Collectors of baseball cards striking out

[comicwiz]

It's funny how people praise the inherent value of collecting comics because it's "art" whereas other collectibles are simply soulless with no intrinsic value. If one reads these boards, discusssion about comics is primarily about what they are worth and the dynamics of the comics business. In the minority are discussions about story lines and art. Alternatively, baseball cards tend to provoke analytic discussions of players' personalities, abilities, accomplishments/anecdotes, and the game itself that tap the nostalgia button much harder and more frequently than do musings over comics. The fact that baseball cards are about real people is not just a liability that can drive the price of a card down, it's something that makes the hobby relevant and worthwhile, and IMO more rewarding. Personally, I find a discussion as to whether Williams was better than DiMaggio more relevant, valuable, and worthwhile than one that ponders whether Spiderman could beat Batman in a fight.

 

And BTW, IMO baseball has stimulated the production of "art" that is arguably much better than anything comics have produced. I do, however, acknowledge and respect contrary opinions here, and admit to enjoying much about comics and the hobby. But some of the comments here about baseball and baseball card collecting are, as Arex says, "so wrong I don't even know where to start."

 

I agree. On the way to legend is a video on YouTube chronicling how Lionel Messi went from being an ordinary boy to a legend.

 

ESPN and the era of reproducing highlights for immediate sport fan glory and global syndication might well have saturated our appreciation for the extraordinary feats achieved by this generation of athletes.

 

Watch this video and tell me Messi hasn't been painting his masterpiece every time he steps on the pitch:

 

[hockey&comicsguy]

If I ever get back into card collecting I'll likely stick to baseball and hockey, predominantly 1940's-1969 and mostly HOFers only maybe sprinkled in with some other personal favorites.

 

I look at "fancy" cards today and they look like a high end printing machine threw up all over the card and they slapped some athlete's mug on it. Look at these and tell me they aren't beautiful looking cards.

 

 

 

My personal favorite, best looking cards ever produced IMO, 1956 Topps

 

[TheShadowKnows]

Well, I've just finished reading all 40 pages of this thread and I have three questions for the group at large here.

 

1. Is Topps still making simple basebard cards like I used to buy in the mid 70's and what is the price for a complete set?

 

2. Is Topps still the dominant card maker or is there someone else?

 

3. What happened to stamp collecting and when did it happen? Is it not a viable hobby anymore?

 

A factory set will cost you 50-55

Topps is dominant for baseball.They have the mlb exclusive

Stamps?

 

Just noticed your reply to this same post, Hooker! Check out the stampboards.com

site if you feel like it -- I always find it interesting to get a pulse on what others are collecting that really, lies for the most part totally outside my interests. There most certainly are individually cool stamps I'd like to own; I have a nice US #1 5cent Franklin, but would enjoy having a #2 10c Washington to go with it (much tougher, but easy enough to find if you don't mind overpaying a lot.)

Not dissing stamps but i have no knowledge.I think I will be avoiding that site.I need another collection like a hole in the head

[*paull*]

Except for Honus Wagner.

 

 

You mean Shoeless Honus Wagner.

[Mike Bray]

I have a question:

 

I've only been going to shows since 2004 so my point of reference is very limited. Are comic book shows more or less popular than they were 20-30 years ago?

 

The shows are more popular yes , but the overall number of shows is way way down from say 1993 to 1998 or so , I`m sure many on the boards can remember those times . There were times back in the Mid 90`s when I was a full time "Comic Road Warrior " that there would be 4 or 5 shows within a 5 hour radius on Nashville each weekend , of course these werent major events but mostly 25 to 50 table one day shows with a couple guests . Many a weekend was spent driving to Chattanooga on Friday night for a Saturday show then packing up and driving up to Indianapolis for a Sunday show or Knoxville on Saturday and Atlanta on Sunday - shows were everywhere ..... but not now .

[cujobyte]

Well one thing that is not dead is the Walking Dead(no pun intended). Yes even in trading cards they dominate. Some single redemption cards are now selling for over $700 on EBay.

First the Walking Dead dominates comics and now cards!

The hottest cards in the land! It all comes back to the Walking Dead!

