Baseball Cards

derek jeter = the guy from nsync that's always behind everybody else

Tracer - no Rich Gedman "love"? Spike Owen? DON BAYLOR? OIL CAN BOYD? The crapitude was a team effort, regardless of the scapegoats. No, wait - it was McNamara's fault.

I also have about five thousand Jose Canseco rookie cards, if anyone's interested...

The oversaturation was also spiked with mania for special ("special") and rare cards called "inserts" that could be found in only a small percentage of packs, which was supposed to justify their double-digit Beckett valuations.

So oversaturation + artificial scarcity = a lot of kids getting ripped off and eventually giving up on the whole deal as a sunk cost of adolescence = my story.

This nails it.

The last thing I remember about collecting cards was buying four or five packs of super ultra ltd edition rare upper deck baseball cards, I think they were 5 dollars a pack for 3 cards, and one out of every 1000 or something would have a card with a REAL BASEBALL JERSEY sewn into the card!!!!! Of course, I probably got nothing but Pedro Guererro and Chris Sabo cards, and gave up the hobby for good.

I still have around 12,000 or so cards in my parent's basement, neatly organized by team. So many people have the same situation that I doubt they'll ever substantially increase in value.

Just before the big bust in prices, I tried to convince my parents to let me sell all my cards, but they wouldn't let me. Their reasoning was that since the value of cards increased so much from the pre-1970s to now, they would continue to increase at a similar pace during the next few decades (RONG). Also, they thought that I'd just blow all of the money I made from selling the cards on videogames (RITE).

oh man my best card was a 1960 Topps Nellie Fox and i bought one of the thick plastic holder things with bolts in the corners

it's pretty amazing how much cards devalued. i have a shitload of griffey rookie cards which were worth $10 a pop in the early 90s and now they're worth a nickel.

my best card was some 1971 nolan ryan topps card. i think it's in my closet back at my parents' house.

know what was cool was that 1992 Score (i think) Bo Jackson card where he had the shoulder pads AND the bat

It's not the most valuable I have by any means, but aesthetically this was always my favorite:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a193/ironsij0287/osmith.jpg

Man, I remember writing an essay in 4th grade about how my hero in life was Ozzie Smith. Then it turned out that my best friend at the time had written about how his best friend was me, and things got really awkward when I said I had chosen Ozzie Smith.

how uncomfortable for Ozzie, too

hahahahahaha
I think I'm going to start an Ozzie Smith thread.

who else had a Beckett subscription? god that was a thrill checking to see if the little arrows went up or down on your top 10

^^^^yes

^^^^

My very first pack of baseball cards were Donruss 88's, I opened it up and this was the first card:

http://www.baseballcardproject.com/Donruss/R/1988/443.jpg

It was at this point that I decided that the Mets were my favorite team and Strawberry was my favorite player. I really enjoyed collecting the cards and never really card about value. Good thing about that.

it's pretty awesome to think about the players everyone was creaming over during the baseball card collecting peak! omg gregg jeffries! steve avery!! jose canseco!! doc gooooden!! future hall of famers WILL CLARK and DON MATTINGLY!!! DAVID JUSTICE and KEVIN MAAS!!!

Results 1 - 10 of about 278 for "jim abbott" "def leppard". (0.35 seconds)

Remember the Score Dream Team cards? Those were hot:

http://www.stonekitty.net/%7Elucyscloset/061607/Image001.jpg

Full bleeds ruined baseball cards. I really liked the wood grain borders of the 87 Topps:

http://www.flapa.com/baseball/cards/KevinMitchell1987_653.jpg

The 1987 Topps set is one of the few that I own all of, and of course there were no noteworthy cards, rookie cards or anything from that series.

Somewhere I have an uncut sheet of 1994 Score cards.

This one kills me, stick figure Barry:

http://www.homeruncards.com/imagesrc/bondstp.jpg

Awesome:

http://www.johnstoncrew.com/GregMadduxRC.jpg

I had this exact same binder:

http://i11.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/b8/ag/a7b7_1.JPG

Oh the lols:

http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/4/8/5/6/9/8/webimg/69023815_tp.jpg

http://images.collectors.com/Articles/b&bhull2.jpg

All these baseball card auctions on ebay with no bids are depressing.

