All-Star Veterans as Blue Chips

Baseball card collecting can be easily equated with the stock market. A certain amount of cards are issued by the companies, as stocks are. These cards are then traded in the secondary market in such places as eBay, thePit.com, and Naxcom. Likewise stocks, after being issued, are traded in the secondary market in such places as the NYSE, Nasdaq, and AMEX.

So, continuing the analogy, if you were starting out investing in the stock market, would you want to purchase a large amount of stock in a small company which might have been hyped up by a few of the "pros," but without an established track record and years of earnings growth and dividend payouts? You might want to start out elsewhere as a newbie to the stock market.

As a new investor, you might be wise to start purchasing the stock of an established "blue chip" company with a large market share, years of positive earnings growth and dividends paid out to investors. AT&T, McDonald's, Sony, Kraft, are some "blue chip" companies you may recognize.

As a new baseball card collector, you can equate rookies and some second year players to the smaller speculative stocks. They may have potential, or they may be a flash in the pan. They may be hyped up by the "pros" as having the tools necessary for success, but until they establish themselves through years of positive play and production, you cannot be assured that their cards will remain high in value.Established all-star veterans (with seven or more years of play for our purposes) can be compared to the "blue chip" stocks. They have multiple years of high quality performance, and can now stand the test of time as high-quality investments. They have proven that they can pay dividends and continue to do so in the future.

If you are just starting out as a baseball card collector, you might want to stick with the blue chips. Go with the guys you know. The ones with high market capitalization. Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Pudge Rodriguez, and Todd Helton. These guys have proven that they are performers, year-in and year-out. Their cards are good bets to provide value for you.