 

 

So...kids are buying these cards?

 

Comic book nerds are buying these.

 

30 to 50 year old comic book nerds are buying these.

 

Actually, all ages are buying these. I've sold a ton of these, and they've all skyrocketed. Mostly due to the TV show's second season finale.

 

I think you guys are missing part of the fun with the cards. Not only the OCD collecting like in comics, but the chance at finding that one homerun (so to speak) in the packs...the redemption/fetch card etc. I opened some boxes with a friend of mine, and we had a blast just checking them all out.

[cujobyte]

Cannot believe that through 15 pages I have not seen anyone mention the effect of pokemon, magic, and yu-gi-oh cards on the baseball card market.

 

When I was about 8 I started collecting baseball cards but I stopped in the early 90's when I started collecting comics. I still collected cards - comic cards specifically. Had trading card games been more prolific in my area I might have started collecting (and playing) them.

 

I see tons of kids playing card games now, and I have friends whose kids search ebay constantly for better cards and are willing to pay ridiculous prices for them.

 

A magic cards just sold for almost $29,000. I've been playing since 1994, and they've been telling me it's "going to die" since then .

[oakman29]

Cannot believe that through 15 pages I have not seen anyone mention the effect of pokemon, magic, and yu-gi-oh cards on the baseball card market.

 

When I was about 8 I started collecting baseball cards but I stopped in the early 90's when I started collecting comics. I still collected cards - comic cards specifically. Had trading card games been more prolific in my area I might have started collecting (and playing) them.

 

I see tons of kids playing card games now, and I have friends whose kids search ebay constantly for better cards and are willing to pay ridiculous prices for them.

 

A magic cards just sold for almost $29,000. I've been playing since 1994, and they've been telling me it's "going to die" since then .

 

Hey Cujo,how's it going.Been awhile since you've been around these parts,good to have you back.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Cannot believe that through 15 pages I have not seen anyone mention the effect of pokemon, magic, and yu-gi-oh cards on the baseball card market.

 

When I was about 8 I started collecting baseball cards but I stopped in the early 90's when I started collecting comics. I still collected cards - comic cards specifically. Had trading card games been more prolific in my area I might have started collecting (and playing) them.

 

I see tons of kids playing card games now, and I have friends whose kids search ebay constantly for better cards and are willing to pay ridiculous prices for them.

 

A magic cards just sold for almost $29,000. I've been playing since 1994, and they've been telling me it's "going to die" since then .

One of the extra things Magic the Gathering and also Yugioh cards got going for them over professional sports cards is you can play them,some even in high stakes money tournaments.

[the blob]

Back in '99, I went to a card show in center city Philly and on my way out saw that a dealer had the only (at the time) PSA 10 Mike Schmidt Topps AND OPC rookies in his showcase. I bought the Topps for $4K, which was probably 80% of my net worth as a college sophomore.

 

It was my prized posession for about 2 weeks before I realized that I was 19 and needed beer money. I put him up on eBay with no reserve and pulled in approx $9K. Still one of my better short term flips.

 

I'm guessing that card is actually worth more now since it's damn tough to get in a 10. Anyone know if another has sold since?

 

The OPC version has gone for about $4000+/- over the last couple of years. The Topps version has been in higher demand, but I haven't seen any PSA 10s in years.

 

When i was 8 years old i used to bring my bag of baseball cards to a flee-market that my parents set up at. I used to sell them for 5 cents a piece so i could buy the newer baseball cards. Guy bought a card, handed me a nickel and flaunted that it was a Mike Schmidt rookie at me and my parents saying he could get $75.00 for it. One of the worst feelings i had up to that point. My father "handled" it but he didnt get the card back. My father bought me a case of 1983 topps baseball because he felt bad for me. He also bought me the CCP, "Current Card Prices" price guide every month after that. I was hooked and vowed to never be taken like that again.

 

Geez Jeff! What a dirtbag to do that to an 8 year old you. Too bad we can't go back in time and have a "discussion" with him now.

 

Under Florida's "Stand your Ground" law I'm pretty sure your father was entitled to shoot him for waving the card at you in a threatening manner. And in this case he probably would have deserved it (well, maybe in the butt or the leg).

