Collectors of baseball cards striking out

[aggr1103]

Remember there was some conversation about the T206 Gretzky Wagner card in this thread. Just saw this little documentary this weekend and thought I'd share with everyone. About 14 min documentary made by the ESPN 30 for 30 guys about the Honus Wagner T206 and whether or not it was trimmed:

 

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8983686

 

 

[Tuffy]

For baseball cards, yeah, sure, those might be dying. But football cards are pretty big. For young people as well, football isn't bad there. I liked baseball more though because you had the opportunity to get a prospect autographed card for $10 or so and then have a reasonable chance of it bumping when they went pro. With football, as soon as they're drafted their Press Pass autographs are selling at peak prices and will stay there as long as they are good.

 

What really has killed it, to me, is that when you buy a pack at Wal-Mart they only have crappy packs. Even if you pull an autographed card of a terrific player, it's only like $20 tops. They talk about how many cards they were pushing out, yet there are still like 500 different types of card sets.

 

Stephen Strasburg also almost single handedly boosted the baseball card market 2 years ago until he got hurt. I got sucked into it, and now I have like 8 of his rookie cards and I can't sell a single one of them for some reason.

 

 

[B-Smooth]

Is there anyone who wants to take a look at some cell phone pics of a sports card collection im finally going to sell soon. Im into sports so im familiar with the players and all, but i dont know if i have anything 'good' . Before i dredge thru a billion ebay listings maybe someone could point out any 'key' cards.

 

PM me!

Ill take a look and then tell you it is junk. Whether it is or isnt

If you give me the years,brands and what sport I can lighten your workload.Many years past 1985 are mostly junk,much like nineties comics.For instance 1986 topps has no real rookies that are worth anything.1987 was much better but was killed by over production.Any so forth.

Some sets to look for past 1986? '87 fleer, '88 score traded, 1990 leaf. Good sets with relatively short prints compared to topps issues.

87 fleer is a great set.Can be found at bargin prices due to Bonds dropping in value.The drawback is there is no Mcgwire or Maddux.88 score most people have retire but once again a nice looking set.

90 leaf produced to compete with upper deck.they not only competed but crushed them this year.Nice photos and a heavy stock set.

My favorite set of the nineties is the 92 bowman.Worth putting together.

I loved the '84 Fleer traded set. Clemens, Puckett, Gooden...well, the Clemens used to be the big card. Still, a great set. The '92 Bowman set was cool, as well. Except the Manny is worthless in my book. The 90 Leaf set was ALL about Frank Thomas. I used to pull close to $100 each at its peak. The set i REALLY wanted to make, but gave up quickly, was the '91 desert storm set in high grade. Stupid prices, counterfeits, and poor condition made me stop before I really began it. But my favorite set ever, my '52 topps set, was the '84 Donruss. It was like getting a Tec 27 when I finally got the Mattingly card. I was the envy of the entire neighborhood.

[B-Smooth]

I enjoyed the years I spent card collecting until I started to buy PSA/SGC/BGS graded cards. For me that sapped the fun out of it and really can't explain it. Here were graded examples of cards I had always wanted in the best condition possible available to me and for whatever reason cards were no longer fun. Graded Tony Esposito's, Larry Robinson's, Mike Bossy's, Paul Coffey's, Montana's, etc and just blah it became. So, back to comics after a 25 year hiatus but with zero interest in slabbed comics.

Gotta keep it fun for myself

 

 

I hear you. It can turn into an exercise in label chasing. That's why I set a reasonable limit for myself to only focus on Hall of Famers, to focus on one year/brand at a time and to only go for cards in the 5-7 range b/c they're visually appealing and don't break the bank. For me, if the card displays nicely, I'm happy with a 5 and don't need to chase a 9.

As long as the older cards are centered, they can present really well in PSA 5-6.

[abjr]

Is there anyone who wants to take a look at some cell phone pics of a sports card collection im finally going to sell soon. Im into sports so im familiar with the players and all, but i dont know if i have anything 'good' . Before i dredge thru a billion ebay listings maybe someone could point out any 'key' cards.

 

PM me!

