When you’re getting into card collecting, it can be difficult to decide whether you should dive into vintage or modern cards. There is a ton of explosive value to modern cards, but vintage rares have incredible staying power.

You also have to consider your personal connection to the cards—it can feel much more exciting to pull a rare card of a player you know than to find a super-rare card of someone you’ve never heard of before. Read on for a breakdown of vintage versus modern football trading cards.

What Does “Vintage” Really Mean?

What does it really mean to collect vintage cards? Is there a particular cutoff that determines whether a card is vintage or modern? The general answer is yes—a vintage card is a card released before 1980. While this is the current thinking, time will likely move that goalpost forward. For instance, in the year 2050, cards produced before the 2000s may be considered vintage.

Post-War Vintage Cards

Baseball and basketball cards were around long before football cards, which unlocks a new tier of vintage collectibles—post-war baseball cards. This era encompasses cards made starting after WWII. It wasn’t until 1962 that the first American football cards were produced. For this reason, there are only around 20 years of vintage football cards on the market, while baseball and basketball have over 40 years of cards available.

Modern Cards

Sports cards skyrocketed in popularity during the 1980s, and that’s true of baseball, basketball, and football cards. Today, you’ll have trouble not finding sports cards at any number of hobby stores. If you want to get into football card breaks, either vintage or modern, there’s no better time than the present!

Now that you know more about vintage vs. modern football trading cards, we’ll leave the choice to you—do you want to seek out cards with current players you’ll recognize or hunt down classic cards? Either way, you’ll find enjoyment and fulfillment in collecting.