As the winter approaches, baseball cards continue to be bought, traded and collected avidly. However, a common misconception this fall is that such star rookies as Ken Griffey Jr., Jerome Walton, and Gregg Jefferies are outstanding cards to buy. In buying these cards, collectors often forget the cards of such greats as Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, Ryan Sanberg, and Don Mattingly. This is a great mistake among collectors who look solely for immediate value in cards, as opposed to long-term value and success of such cards.

Despite the fact that popular 1989 rookies are of considerable value now, there is a good chance that if the players struggle in the future, their cards (which are now very expensive) will plummet in price. On the other hand players like Schmidt, Sandberg, and Ryan are headed for the Hall of Fame, and their cards are steady, safe, and secure investments.

Looking ahead to next year's popular cards, look for players like Todd Zeile, Junior Felix, Deion Sanders and Ben McDonald to be very popular.n