Ill take a look and then tell you it is junk. Whether it is or isnt

If you give me the years,brands and what sport I can lighten your workload.Many years past 1985 are mostly junk,much like nineties comics.For instance 1986 topps has no real rookies that are worth anything.1987 was much better but was killed by over production.Any so forth.

Some sets to look for past 1986? '87 fleer, '88 score traded, 1990 leaf. Good sets with relatively short prints compared to topps issues.

87 fleer is a great set.Can be found at bargin prices due to Bonds dropping in value.The drawback is there is no Mcgwire or Maddux.88 score most people have retire but once again a nice looking set.

90 leaf produced to compete with upper deck.they not only competed but crushed them this year.Nice photos and a heavy stock set.

My favorite set of the nineties is the 92 bowman.Worth putting together.

I loved the '84 Fleer traded set. Clemens, Puckett, Gooden...well, the Clemens used to be the big card. Still, a great set. The '92 Bowman set was cool, as well. Except the Manny is worthless in my book. The 90 Leaf set was ALL about Frank Thomas. I used to pull close to $100 each at its peak. The set i REALLY wanted to make, but gave up quickly, was the '91 desert storm set in high grade. Stupid prices, counterfeits, and poor condition made me stop before I really began it. But my favorite set ever, my '52 topps set, was the '84 Donruss. It was like getting a Tec 27 when I finally got the Mattingly card. I was the envy of the entire neighborhood.

 

Oh man. I still have all of these sets. I can't bring myself to throw it all away even though most of it is (Score, 89/90 Bowman, etc.) Don't forget the '89 Upper Deck either. As a kid, that Griffey was my prized possession for a long time. I have more Donruss/Fleer Griffey and '86 Mets rookie cards to this day than I know what to do with. My parents spent a small fortune getting me the 90 Leaf set as well. Now they're all worthless. Inserts, game-used , foil cards, etc, etc. killed it all.

 

[stanley1883]

I collected cards when I was younger too. I think while anything CAN happen, it won't happen at least not to that extent. With cards you had several companies making the same cards, with tons of "special sets" and players had a shelf life of about 5-10 years tops. Superheroes have been around for decades. While too much "variants" can damage comics, i don't think it will. Also I'm not a fan of the multiple runs of the same hero, case in point, Amazing Spider-man, Spectacular, Avenging, Peter Parker, etc, These do nothing but frustrate collectors in my mind. But the original run (Amazing) still retains its value and even appreciates. As collectors if we make our voices heard we will help the industry. I think we should cut down on the amount of variants but not get rid of them, and I'm glad that Marvel and DC thinned out a bit with the relaunches, and they should keep the runs per character to a limit. I don't want to see 10 different Batman or Spider-man runs. If you want to do a short special like Deadpool did with "Kills the Marvel Universe" and "Killustrated" thats fine. If we keep the market from becoming over saturated we will be helping. Other than that, Comics represent Art and Writing as well and that will ultimately help keep the industry afloat.

 

You can only look at a baseball card, one image, that was a photo. Comics are several drawing with sometimes intricate and complex stories, you can't compare one to the other just because they are "collected"

[MatterEaterLad]

Steroids baseball. There's probably a spillover effect into the collectibles market. (Among all the other bubble bursting reasons).

[mrmyst]

Collect what you love.

[scooter99]

Is there anyone who wants to take a look at some cell phone pics of a sports card collection im finally going to sell soon. Im into sports so im familiar with the players and all, but i dont know if i have anything 'good' . Before i dredge thru a billion ebay listings maybe someone could point out any 'key' cards.

 

PM me!

Ill take a look and then tell you it is junk. Whether it is or isnt

If you give me the years,brands and what sport I can lighten your workload.Many years past 1985 are mostly junk,much like nineties comics.For instance 1986 topps has no real rookies that are worth anything.1987 was much better but was killed by over production.Any so forth.

Some sets to look for past 1986? '87 fleer, '88 score traded, 1990 leaf. Good sets with relatively short prints compared to topps issues.

87 fleer is a great set.Can be found at bargin prices due to Bonds dropping in value.The drawback is there is no Mcgwire or Maddux.88 score most people have retire but once again a nice looking set.

90 leaf produced to compete with upper deck.they not only competed but crushed them this year.Nice photos and a heavy stock set.

My favorite set of the nineties is the 92 bowman.Worth putting together.

