― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ally, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
derek jeter = the guy from nsync that's always behind everybody else
― ernest, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― chris, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tom, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
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.
― David Raposa, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I also have about five thousand Jose Canseco rookie cards, if anyone's interested...
― JM, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Kris, Thursday, 18 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― marcus keeno, Tuesday, 30 March 2004 23:53 (twenty years ago) link
― jergïns, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 13:50 (sixteen years ago) link
― Lingbert, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:15 (sixteen years ago) link
― the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:16 (sixteen years ago) link
― sanskrit, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:17 (sixteen years ago) link
― sanskrit, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:19 (sixteen years ago) link
― David R., Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:23 (sixteen years ago) link
― Brent, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:29 (sixteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 14:59 (sixteen years ago) link
― Leee, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 16:45 (sixteen years ago) link
― Lingbert, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 17:18 (sixteen years ago) link
― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 17:39 (sixteen years ago) link
― deeznuts, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 17:46 (sixteen years ago) link
― David R., Wednesday, 16 May 2007 18:02 (sixteen years ago) link
― Steve Shasta, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 18:08 (sixteen years ago) link
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).
― Z S, Saturday, 13 October 2007 16:58 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― iiiijjjj, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:00 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― omar little, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link
know what was cool was that 1992 Score (i think) Bo Jackson card where he had the shoulder pads AND the bat
― iiiijjjj, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:04 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Z S, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:04 (sixteen years ago) link
how uncomfortable for Ozzie, too
― iiiijjjj, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:05 (sixteen years ago) link
hahahahahaha I think I'm going to start an Ozzie Smith thread.
― Z S, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:07 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― iiiijjjj, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:08 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^^yes
― Jordan Sargent, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:10 (sixteen years ago) link
^^^^
― omar little, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:15 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:17 (sixteen years ago) link
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!!!
― omar little, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Results 1 - 10 of about 278 for "jim abbott" "def leppard". (0.35 seconds)
― iiiijjjj, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Remember the Score Dream Team cards? Those were hot:
http://www.stonekitty.net/%7Elucyscloset/061607/Image001.jpg
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:27 (sixteen years ago) link
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
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:31 (sixteen years ago) link
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.
― Z S, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:33 (sixteen years ago) link
This one kills me, stick figure Barry:
http://www.homeruncards.com/imagesrc/bondstp.jpg
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:33 (sixteen years ago) link
Awesome:
http://www.johnstoncrew.com/GregMadduxRC.jpg
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:35 (sixteen years ago) link
I had this exact same binder:
http://i11.ebayimg.com/03/i/000/b8/ag/a7b7_1.JPG
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh the lols:
http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/4/8/5/6/9/8/webimg/69023815_tp.jpg
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:45 (sixteen years ago) link
http://images.collectors.com/Articles/b&bhull2.jpg
― dan m, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:46 (sixteen years ago) link
All these baseball card auctions on ebay with no bids are depressing.
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:49 (sixteen years ago) link
http://tigerwoodsfistpump.blogspot.com/2007/08/when-baseball-cards-mattered_19.html
― the sir weeze, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Holy shit, remember Brien Taylor?! http://www.checkoutmycards.com/CardImages/Original/008/989/04F.jpg
I remember reading the entire cover story on the guy, who was basically some high school kid who could throw really, really fast. Never even made it to the majors, but in my mind he was a legend.
― Z S, Saturday, 13 October 2007 17:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Never even made it to the majors,
injured himself in a bar brawl while in the minors and his career was over.
― chicago kevin, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:03 (sixteen years ago) link
How much do you think 12,000 cards would be worth now? Discounting the "good" cards in them, how much would that many common cards be worth? $300?
― Z S, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:06 (sixteen years ago) link
I have Orel Hershiser's RC somewhere. I also have a signed Mike Richter (G, NYR) RC at home in CA.
― Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:06 (sixteen years ago) link
good luck selling that to anyone, Z S
i think most people are too attached to their own collections, and that buying someone else's would kinda be like using their toothbrush
― the sir weeze, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Ha, you're probably right. I guess I was thinking more of selling all of them to some small card shop. I'm sure people in that business get sick of clueless people walking in everyday trying to unload thousands of worthless cards.
― Z S, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:14 (sixteen years ago) link
this seems like a good place to mention this:
i have a ton of jeff bagwell cards that im irrationally inexplicably attached to there's a good chance he's going to the hall of fame, at which time his cards would be at peak value (around induction time, if it happens) i gotta sell all of them at that time, but im anticipating being all.. 'man, i CANT sell ALL of them...' or something has anyone else dealt with this before?
― the sir weeze, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Yep, with McGwire's cards during the season that he and Sosa were chasing 70. In retrospect, I made the completely wrong decision.
― Z S, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link
dude, you're only going to get like 25¢ more for it anyways.
― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:59 (sixteen years ago) link
The card worth anything these days is a Bonds card with a signed confession on it.
― Jeff, Saturday, 13 October 2007 19:02 (sixteen years ago) link
here's a dumb question, but where do you buy baseball cards these days? i was looking to get some for my son because he's just at that age where he would probably dig them, and i couldn't find them. looked mainly in supermarkets and the big chain drugstores.
― gershy, Saturday, 13 October 2007 22:36 (sixteen years ago) link
this was at the start of the season, wouldn't expect to find them now
― gershy, Saturday, 13 October 2007 22:46 (sixteen years ago) link
I'm pretty sure Target sells baseball cards -- packets or boxes (no more wax boxes these days I reckon)
― van smack, Saturday, 13 October 2007 22:59 (sixteen years ago) link
x-post . yea Target sells them. 7 11 did years ago.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 13 October 2007 23:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Sports Authority and Toys R Us sometimes sell 'em
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 13 October 2007 23:08 (sixteen years ago) link
thanx!
― gershy, Sunday, 14 October 2007 01:02 (sixteen years ago) link
asshole card dealers took the fun out of card collecting.
"hey i've got a mint bonds card here, man!"
"ah but is it gem mint?"
"..."