Are they still tearing off little jersey shards or have they moved on to DNA samples?

Going to buy a magnifying glass so can check that!

No no, it’s a special big card, yours is just a normal one sorry 😭 I’d keep a card with a piece of a base for myself, sorry

The worst are the ones where there is a “player worn” swatch, not even game used

Not baseball, but I think I'm going to buy my friend's son a basketball box for an upcoming birthday. There are a couple, Panini or Donruss, and both are $40 for 90 cards. I guess that's not bad.

https://www.mlb.com/news/fan-beau-thompson-collects-million-cubs-cards

Really? "ONE MILLION unique Chicago Cubs cards"--even with the glut, that doesn't sound right. For the first 70 years of baseball cards, you've basically got one or two companies producing them. 70 years x 30 cards x 2 companies = 4,200 unique cards. Double that to account for promotional cards locally produced: 8,400. Round that up to 10,000. Which leaves...another 990,000 cards since 1980.

Best rookie cards I own. I eliminated PED guys (A-Rod, Manny, etc...except one) and Alomar. None are authenticated, but I think they're all near-mint. Drives me up the wall that that matters.

https://i.postimg.cc/W3Ch8k4p/01.jpg

Arenado - 2013 Topps
Bagwell - 1991 Stadium Club
Beltre - 1997 Topps
Bonds - 1987 Donruss (seems to have retained some value)

https://i.postimg.cc/N00Fw49f/02.jpg

Freeman - 2011 Topps
Griffey - 1989 Donruss
Jeter - 1993 Topps
Jones - 1991 Bowman

https://i.postimg.cc/0yk2pfCd/03.jpg

Johnson - 1989 Topps
Kershaw - 2008 Topps
Maddux - 1987 Leaf
Pedro - 1991 Upper Deck

https://i.postimg.cc/fWCPVfJh/04.jpg

Piazza - 1993 Topps
Scherzer - 2008 Topps
Thomas - 1990 Topps
Verlander - 2006 Topps

Wish I'd bought a dozen Kershaws when I could have--$4 or $5 online.

No Betts or Trout or Pujols or Cabrera, unfortunately.

Card show! Toronto has a big one at the International Centre twice a year--made the drive in today to meet my collector friend for dinner (he helps one of the vendors there) and buy lots of junk. First one I've gone to in a few years.

Should have brought my camera; there really is kind of a Hunter S. Thompson in Las Vegas feeling when you step inside, a universe unto itself. The three most expensive things I saw, all the same vendor: game-worn jerseys from Tim Horton and Rocket Richard, both $150,000 (I'd say half to three-quarters of what's in there was hockey-related), and a Nolan Ryan rookie card for $130,000. I know it would require a miracle for someone to steal this stuff, but why would you even risk that? Are you hoping for a walk-up sale on such items? ("$130,000? Sure--is there an ATM in here?")

Gretzky rookie cards everywhere, graded from 1 ($500) to 9 ($30,000--except I swear it didn't look like it was in that great shape...do people counterfeit grading?). In the scoundrel department, an O.J. rookie card (5.5) for $750, and an issue of Playboy with Trump on the cover for $450. Every booth had its name displayed. Best one: Vandelay Industries.

And then there are people like me who are there to buy cheap stuff no one wants (often found in boxes under the tables with the expensive stuff). Some of these were $5, some 2/$5:

1) Blue Jay sets (30 or 40 cards each) put out by Oh Henry! Bought seven, from 1995 to 2001. Not sure if that's all of them--if not, I know I'll start obsessively looking for the others.

2) A nice Blue Jay set put out in 2002, can't figure out by who. Halladay and Delgado are in there.