I loved the '84 Fleer traded set. Clemens, Puckett, Gooden...well, the Clemens used to be the big card. Still, a great set. The '92 Bowman set was cool, as well. Except the Manny is worthless in my book. The 90 Leaf set was ALL about Frank Thomas. I used to pull close to $100 each at its peak. The set i REALLY wanted to make, but gave up quickly, was the '91 desert storm set in high grade. Stupid prices, counterfeits, and poor condition made me stop before I really began it. But my favorite set ever, my '52 topps set, was the '84 Donruss. It was like getting a Tec 27 when I finally got the Mattingly card. I was the envy of the entire neighborhood.

 

Oh man. I still have all of these sets. I can't bring myself to throw it all away even though most of it is (Score, 89/90 Bowman, etc.) Don't forget the '89 Upper Deck either. As a kid, that Griffey was my prized possession for a long time. I have more Donruss/Fleer Griffey and '86 Mets rookie cards to this day than I know what to do with. My parents spent a small fortune getting me the 90 Leaf set as well. Now they're all worthless. Inserts, game-used , foil cards, etc, etc. killed it all.

 

Don't feel bad, I have probably 400K cards that I may as well use as kindling. I remember opening a wax case of 89 Upper Deck that I had split with a buddy and pulling out a bunch of Griffey's. Luckily I sold over half of them when they peaked. I still have an unopened case of 90 Upper Deck because I speculated Juan Gonzalez would shatter the home run record some day. Steroids and injuries put the kibosh on that brilliant gamble.

 

[joecgcmaniac]

Is there anyone who wants to take a look at some cell phone pics of a sports card collection im finally going to sell soon. Im into sports so im familiar with the players and all, but i dont know if i have anything 'good' . Before i dredge thru a billion ebay listings maybe someone could point out any 'key' cards.

 

PM me!

Ill take a look and then tell you it is junk. Whether it is or isnt

If you give me the years,brands and what sport I can lighten your workload.Many years past 1985 are mostly junk,much like nineties comics.For instance 1986 topps has no real rookies that are worth anything.1987 was much better but was killed by over production.Any so forth.

Some sets to look for past 1986? '87 fleer, '88 score traded, 1990 leaf. Good sets with relatively short prints compared to topps issues.

87 fleer is a great set.Can be found at bargin prices due to Bonds dropping in value.The drawback is there is no Mcgwire or Maddux.88 score most people have retire but once again a nice looking set.

90 leaf produced to compete with upper deck.they not only competed but crushed them this year.Nice photos and a heavy stock set.

My favorite set of the nineties is the 92 bowman.Worth putting together.

I loved the '84 Fleer traded set. Clemens, Puckett, Gooden...well, the Clemens used to be the big card. Still, a great set. The '92 Bowman set was cool, as well. Except the Manny is worthless in my book. The 90 Leaf set was ALL about Frank Thomas. I used to pull close to $100 each at its peak. The set i REALLY wanted to make, but gave up quickly, was the '91 desert storm set in high grade. Stupid prices, counterfeits, and poor condition made me stop before I really began it. But my favorite set ever, my '52 topps set, was the '84 Donruss. It was like getting a Tec 27 when I finally got the Mattingly card. I was the envy of the entire neighborhood.

 

Oh man. I still have all of these sets. I can't bring myself to throw it all away even though most of it is (Score, 89/90 Bowman, etc.) Don't forget the '89 Upper Deck either. As a kid, that Griffey was my prized possession for a long time. I have more Donruss/Fleer Griffey and '86 Mets rookie cards to this day than I know what to do with. My parents spent a small fortune getting me the 90 Leaf set as well. Now they're all worthless. Inserts, game-used , foil cards, etc, etc. killed it all.

 

Don't feel bad, I have probably 400K cards that I may as well use as kindling. I remember opening a wax case of 89 Upper Deck that I had split with a buddy and pulling out a bunch of Griffey's. Luckily I sold over half of them when they peaked. I still have an unopened case of 90 Upper Deck because I speculated Juan Gonzalez would shatter the home run record some day. Steroids and injuries put the kibosh on that brilliant gamble.

 

 

I'll give ya $20 shipped for the unopened case of '90 Upper Deck.

