Baseball Card Collectors?

Anybody on here a baseball card collector? I am trying to figure out which brand to buy, which sets to look for, etc..
I live out in Greensburg, PA, and i haven't bought any cards in years, but i wanted to get the 2013 pirates team set. Unfortunately or fortunately, the few handful of stores that sell cards haven't been able to keep them in stock. I'm not looking to collect in hopes that they are going to be worth money someday, I'm just looking for some real nice cards with great quality pictues to keep around, browse through in my old age or share with kids, for the memories and what not. I was looking online and sets go from a few bucks to almost 30 bucks, which seems really high. Any thoughts or advice? I noticed that some cards, specifically Pedro and Cutch have different colored borders on the cards, ie emerald. Are they different that the normal cards?