Everything You Should Know About Baseball Card Holders (Bob Cadsmith)

An experienced baseball card collector values great baseball card holders the same way an experienced woodworker prizes the finest tools. We'll never get nearly as excited about high quality hard plastic card holders as we will when we come across a high quality Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, or Willie Mays card of course, but without those card holders there wouldn't be nearly as many great old cards out there in the first place. Protecting your cards with the right holders is a given to experienced collectors but can often be overlooked by new collectors, especially kids.

Different Kinds of Baseball Card Holders

Penny Sleeves Top Loaders 9 Slot Pages for Binders One touch magnetic holders One screw down holders Four screw holders (non-recessed) Card stands Wall mount holders

Cards also come in different thicknesses, each of the types of holders above comes in a range of these sizes. One of the more common trends over the last several years is for special cards to be quite a bit thicker than regular cards, these thicker cards require card holders made specifically for them. Now I'll give a breakdown of the different kinds of card holders in more detail.

Soft Sleeves

Also known as Penny Sleeves (in bulk you can actually get 3 or more for a penny) or Soft Top Loaders these inexpensive options are good for protecting against minor nicks and wear but won't stop any substantial damage to the cards, such as bending or creasing. They're by far the cheapest option, available in bulk for less than a penny each, and should be used primarily for your least valuable cards. Soft Sleeves are commonly available in 20 point (Regular Thickness), 55 Point or "Thick", and 75 Point or "Extra Thick" thickness sizes.

Semi-Rigid Top Loaders

These holders are harder than Penny Sleeves but not as hard as Rigid Top Loaders. They can be bent but it takes a lot more to do so than with something like Penny Sleeves which offer little to no protection at all against bending. These can be relatively cheap compared to the Rigid Top loaders so they make a good option when you want something a little more protective than the Penny Sleeves. Another advantage besides cost over the Rigid top loaders is that these won't take up as much space when you're using a lot of these for your cards.

Rigid Top Loaders

These are one of the most commonly used baseball card holders, and for good reason, they offer fantastic protection, easy storage, and a relatively inexpensive cost.

One Screw Holders

These are very hard plastic baseball card holders that hold the card between two separate pieces that are screwed together to form a tight hold on the card. The recessed cavity allows the one screw design to work, if the two pieces of plastic were just flat then one screw wouldn't be able to effectively hold the case closed in a way that it wouldn't be able to swivel on the one screw's pivot point. These are also available in a wide variety of thicknesses.

Four Screw Down Holders

Similar to the One Screws but with the obvious difference of having Four Screws, one at each corner. The other major difference is that these typically do not have recessed cavity's, making them ideal for pre-1960 era vintage cards which can come in a variety of sizes. Top Loaders and even some four-down screw holders can be used with a penny sleeve to offer a little extra protection.

Magnetic One-Touch

Much like the One or Four Screw card holders, but instead of using screws to secure the plastic pieces together it uses a magnet. One of the selling points for these holders is that they offer a tough to find combination of protection and card accessibility, you'll pay for the added convenience though as these are among the costlier options for baseball card holders. For some situations "easily accessible" isn't a good thing though, for example if you have young children in the house that might have access to the cards.

Holders for Multiple Cards

In addition to the variety of single card holders mentioned above there are tons of options available for storing multiple cards. Baseball card holder sheets such also known as 9 card holders are a good option if you're looking for baseball card holders for binders. They won't offer as much protection as a hard plastic case but they do offer a nice way to store your cards in a more accessible and enjoyable way.

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