― omar little, Sunday, 14 October 2007 01:32 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.snopes.com/sports/graphics/ripken.jpg
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 14 October 2007 03:06 (sixteen years ago) link
http://tigerwoodsfistpump.blogspot.com/2008/01/dealing-with-agony-of-once-valuable.html
― the sir weeze, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 13:52 (sixteen years ago) link
Kent Hrbek!
Andy Van Slyke!
Glenallen Hill!
I'm gonna be RICH!!
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 14:31 (sixteen years ago) link
I never got into this kind of collecting, cert not as an investment.
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 14:35 (sixteen years ago) link
yeah i think the monthly price guides starting getting popular around the mid-80s, it was like the jr. stock market
by the way, the actual baseball card link for sir weeze's article is this: http://tigerwoodsfistpump.blogspot.com/2007/08/when-baseball-cards-mattered_19.html
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 8 January 2008 14:41 (sixteen years ago) link
come with us to 1971...
http://thebaseballchronicle.com/personal_stories/1971_topps_baseball
― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 17:34 (fourteen years ago) link
my dad's collection is at about 40,000. i used to catalog them for him!
― Julie & Julius Rosenberg (donna rouge), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 17:36 (fourteen years ago) link
i have a mark mcgwire rookie card that he gave me...somewhere...
yr grandma didn't throw them out? xp
― Indiana Morbs and the Curse of the Ivy League Chorister (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 26 August 2009 17:37 (fourteen years ago) link
baseball card dealers back in my hometown were like these messiah figures to kids, i swear. they had an entire army of 11-14 yr olds at their disposal at any given moment, keeping them loyal with 1989 donruss. it was all a lie!
― omar little, Friday, 2 October 2009 19:35 (fourteen years ago) link
anyone want to buy 5,000 '88-'90 donruss and topps cards, btw? $20.
― omar little, Friday, 2 October 2009 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
http://onthescene.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/09/29/the-baseball-card-industry-is-in-a-serious-slump/
― omar little, Friday, 2 October 2009 19:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I wonder whatever became of my 1992 Topps complete set that I bought from the Price Club with money I had saved up from helping dig post-holes in my grandpa's backyard. I actually opened all the packs and put them into plastic sleeves for access to the gum. No regrets.
― iiiijjjj, Friday, 2 October 2009 19:43 (fourteen years ago) link
My dealer had $5 grab-bags on the wall - little manila envelopes on hooks labeled 1-30. You'd stare at them for 10 minutes or however long it took you to determine which one had the luckiest aura, then throw down your $5 and roll the fukken dice. OCCASIONALLY it was something worth more than $5 but for the most part it was some borderline decent card and a handful of no-name loser crapola. Scamming pre-adolescent boys, woop woop.
― iiiijjjj, Friday, 2 October 2009 19:47 (fourteen years ago) link
er, my complete set was 1990 Topps. Apparently they discontinued gum in 1992.
― iiiijjjj, Friday, 2 October 2009 19:50 (fourteen years ago) link
ya - the gum was staining the cards. boo-freaking-hoo.
― The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall, Friday, 2 October 2009 20:06 (fourteen years ago) link
one out of every 1000 or something would have a card with a REAL BASEBALL JERSEY sewn into the card!!!!!
Like, a wee couple-of-centimeters tall jersey? Or a scrap of a regular-sized baseball jersey?
― existential eggs (Abbott), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Viceroy has some Chris Chelios card(s?) displayed in our windowsill for the lols. I realize this is hockey but it is a sports card nonetheless.
― existential eggs (Abbott), Friday, 2 October 2009 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
still have 50,000+ cards stacked in boxes in mom's basement. sorry, mom. they will be there until the end of time
also have a 2500+ will clark collection
― 6335, Saturday, 3 October 2009 15:26 (fourteen years ago) link
1909-11 tobacco cards:
http://baseballcards.galib.uga.edu
― A Patch on Blazing Saddles (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 3 October 2009 22:31 (fourteen years ago) link
had soooo many phil plantier cards
― iiiijjjj, Sunday, 14 March 2010 00:52 (fourteen years ago) link
http://acidcow.com/pics/12208-the-30-worst-baseball-cards-of-all-time-30-pics.html
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 August 2010 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link
this one cracks me up:
http://acidcow.com/pics/20100809/the_30_worst_baseball_cards_of_all_time_16.jpg
― ('_') (omar little), Monday, 16 August 2010 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
No Kent Tekulve?
This feature also reminds me that I had a dream recently in which I was astonished to discover that Doug Drabek was still active.
― jaymc, Monday, 16 August 2010 17:58 (thirteen years ago) link
There's still a part of my brain left over from highschool that could get back into collecting baseball cards tomorrow if I let it. That obsessive collect the whole set, find my favorite players, etc gland. Dangerous, dangerous stuff. I dare not let it out.
― Mordy, Monday, 16 August 2010 18:01 (thirteen years ago) link
In a similar spirit, this is one of the funniest baseball books I've ever read:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Great_American_Baseball_Card_Book.jpg
It was first published in 1973, long before all the collector insanity.
― clemenza, Monday, 16 August 2010 18:02 (thirteen years ago) link
There's still a part of my brain left over from highschool that could get back into collecting baseball cards tomorrow if I let it.
^^ cosign
― Astronaut Mike Dexter (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 16 August 2010 18:03 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm almost positive i had that Tom Henke one
― proud teabagger from rim country (arby's), Monday, 16 August 2010 18:06 (thirteen years ago) link
i had many of those cards morbs linked to, oscar gamble lol
i always remember the ugly dudes http://lh5.ggpht.com/_kynWiBKxeYU/TD3GGv_F-_I/AAAAAAAAA5k/Nm4emmvNc2k/Andy_Etchebarren_77.jpg
― buzza, Monday, 16 August 2010 18:08 (thirteen years ago) link
clemenza - I had that book!!! totally hilarious and for a teenager it was this weird direct access to the ancient past
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 August 2010 18:11 (thirteen years ago) link
I went downstairs to try to dig it up so I could quote one specific entry, but I couldn't find it. I remember I leant it out a couple of times, so I hope I got it back...Let me give it another try.