[the blob]

I guess the thing is cards seem to be a lot cheaper now than a while back, and I'm not talking about the 80s/90s stuff. At my recent visit to my LCS/card shop I picked up a nice sharp Topps Reggie Jackson '78 for $1 (which I'm guessing was priced at a premium because I'm in NYC), a $1 hal mccrae RC from 1968 for $1 in nice shape, a 75 topps Killebrew in pretty nice shape for $1, a sharp topps 77 rollie fingers for 50 cents, 76 gossage for 50 cents, 78 catfish hunter, gossage for 50 cents..

 

I know, these aren't first tier HOFers and late 70's isn't late 50's, but if those are 50 cent cards, everything else afterward is pretty much worthless. My local shop does a decent business with pack sales as people chase the chase cards for big money, but they have a ton of display for vintage cards for $3 and up and I literally see them sell one maybe once or twice a month and I'm in there a lot. We're talking about Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Williams and guys like that as well as the stars from the 70's. It's true they've had some SA keys sitting in the display a while as well, but they have them priced pretty aggresively. Anything good moves pretty quickly.

 

OTOH, cards are pretty sweet from a dealing perspective. even if only dealing in $1-2 cards you can stick $5-$10K worth of merchandise in your backpack, unlike breaking your back with a bunch of long boxes.

[cujobyte]

Cannot believe that through 15 pages I have not seen anyone mention the effect of pokemon, magic, and yu-gi-oh cards on the baseball card market.

 

When I was about 8 I started collecting baseball cards but I stopped in the early 90's when I started collecting comics. I still collected cards - comic cards specifically. Had trading card games been more prolific in my area I might have started collecting (and playing) them.

 

I see tons of kids playing card games now, and I have friends whose kids search ebay constantly for better cards and are willing to pay ridiculous prices for them.

 

A magic cards just sold for almost $29,000. I've been playing since 1994, and they've been telling me it's "going to die" since then .

 

Hey Cujo,how's it going.Been awhile since you've been around these parts,good to have you back.

 

Hey Dave and hi guys!

 

Yeah, I've been mostly lurkin lately. I just got caught up with this thread, while at work. Please stop the in-house fighting ok guys?? Miss n' e-love you all!

 

Actually, been learning a lot about trading cards recently, and came across this thread. Thanks for all the useful knowledge guys! That book Mark mentions sounds really good btw.

[HOTFLIPS]

Actually had a guy come into the store today looking to sell his cards. He had some ok stuff, nothing major. The one thing did have was an Ali autograph with a commorative fossil watch that was numbered out of 7500. Really cool piece and he wanted $400.00 for it. I called my good friend who is the authority on Ali memorabilia and he told he would pay between $50.00 and $100.00 because he has 50 of them. I told the guy to basically to keep it as a conversation piece. The only thing i wound up buying from him was a box of 1974 common cards so i can make a set.

 

My friend authenticated all the Ali cards for upper deck back in the day and owns numerous Ali memorabilia including fight worn trunks from the rumble in the jungle or the thriller in manilla. I forget which one.

 

Jeff

[originalisbest]

I guess the thing is cards seem to be a lot cheaper now than a while back, and I'm not talking about the 80s/90s stuff. At my recent visit to my LCS/card shop I picked up a nice sharp Topps Reggie Jackson '78 for $1 (which I'm guessing was priced at a premium because I'm in NYC), a $1 hal mccrae RC from 1968 for $1 in nice shape, a 75 topps Killebrew in pretty nice shape for $1, a sharp topps 77 rollie fingers for 50 cents, 76 gossage for 50 cents, 78 catfish hunter, gossage for 50 cents..

 

I know, these aren't first tier HOFers and late 70's isn't late 50's, but if those are 50 cent cards, everything else afterward is pretty much worthless. My local shop does a decent business with pack sales as people chase the chase cards for big money, but they have a ton of display for vintage cards for $3 and up and I literally see them sell one maybe once or twice a month and I'm in there a lot. We're talking about Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Williams and guys like that as well as the stars from the 70's. It's true they've had some SA keys sitting in the display a while as well, but they have them priced pretty aggresively. Anything good moves pretty quickly.

