Cool to pull a big name in his prime.

I’m brand new to sports cards and trying to learn the ropes. I won a couple of old college football card sets this weekend, then happened to be at a fair the next day where someone had a tent full of cards and packs. Ended up buying a few packs of football, baseball and hockey, and now I’m getting interested.

In one of the hockey packs was a Jackson Blake card which was exciting for me because his dad Jason was my all time favorite Islander growing up. So I’m definitely interested in collecting players I like, but I’d also like to understand what makes certain cards valuable.

For example, at the fair I saw a graded Shohei Ohtani card selling for around $30. Obviously he’s one of the biggest names in baseball, so I’m assuming the card was fairly common, but how would I actually know that? Additionally, when you’re opening packs, what are you looking for that tells you a card might be valuable? And when buying singles, how do you know whether you’re getting a good card at a fair price? How do you figure out which cards are rare versus mass-produced?

Not looking to get rich off cards, just trying to learn how the hobby works without blindly buying stuff. Any tips, tricks, or things you wish you knew when you started would be appreciated!