― clemenza, Monday, 16 August 2010 18:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Found it--forgotten that I'd replaced my old paperback with a hardcover edition. The entry I was thinking of is too long to quote in full; it's the one where they look at the text on the back of a Sammy Esposito card and analyze what it really means. Sample: "'Sammy attended Indiana U. for three years'...But as long as they were at it, did they have to throw in the 'three years'? This makes it sound as if Sammy was expelled."
Here's the exact card:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/images/9/92/Sam_Esposito.jpg
― clemenza, Monday, 16 August 2010 18:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, I guess baseballreference.com blocks their images.
― clemenza, Monday, 16 August 2010 18:34 (thirteen years ago) link
one of the funniest baseball books I've ever read.
Also (as I've said before) one of the most influential books on my own writing.
This is what my copy look like (the original cover, I think?)
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/38/f7/8092024128a0bedd634e1010.L._SL500_AA300_.jpg
And I can't believe this card didn't make that Top 30 list:
https://www.gfg.com/cardimg/119/27051.jpg
― xhuxk, Monday, 16 August 2010 18:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Chuck: Mine's without the dust jacket, but it's gotta be the same issue. (It was actually Mike Saunders who sent it to me, at which point I gave my paperback to someone else.) The Zernial card's great; my other favourites are the Bob Cerv card where it looks like he's hitting himself in the head, and the Unitas card towards the end. One thing I never understood--the way the authors clearly hate Bouton, even though their book is so similar to Ball Four in some of its humour.
http://caimages.collectors.com/psaimages/392/02220079/1960JohnnyUnitas.jpg
― clemenza, Monday, 16 August 2010 19:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah mine's without the dust jacket too. Metallic red type on a dark blue fabric cover, IIRC.
I've stolen so many lines from that book over the years. I'll always remember something to the effect of "Roseboro wore this expression ever since Juan Marichal whacked him on the head with a white-ash Hillerich and Bradsby" which I assumed was a joke for years until I learned it was true!
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 August 2010 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Johnny Unitas... there's a haircut you could set your watch to!
― ('_') (omar little), Monday, 16 August 2010 19:20 (thirteen years ago) link
One thing I never understood--the way the authors clearly hate Bouton, even though their book is so similar to Ball Four in some of its humour.
I've got a later edition (early 90s) w/ separate new prefaces by Boyd & Harris. One of them mentions that Bouton had been asked to provide a foreword to the original edition and he declined because he didn't want his kids to see his entry wherein he was called a rat. They replied with what about all the much worse stuff other players kids saw re:their dads in Ball Four. Bouton stopped talking to them.
― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 16 August 2010 19:21 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.checkoutmycards.com/CardImages/Cards/236/789/07F.jpg
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Monday, 16 August 2010 19:21 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/images/cards/8510.jpg
― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 16 August 2010 19:22 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/images/cards/8510.jpgWhy did I make such a terrible post about him?
― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 16 August 2010 19:23 (thirteen years ago) link
Metallic red type on a dark blue fabric cover, IIRC.
You've got a good memory--exactly.
That Bouton stuff is fascinating. Here's the entirety of what they write next to his card: "Jim Bouton is a big mouth." Yet he was approached to write a preface? I'm guessing that was the publisher's idea, not necessarily the authors'.
― clemenza, Monday, 16 August 2010 19:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, they didn't want a forward. They had another story about someone else (i forget) the publisher wanted. One of the guys decided to write the person a letter by hand (to show sincerity). The guy wrote back saying he didn't like hand written letters and whatever $ figure they'd quoted was "an insult".
Joe Garagiola was also approached, but backed out because he was still embarrassed about signing exclusive deals w/both Topps and Bowman in the 50s, and didn;t like that story being retold in the text.
― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 16 August 2010 19:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Of course, later Topps made Joe's business cards:
http://nowbatting19.com/sitebuilder/images/1976_Topps_Garagiola-283x473.png
― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 16 August 2010 19:35 (thirteen years ago) link
i have most of a set of 1968 topps world series cartoon cards. anybody who wants to pay postage is welcome to them.
― From the novel "Spinster Dinner" (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 16 January 2011 20:18 (thirteen years ago) link
why dont you ask that question of ebay and use the money for outrageous joy!!
I am goin through all my old cards now - ebaying some. some of the cards really amuse me
http://rayonsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/gamble.jpg
― Splendid Curving Oasis of Ivory (Latham Green), Thursday, 1 September 2011 13:39 (twelve years ago) link
so my brother's mother-in-law gave him a box of 1990 Fleers. they're not worth anything, but we've been enjoying opening them. they have a really nice look to them, very classically designed and clean. they have stickers too but they're no longer sticky so if you put one up on the wall they slide off after a few minutes.
― Mordy, Friday, 18 May 2012 16:55 (eleven years ago) link
Keep the Larry Walkers, and maybe the Sosas, too, just in case; the Belles and Juan-Gones are for the bike.
― clemenza, Friday, 18 May 2012 17:06 (eleven years ago) link
apologies if this has already been posted in this thread, but this is my favorite blog entry ever!
http://cardboardgods.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/2008_422_0001_steve_carlton_81_360.jpg?w=252&h=360
― dell (del), Friday, 18 May 2012 17:10 (eleven years ago) link
Aw man, I used to love Albert Belle.
― pandemic, Friday, 18 May 2012 17:12 (eleven years ago) link
clemenza, do u buy new baseball cards? i so enjoy opening packs of cards that i was thinking about buying a box of something new, but i don't know what to get
― Mordy, Friday, 18 May 2012 17:14 (eleven years ago) link
A truly fascinating player; I just meant he's not going into the HOF, which for a baseball card = worthless. I liked him too.
― clemenza, Friday, 18 May 2012 17:15 (eleven years ago) link
I was badly hooked in the mid-'90s (just after the strike; like investing all your money in Studebaker stock...), but I haven't bought anything for a few years.
― clemenza, Friday, 18 May 2012 17:16 (eleven years ago) link
Mordy: I think the boxes that tend to be cheap and easily available are, in terms of rookie cards, whatever falls into the steroids window--from about '87 to '93 or so. All those sets with rookies for Sosa, Palmeiro, Bagwell, I-Rod, etc., or burnouts like Belle and Gonzalez.
