# Should I open these Baseball cards? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419 "2002-10-22T20:23:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419/1 "2002-10-22T20:23:42Z")
My office is vacating a floor, a floor that just happens to have our server room. So while cleaning out the hulking masses of equipment, I found a string of 6 packets behind the shelf. I tore one off and opened it, and it’s 3 baseball cards from Hostess from 1993. Do I open them and hope for Mike Piazza rookie card, or do I keep them sealed and sit on them for 16 years for my son’s 18th birthday? Will they be worth 3 cents in 16 years or a bunch? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419/2 "2002-10-23T00:50:28Z")
I dealt in cards as part of my living from 1986-1992. I was in on the up and the down. My experience tells me that you can open it and enjoy what you get. Hostess cards will never be a true Rookie card for anybody, at least not a rookie card that brings big bucks. If Piazza gets HOF in 25 years, that card might be worth $5-10 bucks. Most people who collect don’t pay money for anything but the 2-4 biggest brand rookie cards(Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck, Fleer, etc.) IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419/3 "2002-10-23T17:59:24Z")
Agreed. If you had said you found a box of '52 Topps, it would be a different story. But I saw open then and see what you get. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419/4 "2002-10-24T02:33:20Z")
“If you had said you found a box of '52 Topps, it would be a different story.” **mouthbreather** : If you found several unopened wax-packs of '52 Topps, could you _really_ not open just one? I think I’d have to experience the thrill, rather than doing the clever thing and selling them unopened. Oh yeah, to the OP: I agree, open them. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Friday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@King\_Friday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Friday)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419/5 "2002-10-24T06:00:47Z")
It seems to me that the baseball card industry is so saturated now, anything made after maybe the mid 80’s won’t hold and real value…but that’s one man’s opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Epistaxis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ebca7d/32.png) [@Epistaxis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epistaxis)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419/6 "2002-10-24T10:10:06Z")
An unopened pack of Hostess cards will never have any real value. The contents probably won’t either, but you might get a good one in there. Crack it open. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419/7 "2002-10-24T12:34:03Z")
Might even find some Twinkie remnants. But you know, the Hostess cards weren’t part of a huge set, right? So might they not be worth more than a Topps from the same year? I remember buying the K-Mart set back in the early eighties, as well as the “traded” sets in various years. They were kinda neat, and more valuable to me because they were a little tougher to find. But I may be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-open-these-baseball-cards/133419/8 "2002-10-24T20:02:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Carter of Mars \* > \*\ ***mouthbreather** : If you found several unopened wax-packs of '52 Topps, could you _really_ not open just one? I think I’d have to experience the thrill, rather than doing the clever thing and selling them unopened. > \*\* I dunno…as long as they aren’t actually in my hands, I’ll stick to my story that I would sell all of them. Get them in my hands, my story may change… 🙂