 

OTOH, cards are pretty sweet from a dealing perspective. even if only dealing in $1-2 cards you can stick $5-$10K worth of merchandise in your backpack, unlike breaking your back with a bunch of long boxes.

 

The trouble with your example is the notion that "pretty nice shape" should equate to some kind of special value for your (to pick one example) the '75 killlebrew. In probably ex-mt condition, $1 sounds about right. Where cards like this are pursued are the superlative grades, and in PSA 9 or 10 you can see sometimes amazing prices. Witness a recent PSA9 '75 Killebrew sale below. It's pretty much the equivalent of having a nice, but f/vf copy of say, Spidey #40 and comparing it to a 9.8 copy of same, and not understanding why their values should be all that different. Condition is king!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-TOPPS-640-HARMON-KILLEBREW-PSA-9-TWINS-C6490-/230764525115?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item35baa3363b

[originalisbest]

If I ever get back into card collecting I'll likely stick to baseball and hockey, predominantly 1940's-1969 and mostly HOFers only maybe sprinkled in with some other personal favorites.

 

I look at "fancy" cards today and they look like a high end printing machine threw up all over the card and they slapped some athlete's mug on it. Look at these and tell me they aren't beautiful looking cards.

 

 

 

My personal favorite, best looking cards ever produced IMO, 1956 Topps

 

 

I'll grant you that, hockey&comicsguy -- love the examples you posted! I have one each of those and am very happy to -- I really love the '56 set as well. It's not particularly rookie-powered, but it has so many great stars and the return of Mick in his triple-crown year.

 

One thing worth noting is, in comparison to the '75 Killebrew example I mentioned above, these cards go for thousands if in fairly perfect, out of the pack pristine shape (and centering plays a large part as well in their value.) But there's room to collect at all levels, and I'm really happy with my examples that happen to be in decent EX condition, right about the middle of the road, comparable to a F+ comic.

 

In such shape, they still command some money, but only in the hundreds, enough that I feel comfortable spending for them; not that I wouldn't want to collect them in gem condition, but a windfall (come on MegaMillions! :-D) would need to happen first!

[the blob]

I guess the thing is cards seem to be a lot cheaper now than a while back, and I'm not talking about the 80s/90s stuff. At my recent visit to my LCS/card shop I picked up a nice sharp Topps Reggie Jackson '78 for $1 (which I'm guessing was priced at a premium because I'm in NYC), a $1 hal mccrae RC from 1968 for $1 in nice shape, a 75 topps Killebrew in pretty nice shape for $1, a sharp topps 77 rollie fingers for 50 cents, 76 gossage for 50 cents, 78 catfish hunter, gossage for 50 cents..

 

I know, these aren't first tier HOFers and late 70's isn't late 50's, but if those are 50 cent cards, everything else afterward is pretty much worthless. My local shop does a decent business with pack sales as people chase the chase cards for big money, but they have a ton of display for vintage cards for $3 and up and I literally see them sell one maybe once or twice a month and I'm in there a lot. We're talking about Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Williams and guys like that as well as the stars from the 70's. It's true they've had some SA keys sitting in the display a while as well, but they have them priced pretty aggresively. Anything good moves pretty quickly.

 

OTOH, cards are pretty sweet from a dealing perspective. even if only dealing in $1-2 cards you can stick $5-$10K worth of merchandise in your backpack, unlike breaking your back with a bunch of long boxes.

 

The trouble with your example is the notion that "pretty nice shape" should equate to some kind of special value for your (to pick one example) the '75 killlebrew. In probably ex-mt condition, $1 sounds about right. Where cards like this are pursued are the superlative grades, and in PSA 9 or 10 you can see sometimes amazing prices. Witness a recent PSA9 '75 Killebrew sale below. It's pretty much the equivalent of having a nice, but f/vf copy of say, Spidey #40 and comparing it to a 9.8 copy of same, and not understanding why their values should be all that different. Condition is king!