― clemenza, Friday, 18 May 2012 17:40 (eleven years ago) link
I collected from about '84-'92, so I got to watch my collection go way up in value and then crash down to earth, becoming nearly worthless. Really wish I'd gotten rid of them sooner.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 May 2012 17:44 (eleven years ago) link
that makes me feel a little better, jon. i collected in the early eighties and my brother at one point sold the lot on ebay w/o asking me for permission. i mean, i don't necessarily begrudge him for doing so, i owe him a lot in some respects, but axing someone never hurts
― dell (del), Friday, 18 May 2012 17:50 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, my mom kept hinting around '90 that I should sell my collection to get $$$ for college, but at the time I was madly flipping through Beckett's, watching the prices climb and climb, and was all, "no way mom, this is going to be worth SO MUCH MONEY if I wait ten more years!". Stupid me.
My parents sold off all of my comic books and Star Wars toys at a garage sale without telling me, still hold a grudge to this day over that one.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 May 2012 17:55 (eleven years ago) link
oh shit, haha
why did the card prices end up going down? i don't know anything about that world
― dell (del), Friday, 18 May 2012 17:58 (eleven years ago) link
From what I understand it was just the inevitable collapse of artificially high prices. Like there was a period 2 years into his career when Gary Sheffield's rookie card was worth like $75 or something. It was like all of the sudden card values were based on hype and buzz instead of a HOF career or storied past (see also the ridiculous craze for Todd Van Poppel rookie cards). I'm sure someone else could explain it in more detail or with better back-up though.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:09 (eleven years ago) link
it was pretty much a bubble. too many cards at inflated prices.
xpost
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:10 (eleven years ago) link
Mordy: a coworker and i buy a few packs every year when a new set comes out (ostensibly for graphic design reasons)... Topps now has an exclusive deal with MLB, so for now they're the only game in town. i like what they've done this year tho - they're applying an occasional classic card design to current players, so I got a 1987-style Andrew Mccutchen card in my last pack!
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:15 (eleven years ago) link
Oooh I loved the '87 Topps set when I was a kid.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dawson-87-topps.jpg
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:16 (eleven years ago) link
do they do a couple different sets? i remember when i bought cards in high school there were all kinds of different sets. ones with real bats, ones with pieces of jersey, ones that are all rookies, etc.
― Mordy, Friday, 18 May 2012 18:16 (eleven years ago) link
iirc they have a 2nd 2012 collectors set, but i cannot recall what its deal was.
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:19 (eleven years ago) link
also: how do you fit a baseball bat inside a pack of cards?!
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:20 (eleven years ago) link
xposts ah how funny
yeah, i've never been savvy enough to convert my trash into cash as it were
like i know i have some books and records lying around that would fetch a decent price, but for whatever reason it's never been in my makeup to suss that out. i would rather give those things to someone who would appreciate it. otherwise i would just spend that money on dinner or a v-necked sweater
not a "humblebrag", prob more of an enduring character flaw and illustrative of my attempts to evade full-fledged adulthood
― dell (del), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:20 (eleven years ago) link
baseball bat splinters!
― Mordy, Friday, 18 May 2012 18:20 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, that was a huge trend among all sports card companies at one point, really thin slices of backetballs, footballs, jersy pieces, bat splinters, even tiny pieces of basketball floors iirc.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:22 (eleven years ago) link
i have tiny basketball floor cards! also bat splinters, jerseys...
― Mordy, Friday, 18 May 2012 18:23 (eleven years ago) link
Man this thread is taking me back. Remember when the '89 Upper Deck set dropped and it was like the most exciting, revolutionary thing that had ever happened to baseball card?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0wSWUUEE2sE/TelpLmlCiMI/AAAAAAAAHJo/YQQBGzfjVuI/s1600/1989%2BUpper%2BDeck%2BF.jpg
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:26 (eleven years ago) link
wait what you are fucking kidding me
― dell (del), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:28 (eleven years ago) link
Another thing that hurt the card industry (as alluded to by clem) was the strike, which conveniently lined up with when Comic Books becoming ultra-hot collectibles (the heyday of Image, Valient, X-Men cartoon show etc.).
― Leslie Mann: Boner Machine (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:29 (eleven years ago) link
(xpost)
They even did Nascar cards that had parts of race-used TIRES.
Speaking of '89 Upper Deck, this card was such hot shit in my neck of the woods back in the day:
http://www.vintagecardprices.com/pics/1988/109494.jpg
― Leslie Mann: Boner Machine (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:32 (eleven years ago) link
At least all you guys had the excuse of being in grade school and high school when you got hooked; I was 33.
Always figured one of the companies would start sticking bits of Ted Williams' brain into chase packs, but I guess they had to draw the line somewhere.
― clemenza, Friday, 18 May 2012 18:33 (eleven years ago) link
well, we could split hairs about "ethics" all day, but is that really so beyond the pale? i think not
― dell (del), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:45 (eleven years ago) link
oh god!a friend bequeathed a buncha books to me and this was amongst them:http://books.gigaimg.com/avaxhome/a8/be/0013bea8_medium.jpeg
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:47 (eleven years ago) link
I had the Ripken "future stars" triple rookie, which seems to go for around $25 on ebay but was once "worth" a lot more.
