One of the easiest and most straightforward options is to donate your old baseball cards to a local library, community center, school, or youth sports organization. Baseball cards are often enjoyed by children and can help spark an interest in the sport. When donating, be sure to remove any rare, valuable cards from the collection so the organization has mainly common cards to distribute. You can get a charitable tax deduction for your donation.

If there are some potentially collectible or valuable older cards from the 1950s-1980s in your collection, you could conduct some research online beforehand to identify any standout cards. Search on sites like eBay sold listings to get a sense of current market values. Any cards worth $50 or more individually could be worth having professionally graded and listed for sale on eBay or through a collectibles dealer. This allows you to recoup some money from cards with collector interest and historical significance rather than just dumping the entire lot.

Beyond donating or selling valuable individual cards, you have a few options for what to do with the bulk of a large unused collection:

You could list the entire collection for sale online through a local online marketplace like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. Take clear photos of sample cards and the full volume of boxes to give buyers a sense of what’s included. You may only get $20-50 for a large collection in mixed condition, but it clears out the space.

If selling the bulk collection locally doesn’t appeal, consider packaging it up securely and mailing it to a used card buyer or recycling company. Services like CardCollectorKing, Delaware Paper & Recycling, and RecycleBank can provide you with prepaid shipping labels once you indicate the approximate volume of cards being shipped. They will pay you a penny or two per pound of recycled cards based on their paper pulp and precious metal reclamation value. It’s not a high payout, but it’s easy to do from home without having to deal with sorting, listing, and individual sales.

As a last resort option if you just want cards gone immediately without hassle, you could bag them securely and place them in the garbage. This is not encouraged due to the recyclable paper content and potential interest some cards may still hold for collectors down the line. Cards in the trash also run the risk of ending up as litter in the environment rather than being recovered and processed responsibly.

Donating usable cards for children’s enjoyment, researching potentially collectible individual cards for dedicated sale, bulk selling locally, and shipping to recycling companies are the preferred recommended steps for ethically and efficiently clearing out a large vintage baseball card accumulation when you’re ready to part with memories from your collection. Taking the time for an organized disposition can prevent waste while also allowing you or others to potentially benefit from what you’ve held onto for many years.