitely include Phillies minor league cards a part of my collection. Especially Reading Phillies - since they were the first professional games I ever attended!!

Scobes

Thanks for the reply! I just don't know how I would ever get a list all of them considering Beckett doesn't have some of them listed when you do a search for a given team.

 

[bonzomoretti]

Thanks for the reply. That's kind of the way I was leaning. What about like the USA team cards? I have a couple of Alex Gordon from 04-05 that I really don't know what I should do with.

Not a Royal! Wouldn't be part of my collection. Zach Wheeler has a few minor league cards before he got traded to the Mets. Would he be a Met or Giant? My decision would be easy. He is not a Met on the card (or a Giant for that matter). I guess it is a personal decision.

 

[pitt127]

Not a Royal! Wouldn't be part of my collection. Zach Wheeler has a few minor league cards before he got traded to the Mets. Would he be a Met or Giant? My decision would be easy. He is not a Met on the card (or a Giant for that matter). I guess it is a personal decision.

Sounds good and makes sense! I'll probably do it like that as well. Thanks for the reply.

Alex

 

[Scobes]

Thanks for the reply! I just don't know how I would ever get a list all of them considering Beckett doesn't have some of them listed when you do a search for a given team.

Well, I do not think that I will ever obtain EVERY Phillies (and/or Phillies minor league) card in existance, so I just pick up what I can. Thus I have no need for a comprehensive list.

Scobes

 

[mrmopar]

I do. I have been trying to fill in all of the 70s-80s minor league sets as I see them at fair prices. Many of those players never made it to the MLB level and often if they did, not with the Dodgers, but it is fun to have early cards of players who went on to do something special and never played for the Dodgers. My favorite is probably an early Ron Kittle card. Starting in the 90s, minor league cards were less fun for me, but I'd still add them to my team collection.

Now from a standpoint of buying or trading for lots and getting those in place of "real" Royals, I'd like to know ahead of time to decide if I wanted to accept those. Technically they are not Royals or whatever team you collect, they are merely farm clubs affiliated with the team (at that time in some cases, as teams do change MLB affiliations too). Most of those players in AA or lower and many in AAA didn't (past) or won't (present) make the MLB level and if they do, possibly not even for that team, but perhaps another.

 

[Tony Kozelichki]

reply

When I started collecting, I envisioned getting every Cubs card made. Of course, that generally meant a single Topps team set every year and the few insert/test issues that came along with them. Back then, as a kid, I had never heard of OPC or even the early Bowmans.

Once Fleer and Donruss got into the game in '81, it wasn't too hard to keep up for a couple of years, but then it got to be ridiculous with all the subsets, inserts, and varieties of sets put out by the big three. Also, with minor league sets becoming popular and easy to find, I started picking up those as well.

About '87 or 88, I went back to focusing only on Topps team sets and started getting rid of all the rest, including those minor league sets which actually turned a pretty good profit. I'm down to 52 high numbers and, strangely, a handful of Topps traded singles that I haven't been able to find (no one seems to carry these singles anywhere), and I haven't picked up any of the 2011 Topps or Topps Update. I've also gone back to early Bowman issues and have most from 50-55, but only a couple from 49.

If I ever get those done, I'll probably go back even further with the early Leaf or Playball or something like that.

 

[scottzoe]

I also do collect minor league Red Sox affiliates to fill out my Red Sox collection. They are low priority for me, but when I come across a reasonably priced team set, I will pick it up.

Scott

 

[Dilferules]

I am a fan of the A's and follow their prospects, so I am usually interested in picking up minor league A's cards. Moreso the pack-issued ones than team sets. However, if I see a team set at a real bargain I'll pick it up...I just don't generally put those cards on my "wantlist". Of course it depends on what you really feel like doing...I mean I have tons of non-A's cards of guys that have played for the A's in my collection, like say a Matt Holliday Rockies RC or Coco Crisp Red Sox autograph. I enjoy collecting cool cards and won't limit myself to a very strict focus.

With Team USA cards I just pick up a limited number of the cards that I think look nice. Which is not much, as many Team USA sets have been sort of ugly.

Richard

 

[travistrue]

I collect Royals also, but my main focus is on MLB cards. I do have some minor league cards from Royals farm teams that people have thrown into trades. I don't seek these out, but if offered I won't turn them down.

Travis.

 

[seattlefan81]

My main focus is base cards from the bigger companies sets, but as long as the player on the card is in the Mariners organization at the time I will take it. Sets like Classic, Just and the recent Donruss Elite Extra Edition are not a top priority for me. I put them in my Inserts/Parallels/Other section.

Good luck with your Royals collection

 

[pitt127]

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Yankeeswin]

I collect Yankees minor league cards as well, team sets as well as newer singles. Favorite is my 1982 TCMA Columbus Clippers set with Mattingly. They are low priority but I get them at the right price.