― this guy's a gangsta? his real name's mittens. (Hurting 2), Friday, 18 May 2012 18:57 (eleven years ago) link
i don't think i gave any sort break down of the classic cards i have, but i feel compelled to share now for some reason, so here a few of my favs that i own:'61 Whitey Ford & Duke Snider'65 Koufax'66 Ernie banks'67 Ed Mathews'72 Mays, Orlando Cepeda'73 Clemente, Brooks Robinson & Aparicio'75 Aaron, Frank Robinson & Killbrew
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 18 May 2012 19:29 (eleven years ago) link
speaking of the memorabilia stuff, an interesting section from the Upper Deck wiki page:
Memorabilia & Relic Cards Upper Deck has changed its practice of using materials certified as "Worn" by the player depicted on the front of the card. The changed wording on the backs of Upper Deck insert cards makes it less clear as to how the materials were used or what player wore the item. EXAMPLE: Steve Nash card 2004... (Back of card) On the front of this card is an authentic piece of a jersey WORN by Steve Nash as a member of the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA game. EXAMPLE: Jermaine O'Neal card 2006 Exquisite...(Back of card) On the front of this is a piece of memorabilia that has been certified to us as having been USED in an NBA game. Upper Deck has also stopped adding the word "Jersey" to the fronts of game-used insert cards. The company no longer acknowledges exactly what kind of material was inserted into the cards or how the item was used, and it has eliminated statements claiming the player pictured on the card front actually wore the inserted material. Upper Deck's authenticity has been questioned in regards to players' jersey and uniform materials. The cards state the inserted items are known to Upper Deck to have been used or worn, but since most of the gear is acquired through third parties, the actual use is unknown. Most of Upper Deck's jersey materials are harvested at events like rookie photo shoots, etc.. During such events, players often change shirts dozens of times to generate event-worn uniform material that never sees the field of play. Collectors still debate and question the authenticity of such 'memorabilia", which often includes items manufactured specifically for insert cards, patches, and other desirable content.
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 18 May 2012 19:37 (eleven years ago) link
Which brings me back to Ted Williams' brain--with all the advancements in DNA science, a tiny little scraping from Ted's noggin would be so much easier to authenticate.
― clemenza, Friday, 18 May 2012 20:55 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.fangraphs.com/not/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/medium_RandyJohnsonIsAPrettyGirl-225x300.jpg
― Mad God 40/40 (Z S), Monday, 4 June 2012 18:19 (eleven years ago) link
ha haah a haha
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 4 June 2012 18:22 (eleven years ago) link
― Mordy, Monday, August 16, 2010 2:01 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Annyong.
http://leftfieldcards.com/index.html
― Grimy Little Pimp (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 1 September 2012 20:44 (eleven years ago) link
Dangerous, dangerous stuff. I dare not let it out.
I looked up Jose Fernandez out of curiosity, ended up buying some rookie cards online:
Madison Bumgarner -- 2010 ToppsJose Fernandez -- 2013 ToppsFreddie Freeman -- 2011 ToppsClayton Kershaw -- 2008 Topps UpdateAndrew McCutchen -- 2005 Bowman Draft PicksAdam Wainwright -- 2000 Bowman Draft Picks
They were all between $3-5. The Trouts, Cabreras, and Harpers, forget it.
I need to get back to work and save myself from such idle pursuits.
― clemenza, Friday, 9 August 2013 18:07 (ten years ago) link
Jerry: "Clemenza let it out?"Elaine: "Let. It. Out."
― clemenza, Friday, 9 August 2013 18:29 (ten years ago) link
Ugliest card ever?
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2013/08/bob_hamelin_worst_baseball_card_ever_the_case_of_1996_pinnacle_foil_no_289.html
I always thought those Topps Finest cards were hideous.
http://cconnect.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/1993-Topps-Finest-Baseball-Jumbo-All-Stars-Barry-Bonds1.jpg
(The 26-year-old Hamelin beat out Manny Ramirez and Jim Edmonds for ROY in 1994. Based only on what they did that year, and not taking into consideration age and projected future value, it's hard to argue with the vote.)
― clemenza, Monday, 26 August 2013 19:50 (ten years ago) link
http://www.chicagonow.com/lists-that-actually-matter/files/2011/06/bob_walk.jpg
― Matt Groening is MY Cousin (Leee), Sunday, 29 December 2013 05:32 (ten years ago) link
Congratulations, you're five dollars richer.
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 January 2014 03:05 (ten years ago) link
i remember those upper deck cards. man, they seemed so expensive at the time. i had that griffey at one point but sold it. i think i sold all my valuable cards. the most valuable ones were the '89 upper decks and the '90 leafs. unfortunately i didn't sell them at peak value, but fortunately i sold them before i lost money. i got some dece drinking money out of david justice and big hurt rookie cards. like i said upthread, it's high comedy to see how much people were willing to pay for certain cards. i'm pretty sure the kevin maas rookie cards peaked at $25. i know the doc gooden fleer rookie was $500 at one point.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Sunday, 12 January 2014 03:13 (ten years ago) link
impressive that the card is even worth more than it was (the Leaf FT) considering you can now get Upper Deck FT rookies for like $2. I think they were valued at $30 or $40 back in the day, which to me seemed like a shitload of money.
― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Sunday, 12 January 2014 03:20 (ten years ago) link
i think the OG upper deck series is regarded as the legit collector's choice one, i remember the 1990 set being really sought after initially but quickly declining. maybe it was just more common and the novelty had worn off a bit. i think it also has to do with the leaf set being more sought after. and after that, everyone was putting out premium cards and the market got flooded and basically destroyed. i know cards are still worth money but i feel like literally every kid i knew back in '88-'90 was into baseball cards, it was a huge peak era, basically as long as the card wasn't dented or creased you were cool. then it turned into shit you'd frame and grade out with a pitchfork score and if it was a millimeter off center, fuck you get out of my store.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Sunday, 12 January 2014 03:27 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, that $75 seems a little far-fetched.
I've got a whole bunch of rookie cards dating back to that time that I collected for a short time in the mid-'90s, after the bottom dropped out: Griffey, Thomas, Bonds, Bagwell, I-Rod, Maddux, Alomar, Piazza, Jeter, etc. Never the key rookie card, though, always the secondary ones.
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 January 2014 03:37 (ten years ago) link
every kid of my generation grew up hearing stories about how their dads' moms threw away all their baseball cards, which would now be worth so much money, so they never threw away theirs, and hence they're worth nothing.
― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Sunday, 12 January 2014 03:40 (ten years ago) link
I still have all mine!!! I'd sell them all for $5.
― Jeff, Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:13 (ten years ago) link
yeah got mine too, just got them out the other day. 88-94
― Spottie, Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:17 (ten years ago) link
I think mine are still under my childhood bed. I had a few notables. It looks from eBay like even my 1940 Lefty Gomez is not worth what it once was, and I would think that one is not super common.
― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:20 (ten years ago) link
yeah mine are in my room at my moms place, i wonder how much i could get for them (and my pokemon) cards
― k3vin k., Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:21 (ten years ago) link
did anyone ever actually strike gold, i.e. find a valuable card in a pack instead of buying or trading for it? I think my Will Clark rookie was the one example of that.
― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:21 (ten years ago) link
I think I have all of Garbage Pail Kids Series 3 too -- I actually put the entire set together from packs and trading.
― signed, J.P. Morgan CEO (Hurting 2), Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:22 (ten years ago) link
yeah i got a few good ones in normal packs but can't remember specifics.
― Spottie, Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:24 (ten years ago) link
I have an Iván Calderón rookie card. And then he was MURDERED.
― Jeff, Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:24 (ten years ago) link
close thread
― Spottie, Sunday, 12 January 2014 04:25 (ten years ago) link
i bought so many packs that i found a lot of gold in them thar hills. the griffey upper deck rookie was my best score and i had a lot of good cards from my early days of buying (when i was 7 or 8, before i knew they were worth anything.) i had ripken's topps rookie somewhere, sandberg's rookie card, a few others.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Sunday, 12 January 2014 07:02 (ten years ago) link
Same - got a lot of decent cards through collecting. Recently went through all my old cards and found Jeter and Rivera rookies I had no idea I had! I still buy the occasional pack and have managed to score a Bumgarner and a few Bundy rookies.
― Porto for Pyros (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, 12 January 2014 21:53 (ten years ago) link
I should probably try to sell my FT Leaf RC, but to hell with getting it gem-rated or whatever.
― Neil Nosepicker (Leee), Sunday, 12 January 2014 22:03 (ten years ago) link
If you have a Leaf Mariano, Thermo, that's good--just learned he was the rare player who only had one rookie card issued. His first Topps card wasn't until 1995, shared with Lyle Mouton (who, glancing at his career stats, didn't seem to get a fair shake).
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 January 2014 22:06 (ten years ago) link
http://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/14674983388_2be6f53941_o.jpg?w=700&h=934
― Mordy, Wednesday, 20 August 2014 19:31 (nine years ago) link
Oh my god does that dude live in Brooklyn? I think he goes to my Starbuck's
― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 20 August 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
My cards, around 4,000 plus, were never in great condition so never that valuable, but some perverse part of me likes that there is no longer this crazy market. Did the market go south because everyone growing up in the 70s and 80s saved their cards thinking they would be valuable one day? I have a lot of 50s-60s cards that I never gave back to a lifeguard who lent me them one summer but their condition is highly variable
― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 20 August 2014 19:51 (nine years ago) link
I finally threw out most of my '90s cards last week. What a heartbreaker — the hours and dollars I dumped into this crazy habit, everything meticulously sleeved and filed.
The mixture of lottery and "investment" and sports obsession were irresistible to 15-year-old me. I remember a friend in 1989 when we'd both just bought the Upper Deck Griffey set telling me with this self-assured grin, "Now we just sit back and watch it grow [in value]."
There's a chance that in another 20 years, the market might turn again once everyone my age has dumped their collections in the trash; but I can't keep carting these 500-count boxes around with me from home to home.
My best card is either my Patrick Roy or Guy Lafleur rookies (I'm Canadian). Of course, I'd trade the lot for a Gretzky, though that card's iconic up here, maybe the only one whose value has kept rising.
― dinnerboat, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:14 (eight years ago) link
Yes everyone please start throwing your cards away / burning them
― unleashed profanity-laced tirade (Spottie), Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:17 (eight years ago) link
Mine are just in the closet at my parents. I assume they will stay there for eternity.
― Jeff, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:21 (eight years ago) link
my instincts for cards are still there, i was in a thrift shop and there were a few cards lying around and i found a GEM MINT CENTERED 10.0 gregg jefferies DONRUSS RATED ROOKIE. could have had it for a nickel but i didn't want to make the investment.
― nomar, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:22 (eight years ago) link
i think the best part about cards were the statistics and learning about stats through them and i always thought it was awesome that there was a stat devoted to SLUGGING
― nomar, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:25 (eight years ago) link
Truthfully, dinnerboat, I think the hockey-card market is still pretty strong up here. Whenever I go to the big card show at the International Centre in Toronto, it's like 95% hockey-card vendors--no interest for me, but I don't think it imploded like the baseball market did.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:29 (eight years ago) link
xpost I definitely knew more about sports when I had the financial incentive of card values.
clemeza, Maybe for historical cards, but I think those early '90s glossy vomit collections (Pro Set, Score, etc.) tanked across the board. At least judging by ebay auctions.
― dinnerboat, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:31 (eight years ago) link
that really what i loved most about them. loved looking at the careers of guys like Ryan or Rice and getting the card of a guy towards the end of a great career was so much more exciting than some flavour-of-the-month rookie card.
anyways - it was my mother moving into a much smaller space that caused me to toss most of my 90's cards (also is how i discovered the Jeter and Rivera cards i was unaware of)!
― Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:32 (eight years ago) link
um – Clem, i would totally love to go to a card convention again. used to go all the time when i was a kid!
― Mad Piratical (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:33 (eight years ago) link
(xpost) True--but I think Lafleur and Roy rookies would be worth something if they're in good shape.
Let's catch the next one in the spring, Thermo. Last time I went, I ended up buying almost a thousand dollars' worth of baseball media guides from a guy over the next several months. These contain secret information available nowhere else except six or seven different internet sites.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:35 (eight years ago) link
my gooden rookie is worth less now than it was in 1989 :(
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:37 (eight years ago) link
My Juan Gonzalez and Albert Belle rookies are worth less than a George Pataki endorsement.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:40 (eight years ago) link
mine were in my parent's storage since 2001 or so, presumably for eternity, and then about a year ago their basement flooded and they were all absolutely ruined. i had a lot of cards, not many of them good.
