If you want to start collecting baseball cards, or other related memorabilia, it is wise to forge a plan and stick by it. The baseball card market is too sprawling today to haphazardly buy this and buy that and expect to fashion an impressive collection. The Topps series of cards isn't all you can collect anymore. Numerous card companies are pumping out regular series and special series on top of those. The average collector just can't keep track of, let alone afford, every baseball card that comes down the pike.

Moe Drabowsky baseball card (1960)

If you have finite resources—and limited time—here are some helpful hints on collecting baseball cards and building a collection that you can be proud of, and that you can maintain with the least amount of wear and tear on your mental and spiritual health. You could concentrate your dollars and hobby education on the following:

• Collecting a series from a specific year—the year of your birth, the year you saw your first Major League game

• Collecting one or more players from the exclusive clubs of baseball—players who have reached the 500 homerun plateau, players who have accumulated 3,000 hits, or pitchers who have reached 300 wins

• Collecting your favorite player (or players) throughout their entire careers

• Collecting award winners from such prestigious categories as MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, or the Triple Crown

• Collecting Hall of Fame players—generally speaking, the most valuable cards in the hobby

• Collecting rookie cards of current stars and possible future Hall of Famers—which can be very lucrative down the road, since rookie cards are ordinarily the most cherished cards of Hall of Famers, as well as the stars of today

• Collecting select vintage cards from some of the classic series of all time (1887 Allen & Ginter, 1911 T205, 1915 Cracker Jack, 1933 Goudey, 1952 Topps)

The truth is that it's a necessity when buying and trading for cards to set some kind of parameters in building a collection. Otherwise, you'll end up with a unwieldy, out-of-control assortment that your significant other might one day ask you to part with. So, plan your work, work your plan, and most of all—have fun in the process.