3) Minor league sets: 1987 Bakersfield Dodgers (best player: Juan Guzman), 1995 Charleston River Dogs (Fernando Tatis), 1992 Calgary Cannons (Bret Boone, Andy Hawkins, pitching coach Ross Grimsley), 1993 Ottawa Lynx (Matt Stairs, Blue Jay broadcaster Joe Siddall!), 1985 Utica Blue Sox (literally no one...Ken Brett was manager, though), and a 50-card Southern League All-Star set from '91 (three Frank Thomas cards, also Luis Gonzalez).

4) Two K-Mart sets: 1990 Super Stars and 1982 20th Anniversary AL & NL MVPs.

5) Other stuff: two Barry Colla sets, Frank Thomas and the 1992 All-Star Game (Colla's a photographer who used to put out his own specialty sets); 1994 Topps Stadium Club "Members Only" (it's embarrassing to even type that...); a McDonald's/Donruss MVP set from '92.

6) 10 loose Topps Heritage cards, including Cabrera on the Marlins, Maddux on the Padres, Beltre on the Mariners and Red Sox, and Rogers Hornsby and Mel Ott.

7) Two unopened decks of Toronto Maple Leafs playing cards. That one's really mysterious.

Also two books, $10 each: Sayonara Home Run! The Art of the Japanese Baseball Card and The Card (about the Honus Wagner T206).

Somewhere in the building, today or tomorrow: Dennis Rodman, William Shatner, and some wrestler (couldn't tell you who).

Good thing I'm two hours away, else I'd probably be back Saturday.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5489541/2024/05/13/bobby-witt-jr-game-worn-cards/?source=user_shared_article

In the second game of the 2024 season, Bobby Witt Jr. went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles. But unbeknownst to anyone watching (well, almost anyone), Witt was playing with something unusual in his uniform pocket.

His baseball cards.

“I grew up my whole life collecting cards,” Witt told The Athletic.

A day earlier, reigning National League Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll led off for the Arizona Diamondbacks doing the same thing. He played in his team’s 7-3 win over the Colorado Rockies with his own baseball cards in his pocket.

Witt and Carroll thus became — according to trading card grading and autograph/memorabilia authentication company Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) — the first two athletes to experiment with “game-used cards.”

A card graded a 10 is defined as “a virtually perfect card.” That means four sharp corners, a well centered image, and blemish-free on the front and back. At the opposite end of the scale, a PSA 1 grade means, “the eye appeal of the card has nearly vanished in its entirety.”

It should come as no surprise that none of the cards Witt and Carroll carried on them through a Major League Baseball game earned a PSA 10. In fact, the game-worn cards are now among the lowest graded examples of each card in PSA’s database. For example, a 1965 card that was taped to a wall and ripped off some of the front when removed, with a thumbtack hole and maybe stained by some marker — that gets a PSA 1. For someone to get, say, a PSA 3 with any card made in the last 20 years — you have to really try to get it that bad. Witt, for instance, knocked down the grades on his cards by sliding into second base on one of his doubles and on a stolen base attempt.

But it could have been worse.

“I put them in my left-back pocket, and I slide on my right. So they weren’t as banged up as they could have been,” Witt explained, adding that he didn’t check on them during the game.

Adding to the damage?

“I knew they had sweat marks on them, so they wouldn’t get good grades.”

…

But even with the wear and tear, Witt’s cards graded higher than Carroll’s did.

The final tally:

Corbin Carroll 2019 Bowman Draft: 1
Corbin Carroll 2023 Topps Heritage: 3
Bobby Witt, Jr. 2022 Topps Heritage: 4
Bobby Witt Jr. 2022 Topps Update: 2
Witt added that he and Carroll talk about cards, but they haven’t discussed the outcomes from the game-worn cards yet.

“If one of these had a scuff on it or a bent corner because Corbin was sliding into second, I think that has extra allure to it,” said Hoge. “Collectors will look at how used or how impactful it was for the game-worn aspect.”

Also, I still need to photograph some of the haul clemenza sent me, I put them away ASAP!

Game-used cards ("used"): what a bizarre concept.

My collector friend told me there's been a scandal or two with the authenticators. Not surprising--it really does seem like a bogus adjunct industry, created solely to drive pricing up. I can see wanting to make sure your Wagner or Mantle card isn't a fake, but at the lower end of the scale, should you really need to authenticate Freddie Freeman and Yordan Alvarez cards?