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 22:46 (eight years ago) link
https://static.simpsonswiki.com/images/thumb/1/14/Omar_Vizquel.png/250px-Omar_Vizquel.png
― nomar, Wednesday, 2 March 2016 23:40 (eight years ago) link
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/03/family-rare-ty-cobb-valuable-baseball-cards-in-house
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 3 March 2016 17:20 (eight years ago) link
Had no idea Toronto's biggest card shop, Legends of the Game (long ago--they changed their name at one point), closed down a few months ago. Very quietly--don't remember anybody posting anything on Facebook like when the World's Biggest Bookstore or Queen Video or various other local landmarks closed. When I shrewdly started buying baseball cards in '94, the year of the strike, they had a huge space. Tim Horton's took over about 2/3 of it a few years later, but they managed to limp along for another decade.
― clemenza, Sunday, 19 February 2017 02:34 (seven years ago) link
Saw this trailer yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0GsVS2gSAE
There's a great documentary to be made about the history and eventual collapse of the baseball-card industry, but not sure that this is it--seems to be hooked around some father-son reunion story.
― clemenza, Sunday, 25 March 2018 14:35 (six years ago) link
Best-looking Topps card of each year according to a panel:
http://www.mlb.com/cut4/the-coolest-topps-baseball-card-from-every-year/c-289614258
― clemenza, Saturday, 11 August 2018 00:45 (five years ago) link
Ten best:
http://www.mlb.com/cut4/coolest-topps-baseball-cards-ever-made/c-289734612
I own two of them. The wrong two.
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 August 2018 00:17 (five years ago) link
Links aren’t working for me
― InfoWarriors (Spottie), Sunday, 12 August 2018 01:02 (five years ago) link
yeah, same here. and the link to a video you posted the other day also didn't work - might just be a thing with accessing the site from canada? i'm not sure.
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 12 August 2018 01:09 (five years ago) link
Weird--I took both of the MLB site. Maybe taking off the 's' from 'https' messed it up. Let me try again.
https://www.mlb.com/cut4/the-coolest-topps-baseball-card-from-every-year/c-289614258https://www.mlb.com/cut4/coolest-topps-baseball-cards-ever-made/c-289734612
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 August 2018 01:31 (five years ago) link
Those work for me.
― clemenza, Sunday, 12 August 2018 01:32 (five years ago) link
oh yep! those work, thanks
― Karl Malone, Sunday, 12 August 2018 01:37 (five years ago) link
rad thanks.
― InfoWarriors (Spottie), Sunday, 12 August 2018 05:32 (five years ago) link
marilyn manson was nice with ithttps://img.playbuzz.com/image/upload/q_auto:good,f_auto,fl_lossy,w_640,c_limit/v1533673835/e4eaukgk650okjtxsjde.jpg
― InfoWarriors (Spottie), Sunday, 12 August 2018 05:59 (five years ago) link
That '88 Fleer Tekulve they talk about is great too...
https://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/121/121-318Fr.jpg
― Ubering With The King (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 12 August 2018 06:16 (five years ago) link
haha!
― InfoWarriors (Spottie), Sunday, 12 August 2018 06:23 (five years ago) link
i had that topps tekulve
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 12 August 2018 13:41 (five years ago) link
https://www.sbnation.com/platform/amp/mlb/2019/1/25/18174412/bill-ripken-card-1989-fleer-frick-face-look-google-wont-index-this-if-the-url-has-the-actual-swear
Has there been a 30 For 30 on "Big, Dumb Baseball Card Collecting", because I would watch the fuck(face) out of it.
― Infidels, Like Dylan In The Eighties (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 26 January 2019 17:54 (five years ago) link
If you scroll up a bit, I posted a trailer last year for Jack of All Trades--still hasn't shown up here.
― clemenza, Saturday, 26 January 2019 18:03 (five years ago) link
I have not finished this but no way is it not going to live up to the premise: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27425987/guy-ball-crotch-story-funniest-baseball-card-ever-made
― William Tao Overture (Leee), Friday, 23 August 2019 18:38 (four years ago) link
I mean fuck face exists so the premise is false
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 23 August 2019 18:39 (four years ago) link
https://www.mlb.com/cut4/coolest-topps-baseball-cards-ever-made/c-289734612
whoa I have 2 of these and I wasn't a big collector. The Don Mattingly was the only card I had that was over like $15 in Beckett's. The Frank Thomas one I have signed...does that make it worth more or less?
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, 23 August 2019 21:05 (four years ago) link
More pre-move winnowing: sorted cards for a few hours yesterday so I could take a few thousand useless extras to the thrift store. I kept HOF'ers, plus guys I figure may one day get in (strong bets like Larry Walker and Lou Whitaker, plus a few longshots like Will Clark and Rick Reuschel). But the time had come to close the book on Greg Jeffries and various other early-'90s luminaries.
― clemenza, Monday, 14 October 2019 16:52 (four years ago) link
sounds deeply pleasurable
― president of deluded fruitcakes anonymous (silby), Monday, 14 October 2019 16:56 (four years ago) link
that's Gregg with 3 G's
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 14 October 2019 17:23 (four years ago) link
and JeffEries of course
― omar little, Monday, 14 October 2019 17:29 (four years ago) link
i complete forgot that he went to STL and hit .342(!) in 1993. and finished in the ROY voting two years in a row. oh if i'd only cashed in on those GJ and Steve Avery rookies when i had the chance.
― omar little, Monday, 14 October 2019 17:31 (four years ago) link
Don't know how I messed up the spelling--I only looked at eight thousand Jefferies cards yesterday...Was just reading up on him and looking at his career box. Definitely looked like a potential HOF'er out of the gate, right up until 26. (Got ROY votes two different years--that must be rare.) Conflict seemed to follow him around.
― clemenza, Monday, 14 October 2019 17:47 (four years ago) link
Suggestion for anyone who's still misguided enough to take an interest in this stuff.
http://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/JNoceraCollectibles
I bought 20 reprints from this guy. The cards are cheap (under $3.00 each), and the shipping is free. I'm not even sure if they're actual Topps reprints or knock-offs, but if they are, they're really solid. Bought Koufax, Mays, Clemente, Maravich, Namath, Orr, etc.
― clemenza, Thursday, 23 January 2020 13:55 (four years ago) link
guys. The Met is closed, of course. But they have posted images of all the exhibited cards online. Looks like the collector had a keen interest in Chief Bender. And apparently he never attended a game in person!https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2020/burdick-collection-january-rotation
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 16 April 2020 07:34 (four years ago) link
Sweet.
