Card collecting, a serious hobby with roots dating back to the late 19th century, has become a cultural staple since the professionalization of baseball in the 1860s. Initially, cards and stickers were given as promotional items alongside products like gum or chocolate. Today, this hobby has evolved into a colossal industry worth $13 million and growing each year. Card collecting has also emerged as an investment avenue, with popular and successful players' rookie cards, autographed, numbered, or rare cards fetching a wide range of prices.

In such a vast industry, both the cards and the ways to acquire them are diverse. At Mythos Cards, we have compiled this glossary for those who are new to this wonderful hobby or who want to delve deeper into its details.

BASE: Base cards are the main card set of a collection. Typically including all players in the set, the base set is the most common type of card.

INSERT: These cards, which have a different design from normal cards, are rarer than base cards. These sub-series, which often feature young players, sports legends, or popular players, usually have more vibrant and colorful designs.

PARALLEL: These cards have the same design as base and insert cards but are also known as "numbered" cards in our country. These cards, which come in different colors according to their numbers, increase in rarity and value as the numbers decrease. For example, cards numbered up to 5 are very rare, as only 5 of that color are produced. Numbered cards of popular and promising young players can be sold for high prices.

RELIC: Also known as "Patch" cards, these are produced by incorporating a piece of the player's worn jersey or the team's original uniform. Made with thicker material than usual, these cards are also very rare and may not be found in every product.

AUTOGRAPH: These cards feature the player's authentic autograph. They are obtained by adding clear stickers signed by the player to the produced cards. Although in some products players sign the cards directly, sticker-signed cards are generally more common. Autographed cards, which are among the rare cards, can fetch significant amounts depending on their number and the player's popularity.

ROOKIE CARDS: This term, which can be translated as rookie season cards, refers to the first cards produced of a player. The first cards of successful and popular players are in high demand by collectors and investors and can fetch high prices.

BREAKS: Breaks is a concept widely used in the global card collection sector, allowing collectors of all budgets access to very limited edition hobby products. This concept, divided into Pack or Team/Player breaks, allows collectors to participate in breaks by purchasing a slot on the Mythos Breaks page. Each slot purchased grants you ownership of all the cards of a team in the product to be broken. After all slots are sold, teams are assigned to collectors via Draft or Randomizer methods. Then, the product is opened live, and the cards of the team or player you own are shipped to your address.

We have completed the first part of our glossary. Part 2 will be with you soon. Until then, we wish you happy collecting, and take care.