Got some surprise cards from gyac yesterday, all from the 2023 Topps Heritage set. They look great--not sure which of the '70s sets they're modelled on. Four of them:

https://i.postimg.cc/XqZYkxqd/witt.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/bYMJwXVT/bello.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/rwGFjDVn/gallen.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/ZqVYkXy6/kirk.jpg

The Kirk card kills me--that must have been the day we had him at shortstop.

(Notice the classic "Topps All-Star Rookie" trophy on the Witt card.)

1974 design

That's the one, thanks.

https://i.postimg.cc/RZb9XwrT/oscar.jpg

(Sorry, wasn't thinking about the team nickname, just Oscar Gamble.)

Oh that rules, it’s nice to see the design template!

Tracer Hand gave me this book for my birthday, honestly it rules. He was like, you’ll love this, and I’m always suspicious when people tell me that but in this case it’s true.

https://i.postimg.cc/T1NXG3mv/IMG-2248.jpg

The author is a certified yapper:
https://i.postimg.cc/4ydr8R0L/IMG-2251.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/FzBw8n59/IMG-2253.jpg

However like anything this is forgivable because it’s quite charming, once we get into the actual business of favourite cards and players it’s set the table very well. I can’t really do justice to it myself, so here are the pictures:

https://i.postimg.cc/c1bjsj2W/IMG-2254.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/N08qF4T4/IMG-2255.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/sX0ngQnm/IMG-2259.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/NFSPp9mF/IMG-2262.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/9QTsgpxh/IMG-2260.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/wvBfzck3/IMG-2265.jpg

Oh I’m so glad about you liking it! Isn’t it just great?? I also like his entries on John Roseboro and Choo Choo Coleman

Loved that book when I first read it. There's an entry on I-forget-who where they translate what's on the card into what it means...something to the effect that when the third sentence is about your hobbies, that's not good. And there's the Gus Zernial card they try to figure out:

https://i.postimg.cc/wj3xj88N/gus.jpg

Clemenza remind me which continent ur on?

The one to the left of Greenland.

thumbsupgif

Holy shit, clemenza!

Got this envelope this morning and aside from the Canadian HOF magazine (which I loved and will write - or say 👀) more about in my thread later today hopefully), the cards you sent are just…

https://i.postimg.cc/HsfHhmyV/IMG-3444.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/MGYSHjrQ/IMG-3443.jpg
Oh, I don’t know, just a beautiful perfect condition rookie card of my favourite player ever?

And what’s this? His former teammate and star of the 2012 Giants postseason rotation?
https://i.postimg.cc/Gt8VFBzz/IMG-3445.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/MHn293Z7/IMG-3446.jpg

And what’s this, showcased by my ragged-edge, need-redoing nails?
https://i.postimg.cc/KzvyMvds/IMG-3450.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/mgYxpH45/IMG-3451.jpg

This made my morning. Thank you SO, SO much. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I don’t know if you told me you were sending this because I’ve completely forgotten if you did, but either way, what a great surprise!

I've always loved the design of that Topps 1986 set.

It’s gorgeous. I love the way A’s looks

Glad they got there. I've gotten a lot of good rookie cards over the years from homeruncards.com--much more reasonable than anywhere else online, especially for older rookie cards of non-HOF'ers. The induction guides that he HOF here put out are really nice.

I got a box I’d totally forgotten about ordering today of Topps 2024 s2 - yeah the neon ones. Am willing to part with some of these, and there are more not pictured & I can check my teams. Will likely keep the majority of these in the first two (other half has first refusal on Astros):

https://i.postimg.cc/SQgp0bLY/IMG-4319.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/90K8WbFK/IMG-4320.jpg

Most of these am happy to give away except the random Koufax:

https://i.postimg.cc/BQjkdLQR/IMG-4322.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/509kpjR7/IMG-4323.jpg

I have a ton of Padres, from s1 too, for some reason, but I don’t think they have any fans here.

