My first payday

The art of prospecting isn't so much of an art. It's more of a crap shoot. There have been pleanty of minor league studs that eventually "bloom" into ugly dandelions. There's money to be made in our game, but more often than not (self admitedly), we tend to only barely come out ahead, if not, take some loses.

My first real payday came last year. His name; HUNTER PENCE. While I won't discuss openly how much money my Pence investments made me, I can say that my spring & summer recreation and relaxation of 2007 was basically paid for by my Pence investments.

The biggest mistake commonly made by "noob" prospectors, is dumping all of their hard earned money into over-rated/high drafted players. They rely solely on where players are drafted. Pence was drafted 64th overall in 2004. 63 other players went before him. At the time of this post, out of the top 10 players drafted in 2004, only THREE have made it to the show, and the only name currently worth remembering (at least from a collectible/investment standpoint), is Justin Verlander. A few will be out of professional baseball within a year or two, a few have been plagued by injuries, and a couple haven't even earned a cup of coffee yet. It's a pretty safe assumption that in 2004 and 2005, more money was probably dumped into the top 3 picks than was entirely spent/invested on Pence.

The bottom line IMO is this: DON'T BUY INTO THE "PRE-PRO" HYPE. What that means is, when a player(s) first release(s) come out, don't go buy that $1,200 orange refractor. Why would you?? Ok,...so he can handle high school kids. He can even handle college kids. Heck,...the guy might even be able to handle the MEN of professional baseball. BUT,...chances are, the $1,200 you invested in that orange refractor or red 1 of 1, will be wasted money.

Instead of dumping $1,200 into one card of a guy who might make it some day, why not spread that $1,200 into a bunch of guys who might make it some day? Sure the guy you spent $1,200 on for one card might make it, but odds are he won't. And in 2 or three years from now, no ones going to remember that guy, let alone, pay you $12.00 for the card you spent $1,200 on. That's my word and I'm stickin' to it.