Any serious baseball card collectors?

[ChuckyTheGoat]

I have a nice collection. Made at least a few BAD errors when I was a boy. Who didnt'?

I would put myself more on the collector side than the investor side. Been fascinated w/ the early 1970s of late.

1971 Topps baseball, black borders were so nice. And they're not cheap!

1971 Topps football, very nice. Love the Joe Greene rookie, feel like Bradshaw rookie has to be overpriced.

1969/70 and 1970/71 Topps basketball. Love the Tall boys. Because of the over-sized shape, I'm of the opinion that it's even harder to find these cards in good shape.

[pologq]

i want to get back into it

had a nice little collection in the 80's but had too many rookies where there were large prints of those cards. had the griffey jr rookie of course. i had rookies of all the 90's NBA stars but never the really good cards. sold for a profit but not what i had thought.

now i really want to start again.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Just getting back into it after 20-25 years and spent 5k on gem mint PSA 10 graded cards so far...need to slow down a bit.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Just getting back into it after 20-25 years and spent 5k on gem mint PSA 10 graded cards so far...need to slow down a bit.

Once you get started...ez to blow $$ on em. If you look at it as an investment, tho, top-end stuff likely has very little downside.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

i want to get back into it

had a nice little collection in the 80's but had too many rookies where there were large prints of those cards. had the griffey jr rookie of course. i had rookies of all the 90's NBA stars but never the really good cards. sold for a profit but not what i had thought.

now i really want to start again.

My wheelhouse was late 1970s into the 1980s. There is a funny term they use in the industry. They call it the "Junk Wax Era."

I think that would be late 80s, into the 90s. At some point, the card companies had to admit that they were over-producing.

The 1989 Upper Deck Griffey is a classic, of course. UD hit it out of the park by making it the #1 card number in their initial release. It's such a pretty card...and UD effectively called it on him being an instant super-star.

I bought a 70-card lot of 1989 Fleer Sheffield rookies recently. Got em for < 20-cents per card. Maybe I was throwing $$ away, but he has HOF numbers.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

I've spent a good bit of time studying the 1971 set. Pretty interesting Rookie crop. For a long time, there was only one HOF RC (Blyleven), which is very low for a given set.

Simmons made it recently, via the Veterans committee. I have no problem w/ Simmons making it, he's legit. He played > 80% of his games at Catcher, such a tough defensive position. His offensive stats rank him top5 in most career Catcher categories. So, I think Simmons belonged, and he's certainly not a BAD entry.

The Simmons RC went up SIGNIFICANTLY after he made the HOF. If u want a similar under the radar RC to watch, think about Bobby Grich. He came up to the Orioles as a very young player, age 20 (I think).

The sabermetricians love Grich, he was way above-avg on both Off + Def for > a decade. He was hitting HR when 2b were light-hitting, and his defensive stats were great. The Grich rookie could easily double/triple, if he makes the HOF like Simmons.

Some other under-the-radar RC in 1971 set. George Foster, Steve Garvey, Cesar Cedeno.

[dlowilly]

I've got cases of unopened cards from mid to late 80's

Great tinder if shit hits the fan and the power grid goes dark

[Weems2k]

I used to in the early to mid 90's when packs of cards were only 50 cents. A buck at most. I still have my 89 Upper Deck Griffey Rookie card. Not sure what kind of price that would fetch these days.

[cmaulsby]

Big collector here. Have found quite a few groups who have an emphasis on trading which helps keep the costs down. Started grabbing uncut sheets a long time ago and now my storage is overrun with them.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

I used to in the early to mid 90's when packs of cards were only 50 cents. A buck at most. I still have my 89 Upper Deck Griffey Rookie card. Not sure what kind of price that would fetch these days.

I believe the PSA 10 '89UD Griffey retails at around $500. Grading is a huge party of the industry now, tho. So, it's sometimes hard to pinpoint value on un-graded cards.

I can give u one hint on grading the '89 UD cards. Of course, centering + sharp corners are important. Specific to the '89UD, check out the diamond HOLOGRAM and see if THAT is centered. The hologram probably needs to be centered to fetch a PSA 10 grade.

[teacher10]

I believe the PSA 10 '89UD Griffey retails at around $500. Grading is a huge party of the industry now, tho. So, it's sometimes hard to pinpoint value on un-graded cards.

I can give u one hint on grading the '89 UD cards. Of course, centering + sharp corners are important. Specific to the '89UD, check out the diamond HOLOGRAM and see if THAT is centered. The hologram probably needs to be centered to fetch a PSA 10 grade.

Grading is HUGE but there's also been huge scandals throughout the years with grading. This happened last summer. Makes you wonder a lot about this hobby when it used to be fun.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

My wheelhouse was late 1970s into the 1980s. There is a funny term they use in the industry. They call it the "Junk Wax Era."

I think that would be late 80s, into the 90s. At some point, the card companies had to admit that they were over-producing.