Wonder if Teoscar is bat-flipping or if he just drew a walk? The crowd would answer that, but they're blurry.

they look like they're standing with arms raised, but it's Dodger Stadium so they're probably just doing the wave.

xp I think the former because he’s gazing skyward at the no doubt moon bomb he just launched

randomly, i popped into the local pizza place for a slice - not because i was hungry, but because there was no line and i grasped the opportunity - and they had an autographed Teo poster on the wall. he'd written "8.3 not bad Go Jays"

Some more great cards arrived from gyac today--the underground ILB cross-continental baseball-card economy is thriving.

https://i.postimg.cc/HnCq0g2c/yordan.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/Y9SGp5gF/soto.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/WbZDb6D5/shohei.jpg

Also: Devers, Freeman, Lindor, Votto, Casas, and some retired guy I don't recognize, Peony or something. They're all from the 2021 Bowman Platinum series, with a nice classic uncluttered look. And very shiny, so I'm afraid to handle them. Many thanks!

You’re welcome! Can I be selfish and ask can you post the others, I know there were two Yordans & at least one was supposed to be sparkly

I took a photo of all seven, but it's just too blurry--sorry. My camera's not great. Anyway, here's the sparkly Yordan card: it's called "ice foil." There's a gold version, too.

https://i.postimg.cc/C5pTg6vg/ice-foil.jpg

Some guys have all the luck.

https://www.mlb.com/news/mike-trout-and-son-find-his-2009-bowman-rookie-baseball-card

tag yourself

https://i.imgur.com/U4qE8Su.jpeg

Colossal look from Tom Hume

https://i.imgur.com/SMwcDRn.jpeg

crazy

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/14/business/sports-memorabilia-collection-discovery.html

Speaking of priceless* collection discoveries I found ozzie smith, kirk gibson, ron guidry and tim raines RC's in a 15 dollar church basement box

*squishy condition aside.

Was I hoping for a Rickey RC, reader you should know I was.

Came home from a stressful trip to the vets to find a parcel from Tracer Hand containing a set of cards for the famously stacked 2024 Portland Sea Dogs roster, of which the most notable:

https://i.postimg.cc/wM0sKssV/IMG-1282.jpg

Kristian “Barry Bonds” Campbell isn’t in this but i had to check and find out he started the season in low-A Greenville before being promoted to double A Portland in June, and then triple A Worcester in August.

Zach Penrod and Nick Yorke have both made their MLB debuts already (Yorke was traded to the Pirates and debuted with them), but the top row (the former big three) should all debut in 2025.

From left: Kyle Teel (now a White Sox), Marcelo Mayer, Roman “gets on his horse” Anthony.

Thank you TH!

It gives me great pleasure gyac!

Absurd:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6549780/2025/08/13/grading-rainbow-griffey-sanders-psa/

If you can't access that, the title explains all: Why Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards in bad condition can command premium prices. (The "why": because they're much scarcer than ones in average shape.)

Thanks to gyac for some nice and unexpected cards that arrived in the mail today. Two Casases (Casasses? Casi?), or course--I need him to return for the sake of my growing Casas collection.

https://i.postimg.cc/dVZ7LfC9/casas-1.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/Dzq8cbBJ/casas-2.jpg

A Max card from his Ranger days (or hours):

https://i.postimg.cc/9MCzgFnx/max.jpg

Also: Kutter Crawford and Reese McGuire (both of whom I know), and NaoYuki Uwasawa and Zach Neto (both of whom I don't). I want them all to thrive (in 2026).

Can I just say a couple of those are throw-ins, I absolutely did not buy an Uwasawa card or Reese McGuire! Zach Neto is legit, though, very fun player to watch imo. Also I checked my account to see what I actually bought and I have no memory of any of this so must have been when I was sick so apologies for such a random selection.

Neto has the funniest expression I’ve ever seen from a guy who hits a home run

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgnajJcci24

Is ordering baseball cards in 2025 while in a feverish daze a distant cousin of drunk-dialing someone in 1983?

I quite literally wouldn’t know…