[baseballcollector18]

So I decided last week that I wanted to start collecting cards again. I havent collected anything for about 15 or so years when I was in jr. high school.

I know there is the obvious cards to look for such as rookie cards, inserts sets, and autos, but what brand/type are your guys favorites to buy (talking unopened packs, not specific players/teams)? I have always loved sitting down at the table and opening a box or two at a time. I picked up a 2011 Allen and Ginter box last night and went through. Was a lot of fun, got some decent stuff, but there were way too many non sports cards.

Allen & Ginter's niche is a mix of baseball and non-sport cards. Many of their subsets and mini parallels (which run one-per-pack) have been of weird things. In the past, they've had Greek Gods, Country Animals, Leaders of the World, World's Wordsmiths, and a bunch of others. They've got some decent autographs and relic cards from outside the sport world that are actually quite valuables.
For rookies, your brand would be Bowman. Specifically, Bowman Chrome cards. You can find them in three products: regular Bowman, Bowman Chrome (due out later this year) and Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects (also due out later this year).
As far as other brands, Topps currently has a monopoly on baseball products, so they're going to be your only brand. Look for products like Topps Chrome, Topps Lineage, Topps Triple Threads and Topps Finest. There's others coming out eventually.

Each collector is going to have different products that they like and don't like. If you like football, hockey, or basketball, I recommend checking out the beckett calendar for future releases. Check out ebay for the look of certain cards, or press releases for the look of future products.
And again, collectors have different tastes. Some don't open products at all and collect just specific players or teams or sets. Many collectors will try to get a "rainbow" of a player which usually applies to the chrome refractors in collecting one of every parallel (there's many tiers and some are more scarce than others, most of them including a 1/1 superfractor ensuring that they're the only person that has one of every type). It depends on what you like best. If you love the thrill of opening packs and boxes, be prepared to NOT make money, but enjoy collecting sets and trading for players/sets you want. If you love a certain player or certain teams or like the look of a certain set, you can just buy those cards.
Collecting is what you make of it. Find out what you like, then go for it.