The 1989 Upper Deck Griffey is a classic, of course. UD hit it out of the park by making it the #1 card number in their initial release. It's such a pretty card...and UD effectively called it on him being an instant super-star.

I bought a 70-card lot of 1989 Fleer Sheffield rookies recently. Got em for < 20-cents per card. Maybe I was throwing $$ away, but he has HOF numbers.

I think Sheffield deserves to be in the HOF

The industry calls ungraded cards "raw cards"

[stevenash]

Used to be a serious collector.
Made good coin in the late 80's when the market was good.
I got out 20 years ago (yes I am a 50 year old) lol, but yeah I got out 20 years ago.
What happened was the market got saturated, there were the main card companies (Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck, etc, etc,) were producing tens of thousand of cards and that's before I mention the lesser known card companies were making cards too.

The baseball card market was polluted, the value of all the cards (good and not so good) were driven way down to the graveyard.

So, having said all that, how is the trading card market today?
I haven't done any recent research as I am busy with other shit.
Can you turn a profit these days?

[ChuckyTheGoat]

teacher, that's a great post. That guy u link (Vintage Card Curator) is a GREAT poster. He's posted at least 3 exposes.

Here's my take on grading. When u talk about the REAL hi-end grades, I'd argue that a 9 or 10 may look identical to the naked-eye. Sure, you can pull out your magnifying glass and measure the left/right millimeters.

PSA has an un-healthy amount of control in the industry. It's not too hard to link the perpetrators.

I've seen the PROCESS that PSA graders go thru. I think their average time spent on a graded card is about 60 seconds. You would think they are examining cards to the n-th degree, but that's not the case.

Yes, the grading is shady. That would be the #1 hesitation b4 someone goes full-bore into card collecting.

[pologq]

Once you get started...ez to blow $$ on em. If you look at it as an investment, tho, top-end stuff likely has very little downside.

so true how the $$$ adds up as you start back up

[pologq]

Used to be a serious collector.
Made good coin in the late 80's when the market was good.
I got out 20 years ago (yes I am a 50 year old) lol, but yeah I got out 20 years ago.
What happened was the market got saturated, there were the main card companies (Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck, etc, etc,) were producing tens of thousand of cards and that's before I mention the lesser known card companies were making cards too.

The baseball card market was polluted, the value of all the cards (good and not so good) were driven way down to the graveyard.

So, having said all that, how is the trading card market today?
I haven't done any recent research as I am busy with other shit.
Can you turn a profit these days?

market was completely saturated. killed a lot of value.

i think there is still good value for the rarer rookies of stars. just have to purchase the card at the right time as you know.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

so true how the $$$ adds up as you start back up

Polo:

I referenced the sets I've been focusing on at top. I've been trying to accumulate sets in DECENT condition for those years.

Those sets + a few others have my focus. The grading varies so much now. My line of demarcation is that I'd like all my cards to rate PSA 6 or better, so Ex/mint or better.

I said that I view myself as a hobbyist. They're fun to collect and they do have some investment value.

Biggest risk is really theft or fire. Way I see it, trading cards are an ok investment based on supply/demand. As long as it's not junk-wax era, they weren't over-produced. And good luck finding desirable cards in top condition.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Used to be a serious collector.
Made good coin in the late 80's when the market was good.
I got out 20 years ago (yes I am a 50 year old) lol, but yeah I got out 20 years ago.
What happened was the market got saturated, there were the main card companies (Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck, etc, etc,) were producing tens of thousand of cards and that's before I mention the lesser known card companies were making cards too.

The baseball card market was polluted, the value of all the cards (good and not so good) were driven way down to the graveyard.

So, having said all that, how is the trading card market today?
I haven't done any recent research as I am busy with other shit.
Can you turn a profit these days?

Just got back into it recently but cards on on fire right now..fairly exciting time actually.

[Auto Donk]

i would be, but my mother through away all my cards, including a nolan ryan rookie, in the early 70's due to my siblings and I fighting over them.....

she didn't toss my f'n football cards, so I got some great OJ cards (woo hoo) and a couple of mean Joe Green rookies.... tho I added, in ball point ink, the word "Mean" above where it said Joe Green on the card.....

[ChuckyTheGoat]

You hear that a lot, Donk. Why do women always want to throw those cards out?

Your Ryan rookie could be worth something. The industry loves Ryan.

[Auto Donk]

You hear that a lot, Donk. Why do women always want to throw those cards out?

Your Ryan rookie could be worth something. The industry loves Ryan.

haven't looked at a Beckett in years, but during the hey day, that card collection she tossed would have been worth six figures easily.....

early pete roses, all the late sixties early seventies topps rookies, etc etc etc.....

[Auto Donk]

i do have 16 1989 and 16 1990 upper deck complete sets, all in the cardboard box they were shipped in, all pristine and wrapped inside their original boxes.....

female atty who officed next to me in socal's dad was a founder of the company..... she got em mailed to me, never even cracked em open....... have dozens of other griffey jr rookies from that 89 set.......