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1975-TOPPS-640-HARMON-KILLEBREW-PSA-9-TWINS-C6490-/230764525115?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item35baa3363b

 

I'm not talking about a special value, but the F/VF Spidey 40 commands a decent chunk of change and heck, even the F/VF Spidey 140 (if we want a mid-70's) gets $5-$10 (with some patience). Of course, slabbed cards have created the problem for the "not perfect" cards, which in the early 90's, before PSA, would have gone for more money. The Killibrew would have been in my friend's shop for $3-$5 (it has an old $6 sticker on the back) and it would have sold and those other cards probably would have been similar (especially the Yankees). I understand the card would not grade out super high, but $1 for a HOFer from almost 40 years ago seems pretty cheap, particularly for a guy with such a great name!

[Hepcat]

Collectors of baseball cards striking out

 

How are they "striking out"? They still have their cards, don't they?

 

[Hepcat]

If I ever get back into card collecting I'll likely stick to baseball and hockey, predominantly 1940's-1969 and mostly HOFers only maybe sprinkled in with some other personal favorites.

 

That's what I hate about sport card collectors these days - the collecting of only the stars. When it came to collecting cards as a kid, I was a completist. I went after the whole set, and that's still the way I think it should be.

 

Look at these and tell me they aren't beautiful looking cards.

 

 

 

My personal favorite, best looking cards ever produced IMO, 1956 Topps

 

 

 

I love the 1955 Topps set with the Willie Mays (although not as much as the 1954 one), but I don't like the 1956 set with the Ted Williams at all.

 

My five favourite Topps baseball sets are the 1954, 1959, 1960, 1963 and 1965, Different strokes for different folks i guess....

 

[kidcolt]

Grading

 

Modern Cards BGS (Beckett Grading Services)

Vintage PSA (They won't grade lazer cut sheets which is a huge +)

 

 

This was the last sports card I held onto before I sold it on eBay in college back in 2000. Griffey is my favorite player of all time.

 

If he didn't get hurt so much he would have destroyed Hank Aarons HR record. (Bonds doesn't count IMO)

 

I might re-buy it one day just for nostalgia.

 

The issue of value with sports cards is once they retire the demand really does go down, plus if they don't perform value also decreases of course.

 

 

Just curious I know there are many different sports card grading services out there in the marketplace unlike in comics so a question for some of you guys that still collect sports card is.....

 

What company(s) grading standards seem to have the most validity in the sports cards marketplace. Meaning if you wanted your Micky Mantle rookie card graded who would you send it to? Who wouldn't you send it to? Cause we all know a CGC graded book is more trusted & sells for more than a PGX etc.

[the blob]

Actually, the Killebrew '75 psa 9s seem to be going for up to like $190!

 

What is a psa 9 equivalent to, a 9.8 or 9.4?

 

Not that many comics go for $150-$190 in 9.8 but only $1 in 7.0. A few "impossible in high grade" books maybe, which are krap books, but not the comic book equivalent to a 37 year old HOF card.

 

There is a vibrant raw comics market out there. I practically only sell raw comics. Everything need not be discounted 90% either, because, apparently unlike cards, you can look at a scan of a comic and get an approximate idea of how it should grade out.

 

Mind you, I don't purport to be a collector, though I've probably bought about 1000-1500+ vintage sports cards over the last 5 years, it seems like the only action price-wise in sports cards is at the uber high grades or chase cards....when your nice, but not perfect, HOFer cards from the mid-70's are essentially worthless that cannot be a good sign for the hobby.

 

Or is this more an indictment of even mid-70's cards being too plentifull? Just randomly looking, while the mccovey 1966 psa 9 is a $500-600 card, there is a pretty vibrant $20-$70 market for raw midgrade copies of that card, which is more akin to what we see in comics (and I guess McCovey is a bigger name, although both had similar careers). If the ratios for the Killebrew card were in effect, the mid-grade Mccoveys should be selling for more like $3-$10, but that is what really ugly copies of that card sell for.

 

Of course, on the flip side, a kid can put together a nice looking collection on the cheap nowadays, so if kids were interested..... It's not like I ever saw Mickey Mantle play (or Aaron or Mays) and I sure as heck would have wanted their cards!