Making Room - Looking For Opinions

[cliffjmp33]

Hey gang, wanted to get some different views/ideas as I am trying to make room in the house now that we have little guys rummaging around.

I have gone through three larges boxes of cards (mostly late 80s/early 90s) and picked out about 100 or so that have meaning/worth a couple bucks. However, now I have about 3,000+ cards sitting around with no room to put them. My thought is to try and reach out to local card store(s) and see if they have kids club or young collectors that I could give them too. The cynic in me says that the stores may just keep the cards though. There may be a few worth $5, but at this point I am not looking to make money/piece them out. Just want them to find a good home.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

[commando]

I'm in the same situation and will be bringing mine to the local hospital. What a great way to bring joy to children who are not in a fun place!

[NEFAN]

Hospital childrens ward is the way to go.

[sox83cubs84]

I go to the local hospital's kids ward roughly monthly to drop off cards...the nurses are glad to get the cards in to give to the kids.

Dave Miedema

[CampWest]

Might also check for any local agencies assisting with abused children, at risk kids, or house fires.

I checked with some hospitals and was told no thank you, so I had to look elsewhere.

At the card shop, we used to chunk out those piles of cards into 500ct-900ct boxes as $10 "grab bag" boxes. A paltry 1-2cents a card, but at least it was something. And they moved fairly quickly.

[xpress34]

If you have a local team - MLB or MiLB - call them. I got rid of all of my commons by taking them to Coors Field and letting the Rockies distribute them to Ushers to give out to kids in the stands.

[cliffjmp33]

Thanks for all the great help guys. I reached out to our community relations director at my office and she said she should be able to help. I'll keep you posted, but to say the least I am very thankful for the help and it seems my old collection as a kid and a teen may brighten some other kids lives too!

[godwulf]

I'm in the same situation, only more so - probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50,000 cards, taking up space in a storage closet under the stairs. I used to buy cards by the box - mostly the late '80s-early '90s stuff, but some older ones, too - and spend entire days sorting them by player, then by card, then picking the card in the best condition and putting it in a binder, and re-boxing all the dupes. Kind of a lot of effort to put together binders of (for the most part) virtually worthless cards, I know, but I tend to believe that some of the best hobbies are essentially pretty mindless.

My only qualm about giving them to a kids' hospital ward, or something like that, is the feeling that the cards wouldn't be of much interest or value to them, and they'd just end up getting torn up and thrown away. Even if a kid likes baseball (and so many that I run into really don't), and if that kid has any interest in cards, what are the chances that he (or she) is going to care about a card of some player from the '80s or '90s who they never heard of? ("This guy's name is Moose Haas?") Afraid they'd be more likely to sort through them to see if there were any Bonds or Griffey cards, and toss the rest out with the empty juice boxes. I know it sounds really cynical, but I just can't help imagining that scenario.

I wouldn't mind donating them all to some good cause, but I kind of like the idea of sorting them into smaller boxes and giving them to an organization that would sell them to benefit charity. Of course, since they're pretty much all in player and card order, at this point, I'd have to do some serious shuffling, to ensure that one box didn't contain 37 '88 Topps Greg Harris cards. :rolleyes:

[frikativ54]

I go to the local hospital's kids ward roughly monthly to drop off cards...the nurses are glad to get the cards in to give to the kids.

Dave Miedema

That's really nice of you, Dave. :)

[Jags Fan Dan]

Also, the Boys and Girls clubs do good work and probably have kids that would love to have some cards.

[kprst6]

The second I get rid of an item through sale, trade, or charity, I just accept that the item is no longer mine and the new owner is free to do with it what they want.