 

[scooter99]

Is there anyone who wants to take a look at some cell phone pics of a sports card collection im finally going to sell soon. Im into sports so im familiar with the players and all, but i dont know if i have anything 'good' . Before i dredge thru a billion ebay listings maybe someone could point out any 'key' cards.

 

PM me!

Ill take a look and then tell you it is junk. Whether it is or isnt

If you give me the years,brands and what sport I can lighten your workload.Many years past 1985 are mostly junk,much like nineties comics.For instance 1986 topps has no real rookies that are worth anything.1987 was much better but was killed by over production.Any so forth.

Some sets to look for past 1986? '87 fleer, '88 score traded, 1990 leaf. Good sets with relatively short prints compared to topps issues.

87 fleer is a great set.Can be found at bargin prices due to Bonds dropping in value.The drawback is there is no Mcgwire or Maddux.88 score most people have retire but once again a nice looking set.

90 leaf produced to compete with upper deck.they not only competed but crushed them this year.Nice photos and a heavy stock set.

My favorite set of the nineties is the 92 bowman.Worth putting together.

I loved the '84 Fleer traded set. Clemens, Puckett, Gooden...well, the Clemens used to be the big card. Still, a great set. The '92 Bowman set was cool, as well. Except the Manny is worthless in my book. The 90 Leaf set was ALL about Frank Thomas. I used to pull close to $100 each at its peak. The set i REALLY wanted to make, but gave up quickly, was the '91 desert storm set in high grade. Stupid prices, counterfeits, and poor condition made me stop before I really began it. But my favorite set ever, my '52 topps set, was the '84 Donruss. It was like getting a Tec 27 when I finally got the Mattingly card. I was the envy of the entire neighborhood.

 

Oh man. I still have all of these sets. I can't bring myself to throw it all away even though most of it is (Score, 89/90 Bowman, etc.) Don't forget the '89 Upper Deck either. As a kid, that Griffey was my prized possession for a long time. I have more Donruss/Fleer Griffey and '86 Mets rookie cards to this day than I know what to do with. My parents spent a small fortune getting me the 90 Leaf set as well. Now they're all worthless. Inserts, game-used , foil cards, etc, etc. killed it all.

 

Don't feel bad, I have probably 400K cards that I may as well use as kindling. I remember opening a wax case of 89 Upper Deck that I had split with a buddy and pulling out a bunch of Griffey's. Luckily I sold over half of them when they peaked. I still have an unopened case of 90 Upper Deck because I speculated Juan Gonzalez would shatter the home run record some day. Steroids and injuries put the kibosh on that brilliant gamble.

 

 

I'll give ya $20 shipped for the unopened case of '90 Upper Deck.

 

 

[Hepcat]

For all the talk though, did the baseball card market really collapse?

 

It seems the focus of all these articles is that there was a vast influx of lemmings buying up cases of the new issues of baseball cards from the late eighties to the early nineties and that they all hoped that they would get rich putting these cards away for ten to twenty years because vintage cards from the fifties and sixties had appreciated enormously from their issue prices and they expected the same from newly hatched issues. But of course their actions ensured there would be no shortage of these cards in decades/centuries to come. Yeah, well, so what else is new? This is all belabouring the obvious.

 

But any talk of the baseball card market collapsing only makes any sense with reference to vintage cards, because the "market" for newly hatched issues was a sham fueled by dreamers, fools and speculators from the get go. So did the market for vintage baseball cards from the fifties and sixties collapse as well? I'm not so sure it did.

 

[Tuffy]

For all the talk though, did the baseball card market really collapse?

 

It seems the focus of all these articles is that there was a vast influx of lemmings buying up cases of the new issues of baseball cards from the late eighties to the early nineties and that they all hoped that they would get rich putting these cards away for ten to twenty years because vintage cards from the fifties and sixties had appreciated enormously from their issue prices and they expected the same from newly hatched issues. But of course their actions ensured there would be no shortage of these cards in decades/centuries to come. Yeah, well, so what else is new? This is all belabouring the obvious.

 

But any talk of the baseball card market collapsing only makes any sense with reference to vintage cards, because the "market" for newly hatched issues was a sham fueled by dreamers, fools and speculators from the get go. So did the market for vintage baseball cards from the fifties and sixties collapse as well? I'm not so sure it did.

