In a world driven by profits, material wealth, and investing, the world of baseball card collecting has changed dramatically.  We have seen a hobby mold itself from a novalty item to a long term financial portfolio.  Baseball cards have seen their roles in society morph from noise makers in bike spokes in the early years, to intriguing possessions of kids reading up on their favorite players on their favorite team, to being in the hands of everyone in their over-production years, to featuring an authentic autograph by a famous player-a piece of memorbilia wedged between its frame, to limited production runs and permenant housing in air sealed display cases with grades on them that link directly to their promenent position in the world economy.  While some might think "What has happened to this hobby?" in a negative sense, I tend to see the changing trends as a result of the hobby being realized by sports fans as one of the greatest opportunities to take part in the game.  So this guide is to the new hobbiest, or just the seven year old White Sox fan who is tired of listening to his 10 year old neighbor Cardinal fan down the street brag about the 5 packs of topps cards he just got and the Grand Marshal pull of them all- Albert Pujols' most current 2006 Topps card, which happens to be sporting its new home in its shinny new top loader case, atop the dresser, next to the 8X10 photo of the Cardinal King. 

Where do you start while staring into the eyes of countless manufacturing brand options at your local card store or Meijer?  Times are much different than those that offered 2 options for kids to choose from back when these Baseball Cards were only available in the checkout isles of the corner grocery store right next to the Time magazines.  I'll start with tips for the 7 year old and try to offer a focused approach to the hobby through the eyes of the hobby's most original targeted audience...the kid. 

When starting a baseball card collection, kids are faced many options and choices to pick from.  My first word of advise is to talk to a parent or relative who might have a collection or someone who might have had a collection when they were younger.  There are few things that are more meaningful than 2-3 different generations that are brought closer together by a common interest.  Likewise, there are few collections that are more meaningful if they are a continued effort branching off of a previous collection of a parent or grandparent.  For example, dad grew up a Cubs fan and owns a shoebox of old Cubs players.  These cards are no longer more of a dust collection than card collection.  They are now the foundation of a new collection and provide a unique time bridge between the past Cubs players and current Cubs players that the new collector can now add to this box.  Older advisors to the youngster can provide direction for a collection and helpful advise about keeping the cards organized and protected...aspects that the young person might not see or appreciate yet-but soon will!  We all know the last thing a kid wants to do when finally deciding to start collecting is talk to an old guy about specifics.  They want to do one thing and one thing only...BUY CARDS!  So this advise is for the child him/herself.  Even though the primary goal is to build a collection that is bigger than the older kid down the street, you ultimately want to build a collection that is better.  By "better" I mean one that is more meaningful to you, and one in which every card holds value to you- The Quality over Quantity approach.  You want to narrow your collection to one of the many different aspects the hobby has to offer at first.  Some suggestions that I have are these: 

•  Think of your favorite player on your favorite team.  Start by making a trip to your local card store or sitting down with mom or dad at the computer and runing a search on eBay for your favorite player's cards.  Go out and buy a 3-ring binder, and a package of protective card sheets at Walmart for $5 and simply start filling it up.  
• When you run out of space, lose interest, or run out of that player's cards that fall within the price range of what you can afford you can choose from 2 options.  You can save money over time to purchase some of the more expensive cards of that player (such as a jersey card or an inexpensive autograph card), or you can switch focuses and collect the cards of the players on your favorite team.  For example, buy a few packs of cards, and put just the Red Sox players in your binder and put the rest neatly into a shoe or card box. 
• Collecting only a particular brand of card, such as Topps or Upper Deck...try to build a complete set of the base cards for each year's product using the numbers on the back of the card.  The time spent will be meaningful to you when your set is complete.
• If you play Wild Cat or Little League, think of your favorite position to play and collect big league players who play that same position.  Think how meaningful a collection of First Basemen cards of Albert Pujols, Derek Lee, Ryan Howard, Paul Konerko, and Jason Giambi (just to name a few), would be!
• Think about when you play baseball, what your favorite part of the game is.  Collect cards that just show players batting, pitching, fielding, bunting, celebrating, diving for catches, or playing pranks on other players!  With the number of sports cards that are available, and the photography that is taken, many of these subcategories would be easy to build a collection. 
• Pick something that is fun about the game such as players with cool sunglasses, players blowing bubble gum bubbles, or different uniforms and try to find these aspects of the game when they show up on a card. 
• Maybe you're a lefty and you'd like your collection to be of all left handed hitters like David Ortiz and Ichiro, or left handed pitchers like Johan Santana and Andy Pettitte. 

Many other options can be thought of and many of these collections would be very simple to build with limited funds.  Remember, there's nothing wrong with collecting a wide variety of cards either.  Maybe you just want to see what the different brands of cards look like and sample a few packs from different complanies to see what you like.  The best way to build a collection of a variety of material is to ask for baseball cards for Christmas and your Birthday.  You will get whatever your gift-giver chooses which adds an intriguing element of surprise into your collection!

