Card Organization/Storage Question

[the 'stache]

4reals, trust me, I'm the same way. I'm going to try the way I described....but you could put down money in Vegas that this won't work for me long term, and I'd say it's a safe bet that you'd make a fortune.

I'm torn, really, between protecting the cards, and being able to appreciate them the way they should be appreciated. I remember when I was a kid, and I got my first Star Wars action figures for Christmas. My first two figures were Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. I ripped them open, popped their lightsabers in, and I couldn't stop playing with them. The feel of the figures in my hands, the smell of the plastic...I still remember the feeling. They were meant to beenjoyed. Darth Vader and Luke are supposed to have lightsaber fights, and they can't do that stuck to a card, and behind a plastic case (ok, I'm still a kid inside, lol). Now I go on Ebay, and I see the same figures commanding huge sums of money when they're on a mint "card". They put them behind these heavy plastic protectors, and have them graded. I'm thinking "they're toys, they're meant to be played with".

Baseball cards are the same. I loved the hobby as a kid because I could rip open a pack of Topps, pop a slab of pure sugar into my mouth (one that lost all flavor within three minutes), and I'd flip the cards over and start memorizing the stats. I stacked them up, traded them with my friends. It was fun! Now as soon as I get a card worth anything, I freak out if there's the slightest flaw. I'm looking at them under a magnifying glass, or a loupe, and sticking them in one touches, and then packing them away. But while I'm doing this, it just feels....wrong. I understand that they are investments. I have no illusions about making money off of them, but I would like to keep them in good shape nonetheless, because I am spending so much money on them. But the little kid in me says "pop that Bowman Chrome Mike Trout rookie out, and look at it. Mike Trout SIGNED this. It's mean to be appreciated!"

Truthfully, what will end up happening is I'll get my safe, and my best cards will still be in one touches, and graded card bags. But I'll be opening that damned safe up at least twice every day, and there will end up being 50 cards sprawled all over my bed.

I don't think, as a true lover of the sport and the hobby, that there is a perfect solution.