 

 

I think it's pretty similar to what happened with comics. Everyone bought everything thinking it would be worth money some day, but the big things that created value were that everyone threw them away. I think the most common thing I hear from older people is "All of those Mickey Mantle rookie cards that I put in my bike spokes sure sounded cool at the time"

 

As someone that loves collecting vintage baseball, I would say that the market has kind of dropped off.

[slym2none]

Only asking this here because cards were already brought up - a friend of mine has some baseball cards that are curved up a little and was wondering if he could somehow straighten them out. I jokingly said "PRESS THEM" and gave the impression that one could press many cards at once due to their smaller size.

 

Now, I am not actually endorsing this, but was wondering is it possible? Is/has it actually been done? Go easy on me, I have been out of the loop for a few years now, in case this has actually been asked before.

 

 

 

-slym

[Mayor006]

I've wondered the same thing but I would think the process would change the thickness of the card which would be obvious to someone like psa

[arexcrooke]

Only asking this here because cards were already brought up - a friend of mine has some baseball cards that are curved up a little and was wondering if he could somehow straighten them out. I jokingly said "PRESS THEM" and gave the impression that one could press many cards at once due to their smaller size.

 

Now, I am not actually endorsing this, but was wondering is it possible? Is/has it actually been done? Go easy on me, I have been out of the loop for a few years now, in case this has actually been asked before.

 

 

 

-slym

You can press cards. Ive had a few done myself. I had a 57 Drysdale RC that had a small wrinkle in it. I had it pressed and it is extremely hard to see now.

I will tell you that I dont know how PSA or SGC would treat that or if they could even tell. If, like comics, then they cant unless the wrinkle is still there under magnification.

[arexcrooke]

I've wondered the same thing but I would think the process would change the thickness of the card which would be obvious to someone like psa

How would it change the thickness of the card? It still is going to be the same size

[slym2none]

 

 

 

-slym

[originalisbest]

Only asking this here because cards were already brought up - a friend of mine has some baseball cards that are curved up a little and was wondering if he could somehow straighten them out. I jokingly said "PRESS THEM" and gave the impression that one could press many cards at once due to their smaller size.

 

Now, I am not actually endorsing this, but was wondering is it possible? Is/has it actually been done? Go easy on me, I have been out of the loop for a few years now, in case this has actually been asked before.

 

 

 

-slym

You can press cards. Ive had a few done myself. I had a 57 Drysdale RC that had a small wrinkle in it. I had it pressed and it is extremely hard to see now.

I will tell you that I dont know how PSA or SGC would treat that or if they could even tell. If, like comics, then they cant unless the wrinkle is still there under magnification.

 

Hey arex, I can tell you that grading cards is a different animal from comics; if you have a card with a very minor paper wrinkle front or back, as made or not, even if the card is very flat and true, if they catch it the grade will be hammered, from perhaps an 8 down to a 5, etc.

[originalisbest]

For all the talk though, did the baseball card market really collapse?

 

It seems the focus of all these articles is that there was a vast influx of lemmings buying up cases of the new issues of baseball cards from the late eighties to the early nineties and that they all hoped that they would get rich putting these cards away for ten to twenty years because vintage cards from the fifties and sixties had appreciated enormously from their issue prices and they expected the same from newly hatched issues. But of course their actions ensured there would be no shortage of these cards in decades/centuries to come. Yeah, well, so what else is new? This is all belabouring the obvious.

 

But any talk of the baseball card market collapsing only makes any sense with reference to vintage cards, because the "market" for newly hatched issues was a sham fueled by dreamers, fools and speculators from the get go. So did the market for vintage baseball cards from the fifties and sixties collapse as well? I'm not so sure it did.

 

 

Some people would say it has, but it really hasn't - certainly not for decent mid grade vintage, and certainly not for superior grade vintage. Witness certain "low pop" highgrade 50s and 60s commons selling for many hundreds, and supergrades of vintage superstars come with prices that will make you blush!

 

I can't disagree with mrmyst - collect what you love. I love vintage cards, precode horror, coins and model kits and don't regret one moment of the time I've spent pursuing these passions one bit.