Now, not everyone is a small kid in a candy store with quantity over quality aspirations.  Believe it or not, there are some people who are older who wish to start a baseball card collection.  While my advice is virtually the same to these people, the options are slightly different assuming the older collector will have more than a weekly allowance to work with!  Take in account some of these points when starting a collection from a more advanced perspective. 

• First of all...there is nothing wrong with narrowing a collection down to some of the aspects listed above in the kids suggestions!  If you're a lefty and by gosh you want to collect David Ortiz cards then do it my friend and don't feel bad about it!
• The first step in collecting for the older collector is simple.  Decide if you want to be in it for the collecting purposes or the investing purposes.  There is nothing wrong with either.  I'm not going to say "keep it a hobby" because in reality it has the dimension of being an investment and a very cool and productive one at that.  Just make sure you decide before hand because I initially made that mistake of being caught in between the 2.  I would buy cards because the eBay price was MUCH lower than the book value and I was SURE to receive a large return on the card if I choose to sell it at a different time.  Well, I would buy those cards and like how they looked in my collection and never want to sell them because whether I liked it or not I was a collector and not an investor!  The negative part about this was that I ended up with a ton of cards that I didn't really want as a part of my core collection...cards that I only bought as a "money maker"/"well, I'll hold on to this for a while and see what happens to the value."  Just pick one...there's nothing wrong with either option.
• Say you choose to pick the investment purpose.  First set a limit of the amount of money you wish to put into these cards and then consider this:  BY FAR, the most consistent investment cards that carry the highest re-sale value and potential for greatest value gain are rookie cards...most in particular autographed rookie cards such as those made by Bowman Chrome.  These are great looking cards of star players usually the year BEFORE their true rookie year, making these high in demand and short in supply.  Parallel versions such as refractors, x-fractors, and gold refractors offer more serious collectors the same version of the card in a shorter print run. 
• Sometimes sellers will list their cards at a higher price the night of a player's top performance.  No one wants to buy a card at top value the night he goes 0-5 with a couple of strikeouts.  Instead, judge the prices over time to determine whether a deal is good or not since the value fluctuates on a daily/performance basis. 
• Buy a card of a player you know or like...that way if the value drops, you still have a nice collector's item with value to you. 
• Do NOT get attached to a card!  When you get into the hobby for investment purposes, it's important to look at the card as cash when you receive it.  You no longer have a Ryan Howard Autographed rookie card from 2003, you have aproximately $800 in cash dollars.  Stock value always wins out over fondness of the player or card attractiveness if you are in it for investing.
• Graded cards offer a more sure investment than ungraded cards.  It's too bad that once you buy an ungraded card that you have to spend more money to get it graded, but that's where the hobby is right now and will be for a long time.  Price differences can be effected dramatically between an ungraded version of a card and a graded version.  You might find an Albert Pujols 2001 Bowman Chrome Autographed Rookie Refractor card available ungraded for around $2,500, and a graded "Gem Mint" version of the SAME card for nearly $10,000.  That's a $7,500 difference in value simply for a 3rd party's inspections! 
• Always remember the golden rule when selling..."The card is only worth what someone will pay for it" -thanks dad.   In all seriousness, book value is often overlooked.  Sometimes eBay provides a highly weighted buyer's market and other times, a card is so hot that its sale price is hundreds times more than its determined book value. 
• Simple investing rules apply in the world of baseball cards also.  A larger return can be expected of a more expensive card.  A $5 card holds a common range ceiling of it's value.  Larger production numbers place the $5 price on a card to begin with and skyrocketing values are rare for a card that everyone has.  I've learned that the most explosive range for card values comes within the $150-$250 selling price range.  While these cards remain high even if the appreciating value levels off, they have the most potential to break out in value because the price range is intimidating for low-risk collectors.  My advise would be to go out and buy one of these cards every couple of months and check the value of the 5-6 cards that you have at the end of the year to see how well you are doing.  Keep an active record so you know if you have a card that is a candidate for re-sale. 
• PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT-again...thanks dad!  The last thing you wanted to do as a kid was to use your card money to buy protective sleeves or holders.  Being an advanced collector now, this will become your first priority.  Imagine that $200 autographed prospect card slipping out of its top loader and dinging a corner.  You now have a $50 card-and a mind full of obscene thoughts!  I've found that the best way to protect cards is not necessarily the thickest screw-down acrylic case.  First take your card and place it into a penny sleeve.  Then put the penny sleeve into a top loader-the thickness of the sleeve will keep the card from moving around inside the top loader and it will be more forgiving to the corners, edges, and surface of the card than putting it directly into a top-loader.  Once you have your card in the sleeve and top loader, drop the top loader into a re-sealable team bag.  This will close off the open end of the top loader and seal off the entire card to moisture and most air.  You now have a well protected investment-so it would be best to place this in a safe or bank deposit box.
• It is also smart to purchase some extended home owner's insurrance if you plan on keeping your cards at home.  Keep a computer database or a Word document file of all of the cards you have, and maybe a digital camera photo or scan of the cards for insurrance purposes should the unthinkable happen. 