[JAKEPEAVY21]

haven't looked at a Beckett in years, but during the hey day, that card collection she tossed would have been worth six figures easily.....

early pete roses, all the late sixties early seventies topps rookies, etc etc etc.....

You don't need Beckett. Just search on Ebay for "sold listings" and you can get a pretty good idea what things are worth currently.

[Auto Donk]

i'll do that, interested to see what in the box extended upper deck 1989 and 90 sets are worth..... have those babies way up in the top of a closet, so water damage of any kind won't ever creep in......

on a side note, my priciest football cards were some OJ cards I had -- right up until the point where he sliced two peoples' necks.....

which always makes me think of this gem:

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Donk, I'm going to guess: '89, a lot. '90, not so much, b/c that's when the over-production came in.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-Upper-Deck-Baseball-1-800-Factory-Sealed-Complete-Set-Guaranteed-Griffey/333667747018?hash=item4db025c4ca:g:3jsAAOSwyo1fH2ke

Surprised that's not higher. Factory sets, you're basically hoping to find a centered Griffey etc.

[Auto Donk]

man, that sucks. but not surprised.... in the early nineties, I think that set was pressing a grand..... market still seems very, very soft.........

much as I am right now, seeing that shit I have upstairs and have been protecting thrity years is barely tripled in value from what I paid for em......

might as well do what I used to do, bust em open and clip em to the spokes and my bike and let griffey jr make it sound like a lame moped.....

[Crusherrr]

Any tips? I have a panini autographed Gavin Lux and Luis Robert I bought as an investment. Where is the best place to find values of cards?

I'd like to buy some more cards to hold onto as investment/fun.

[Auto Donk]

as for my dimaggios, it wouldn't have mattered whether I had a rare one or not, as I added "Joltin'" to all of them, even if they hadn't been tossed out by a mad mother........

[Auto Donk]

Any tips? I have a panini autographed Gavin Lux and Luis Robert I bought as an investment. Where is the best place to find values of cards?

I'd like to buy some more cards to hold onto as investment/fun.

ron jeremy autographed jessica drake's thong that I ripped off from the limo after my date and I finished the threesome with her.....

that's gotta be worth something.........






for any interested purchasers, I have the thong framed, under glass, and the red head in the photo is still a friend of mine and can vouch for its authenticity...... It's a really nice presentation, and for you freaks, I believe Jessica's slight "skid mark" is still present, tho it may have cracked and some of it fallen off over the years, being moved around from wall to wall in various DonkLand locations.....

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Any tips? I have a panini autographed Gavin Lux and Luis Robert I bought as an investment. Where is the best place to find values of cards?

I'd like to buy some more cards to hold onto as investment/fun.

I've found some helpful info on Youtube...watch some videos and get a grasp of what is going on these days.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Donk, compare your Factory set to Unopened wax. This wax box is priced almost 3x as much:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-Upper-Deck-Wax-Box-Unopened-Low-Box-of-36-Packs-Ken-Griffey-Jr/124265300544?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225074%26meid%3D295ad56b55464ed2ab285c874bed94c8%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D333667747018%26itm%3D124265300544%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bDemotionZeroArw&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

Doesn't really make sense. Wax box is fewer cards (540) than full set. It's really about people searching out for that perfect Griffey that they can get graded as a 10.

[Auto Donk]

Donk, compare your Factory set to Unopened wax. This wax box is priced almost 3x as much:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-Upper-Deck-Wax-Box-Unopened-Low-Box-of-36-Packs-Ken-Griffey-Jr/124265300544?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225074%26meid%3D295ad56b55464ed2ab285c874bed94c8%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dpf%26sd%3D333667747018%26itm%3D124265300544%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bDemotionZeroArw&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

Doesn't really make sense. Wax box is fewer cards (540) than full set. It's really about people searching out for that perfect Griffey that they can get graded as a 10.

ah yes, I forgot I have several "in the wrapper" wax, entire box totally unopened, of 88 and 89 donruss, tops, fleer and a few UD 89 or 90..... interesting.....

[Auto Donk]

need to see how much my "pete and repete" card is worth..... before he was banned it was of decent value...

[Auto Donk]

fifteen bucks now....... lol

[ChuckyTheGoat]

ah yes, I forgot I have several "in the wrapper" wax, entire box totally unopened, of 88 and 89 donruss, tops, fleer and a few UD 89 or 90..... interesting.....

Donk, unopened wax is gold. Remember how '89 UD put them in silver foil? I'm sure that was to avoid the issue of peaking + re-sealing packs.

Unopened wax (or foil) has much higher value. If u think in terms of supply, every time someone opens a pack, that dries it up some more. There are some Ebay videos on vintage wax openings.

The value of that stuff is ASTRONOMICAL. It's just so rare. Here is an example of what I mean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55vszqSUeso

I think the retail on that unopened box is something like $44,000. Maybe higher.