Although I've been a baseball fan since 1957, I just got into memorabilia-collecting in late 2004 after my daughters surprised me with a Glavine autograph for Christmas, sparking my interest. I started game-used collecting in early 2006 after one daughter moved to Arlington, TX and I found the great selection of g-u items at the Rangers' Stadium.

But I've been repeatedly dismayed by stuff I've read, including on this forum. I quickly dropped buying autographs after reading about all the fraud in that field. Fortunately my wife proved so skilled at getting autographs at Spring Training that we had no need to buy them; she's gotten a fabulous collection ( eg last year Lasorda, Torre, Dave Stewart, and half the Dodgers' roster, and others, in just 2 days).

Then I read posts questioning the MLB authentication program. But I witnessed one apparent authenticator collecting balls in Arlington, and a friend of mine has spoken to an authenticator at a AAA game. Based on this information, I've decided that the authentication program has matured, particularly in the last 2-3 years, and can be trusted despite the occasional input errors ( wrong date or inning) I've detected.

But now here is a shower of negativity about memorabilia cards. My wife and I have retired to a great condo, right by a large university and 2 blocks from our State Capitol. But the price of this great location is limited space. Our small condo is already loaded with hundreds of books, so there's not much room for adding lots of bats, jerseys, etc. though we have about 15 whole g-u items. So I hoped that some memorabilia cards would allow me to continue the hobby without space problems. Surely, among the thousands of bats that are broken during the 2,430 games each season, a few can be spared for cards for those of us who don't have space to expand our g-u collection.

But then all these posts suggesting that this phase of the hobby is also covered in misrepresentation! I've read that only MLBPA-approved sources are now used for memorabilia cards. So the MLBPA as well as the card companies should have their reputations on the line. Surely at least 85% of these cards are valid?

Any suggestions on how I, as a new collector, can avoid giving up this hobby, that so many seem to think is so permeated by crooks in all areas?