OK...so you're not in it to make money.  You just want some cool cards that you can maybe enjoy for yourself and pass down to your kids someday.  The dimensions of this collection are much different than that of an investor-although you will want to still spend the extra money to buy protective storing products for your favorite and valuable cards.  Here are a few tips in starting such a collection.

• Suggest an area of interest among all those that the hobby has to offer.  You can choose from rookie cards, memorbilia cards (cards with pieces of jersey, equipment, tickets, etc. placed within each card), autograph cards, minor league or major league cards, insert cards, parallel cards (such as refractors), redemption cards, oddball cards, error cards (cards that have mistakes on them), all-stars, hometown player cards, or modern day or vintage cards.  Pick 1 or a few of them and concentrate your efforts into just those types.  You'll find that your collection will be more meaningful to you if it contains only material that you have hand picked to collect. 
• I chose to focus my quantity collection into a quality rookie card collection only...and here's how I did it.  I started to purchase rookie cards of hall-of fame worthy players who played during the time I was a kid.  This added a nostalgic value to my collection as I thumbed through a stack of my once-heroes first cards.  I also branched into other sports to further round out my life-time's sport legends. 
• Maybe you want to collect vintage cards.  Consider the eye appeal of a card before you buy it.  There's nothing worse than buying a Pete Rose rookie card without seeing it and after spending the $300 you receive a yellow card with a small front face profile of Rose...and 3 other players sharing the entire front of the card!  The dot matrix print job on the '73 Topps cards requires you to trust that the picture is in fact of Pete Rose-despite what the blur might look like to you!
• Take some of your cards (doubles) to major league and minor league ball parks to get them signed.  Few things in life give you the rush of a superstar such as Derek Jeter standing in front of you, holding your card, signing his name and handing it back to you for you to keep.  It is important to do this with your doubles and more invaluable cards...NOT rookies (unless they are from a large production set or you have several of them.)  Sometimes the autograph decreases the value of the card if you ever need to sell it.  Not everyone who is interested in buying it was standing with you watching Jeter sign that card and might not trust its authenticity.  Hopefully the day will never come when you would have to or choose to sell off such a item. 
• Choose between an individual card collector or a set collector.  Men like myself are especially guilty of starting several projects around the house that never get finished.  Same goes here for card collecting.  If I can't decide between these two elements of collecting, I will be stuck with a bunch of incomplete sets and a lower budget for individual cards becasue it is split between the 2 dimensions. 
• Whereas investors will want to grade their most valuable cards, it might be better for the hobbiest to grade the older cards that are in better shape, or the cards from the sets that are labeled as "condition sensitive" in the price guides.  This label is used to make known that the card stock used in the manufacturing of that particular card is sensitive to different climates, moisture, or excessive handling.  This makes the value of a MINT card higher than a mint card of a regular conditioned set. 
• Get to know your price guide.  There is a chart in any Beckett Baseball Card Monthly magazine that shows the values of cards by year in relation to their condition.  This is especially important in vintage cards.  You might see a vintage card of Roberto Clemente available on eBay for $250 which lists at $2000 in the price guide and think that you just came across the deal of a lifetime.  But the card's surface wear, 3 creases and soft corners actually make the card worth less than $250 making this buy only good for the seller.  It is important to remember though...in a hobbyist collector's world, the card is sometimes more important than the price, and if that collector has been waiting years to obtain a Clemente card...the condition might not effect the card's value to the collector-thus making the $250 price tag seem like a Godsend again! 
• Spend time on the hobby.  Look at pictures of cards, read about cards, and enjoy looking at your cards.  Spend time checking out auctions on eBay or in a card store just looking at the cards.  You might develope an interest in a particular card that you never knew existed and you can add that to your collection-furthering its meaning to you. 

It is important to remember that the collection must contain the necessary material to be considered meaningful to the collector.  If you realize yours does not contain this material, sell off some stuff and use that money to reorganize your inventory.  You want a collection to be proud of, whatever the reason for it may be.  You want to take care of it and be able to access it for financial purposes or simply enjoyment purposes.  Take advantage of the resources that are available to you at your fingertips, such as eBay auctions, and Beckett magazine buy/sell/trade adds.  These sites provide safe venues for building a meaningful collection that will work for you in making money, or giving you and your kids unparalleled enjoyment.