One of my favorite aspects of the sports card hobby is that there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong way to collect cards. However, knowing how to protect the condition of your collection and where to buy the correct supplies is a foundational piece of the hobby.
Learning what supplies are the best for your trading cards is different for each collector and can become overwhelming for fans just getting into the hobby. Whether you are opening packs, buying singles, or grading cards, I’ve got you covered with a basic guide highlighting how to protect and store your sports card collection.
Ditch the screw-down cases!
First, a note to anyone who collected in the ‘80s and ‘90s and is now returning to the hobby: get rid of any screw-down cases you may have. Once seen as next-level card protection, screw-down cases can damage cards by essentially squishing them. This is less of a concern for recessed cases, but it’s still best to avoid screw-downs as a general rule and modernize your card protection. Old binder pages also aren’t great at protecting cards, but we’ll get to that later.
Card sleeves and toploaders
Cards in penny sleeves. (Photo: BCW Supplies)
A card sleeve is typically the first step in protecting your trading cards. “Penny sleeves” (which derive their name from how inexpensive they are) do a great job of preventing scratches, scuffing, and indents on the surface and edges of cards. Sleeves for your standard-sized sports card are 2 ⅝ x 3 ⅝ and also come in thicker sizes for memorabilia and autograph cards.
After putting a card in a penny sleeve, the next step is to secure it into a toploader — a thicker plastic encasing that protects and stores cards (that you load a card into from the top). Sports cards come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, so it’s vital to understand the size and width of different toploaders that are the correct size for the cards in your collection.
A 25-pack of standard toploaders. (Photo: eBay).
The most common toploader size used for your standard sports card are 3×4 inches. Tobacco cards from the early 1900s and some vintage baseball cards require unique sizing, but the 3×4 top loaders are the go-to cases in the sports card hobby. Thickness is another factor in identifying the correct size toploader for your cards. The thickness of a card or toploader is generally measured in points (pt) with 1 point equal to .001 inches.
Toploaders such as 20 pt and 35 pt are perfect for Topps, Donruss, and Score cards. Some chromium cards can squeeze into a 35 pt toploader, but 55 pt are a great fit for Prizm, Optic, Select, Topps Chrome, and autograph cards. Autograph and memorabilia cards with thicker stock can often fit in 75 pt but could require toploaders as thick as 130 pt or higher depending on the set. BCW has helped collectors identify the sizes of their toploaders and magnetic cases by creating a Card Thickness Point Gauge that I highly recommend using.
A Tom Brady card in a magnetic case. (Photo: eBay).
BCW and Ultra Pro have been staples in the hobby for card sleeves, toploaders and magnetic cases for some time, and both are easily accessible to purchase online in a variety of quantities at Amazon, eBay or stores like Walmart. If you see an experienced collector opening packs of cards at your local shop or card show, they’ll most likely be carrying a pack of sleeves and top loaders ready to protect their freshly pulled cards.
Graded card supplies
Since the sports card boom during the pandemic, submitting cards to be graded by companies like PSA, SGC and CGC has become one of the most popular collecting forms.
When submitting cards for grading, it’s key to remember that reputable companies prefer collectors to send standard-sized cards in Card Saver I semi-rigid card holder cases instead of a regular toploader. Semi-rigid holders are not as sturdy as toploaders, but are more flexible, take up less space and the card doesn’t move around as much inside of them. I recommend protecting cards you plan on submitting for grading in a sleeve and semi-rigid holder so they’re ready to go once it’s time to send them to get graded. (PSA recently produced a helpful video on how to prep your cards for submission and the supplies you’ll need.)
A pack of semi-rigid card sleeves. (Photo: eBay).
If you already have graded cards in your collection and prefer the encasing to have protection from dust, scratches and general wear, graded card sleeves are an affordable option that get the job done. Graded card protectors and slab guards are a little more pricey, but they provide a protective bumper that fits around the edges of the slab to avoid any dents, chips, or scratches. Slabmags sells a variety of premium slab guards in different colors for cards graded by PSA, BGS, and SGC.
Card displays
Whether your cards are graded or not, there are a variety of display options to show off prized items in your collection. Stand Up Displays has a large selection of basic and customizable graded card display stands ($6+). Airtime also offers a futuristic showcase ($150) that levitates your card in the air in a 360-degree rotation that looks really cool on an office desk or mantle.
Storage boxes and premium carrying cases
There came a point during my journey through collecting when my room was nearly overflowing with stacks upon stacks of cards in toploaders, and I had to find a way to store my collection more efficiently. Some readers may remember binders as a standard way to store cards back in earlier eras, but the hobby has evolved and several safer options are now available (although toploader binders are still an option).
I’ve always enjoyed multi-row cardboard storage boxes. They’re a budget-friendly option and come in several sizes that can hold as many as 5,000 sleeved and toploaded sports cards per box. If you feel white cardboard boxes are too flimsy or unattractive, it’s worth exploring plastic drawer card boxes that look much nicer and are awesome for card collections that rarely leave the house.
Single and multi-row boxes can be a solid option for protection and storage but aren’t ideal for displaying or easily transporting your cards. Since my collection has a mix of graded and raw cards, I use a 2 Row Slab Case made by Zion Cases to bring my collection to a card show or trade night. I also recommend carrying cases like the ones produced by NOCITY DESIGN if you’d rather have a hands-free crossbody bag when walking around the show floor searching for cards (Zion also makes similar bags).
Why you should trust us
As a second-generation collector, Tyler Holzhammer started collecting cards and attending the National Sports Collectors Convention at 10 years old. He’s evolved his passion as a collector into a career, previously providing sports card content and market analysis for companies like Sports Card Investor and Goldin Auctions. Tyler’s sports card collection is centered around players from his favorite teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the St. Louis Cardinals.
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(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