I had only a brief flirtation with buying baseball cards as a kid. My best card was a 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson rookie card, which I sold for $18 (iirc) in 1987. It wasn't in NM or anything but this card is still worth a decent amount of money these days in good condition.
― Why, I would make a fantastic Nero! (PBKR), Thursday, 16 April 2020 13:10 (four years ago) link
https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496218742/
this looks interesting, might scoop it up soon. guy opens up a random pack of 80s cards and then tries to track down all the players in the pack.
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Thursday, 16 April 2020 14:37 (four years ago) link
Sounds like a good podcast :)Here’s a bit of background on the Burdick collection and the notion of “printed ephemera”:https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ball/hd_ball.htm
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 16 April 2020 15:56 (four years ago) link
I'll show off my new T-shirt here.
http://phildellio.tripod.com/bubblegum.jpg
I scrolled through the Burdick collection quickly--was there a Wagner and I missed it?
― clemenza, Thursday, 16 April 2020 17:13 (four years ago) link
1952 store display.
http://phildellio.tripod.com/1952.jpg
How much are all the Mantle rookie cards in there worth (or at least how much three months ago...)?
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 May 2020 00:22 (three years ago) link
^ partially colorized for your viewing pleasure
btw, I never quite understood the love for Mickey Mantle, who was just a big strong yokel who could hit the curveball, plus he played for the Yankees, so you couldn't very well pitch around him to the weak parts of the lineup. Willie Mays was twice the player Mantle was.
― A is for (Aimless), Saturday, 9 May 2020 03:28 (three years ago) link
I'm a Mays guy too, but I would concede that Mantle's prime, at least offensively, was superior. And Mays had McCovey and Cepeda alongside him, so he wasn't on his own.
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 May 2020 03:42 (three years ago) link
5 cards in those topps packs, hm. so a 1 in 5 chance that your mantle rookie card will be ruined by the stick of gum laying on it for 68 years?
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Saturday, 9 May 2020 03:46 (three years ago) link
IIRC mantle was #1 in the set and so few of them exist in good condition BC kids would wrap rubber bands around their collections
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Saturday, 9 May 2020 03:56 (three years ago) link
I thought so too, but it was #311--just looked at a checklist. (Andy Pafko was #1.) I wouldn't want that pack today, no...There are supposedly a few perfect Mantles out there.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidseideman/2018/04/29/forget-the-2-9-million-mickey-mantle-card-there-are-three-worth-10-million/#70a24a853a99
I'd happily settle for a Mays. (No Williams in the set.)
http://images.psacard.com/s3/cu-psa/cardfacts/1952-topps-261-willie-mays-mint-9-87181.jpg?h=1000&format=png&s.roundcorners=10
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 May 2020 03:59 (three years ago) link
just a big strong yokel who could hit the curveball
insanity
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 14:32 (three years ago) link
I just dug out my cards, the ones I have in hard plastic, for the first time in maybe ten years.
I have a '54 Topps Hank Aaron rookie in excellent condition, and my heart just went into my throat seeing what it's going for on eBay. Three months' rent.
I just assumed there was this major depreciation in the last decade. I need to sell this card. Anyone have any tips?
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 14:43 (three years ago) link
you guys I am freaking out
I just found another card that I had no idea was worth anything remotely near this—way more than the Aaron.
It makes me nervous. HOW DO I SELL THESE?
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 14:49 (three years ago) link
Whoa!!
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Saturday, 9 May 2020 15:06 (three years ago) link
I have no idea but that is awesome!!!!
I can't believe it.
I'm okay selling a record or whatever online but I don't trust myself to grade these out or trust them to the mail or whatever
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 15:07 (three years ago) link
for context I am living month to month and my lease has expired
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 15:09 (three years ago) link
Sell them on eBay? Or alternatively contact a card shop (if any of those still exist) or professional reseller (ditto) and solicit a bid privately?
― Mordy, Saturday, 9 May 2020 15:11 (three years ago) link
yeah I think so, I would happily give someone a commision to take them off my hands
looking at ebay it seems like the fall-off from M to EX/M is precipitious and makes all the difference, but both of these are in amazing shape, centered w/ good corners
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 15:12 (three years ago) link
yeah, i was going to say, if you're trying to sell them relatively quickly and without much hassle, i'm sure someone would be willing to do it all for you and take a decent cut. i'd be in the same boat as you - i would never want to make a call on the difference between M and EX/M and then make a bunch of money off of it, i'd be freaking out!
― let me be your friend on the other end! (Karl Malone), Saturday, 9 May 2020 15:34 (three years ago) link
That's great. (Very intrigued about the non-Aaron card.) I could put you in touch with someone I met through a card show a few years ago--I bought hundreds and hundreds of media guides from him. I trust he'd give you sound advice.
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 May 2020 15:37 (three years ago) link
still can’t find my yaz rookie after years of searching in my parents’ attic etc :/
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 9 May 2020 15:54 (three years ago) link
i’m also v intrigued about the non-aaron card :)
xxp yes Clemenza that would be great, dm me!
so the other card is (to my eye) a near-mint Bench rookie...and I saw it selling for basically the down payment on a mortgage, which is probably an outlier but still
I do have a ton of other valuable rookie cards that I'd like to bundle off
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 16:17 (three years ago) link
I sent you some board e-mail, Hadrian.
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 May 2020 16:24 (three years ago) link
I have a phone number, Hadrian, where you can message my friend. Send me board e-mail, or if you go to my user profile and click on my site, you can get my regular e-mail address.
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 May 2020 16:38 (three years ago) link
terrific, thanks
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 17:05 (three years ago) link
Hope your Bench is as good as you say--you could really cash in on that one.
http://www.psacard.com/cardfacts/baseball-cards/1968-topps/reds-rookies-johnny-bench-ron-tompkins-247/31850
$33,000 for the 10 on there; the 9s run $2-3000, and even an 8 clears $1,000. (Dmitri Young owns one.)
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 May 2020 21:33 (three years ago) link
well it's good by my lapsed collector standards...the corners all look pretty sharp, maybe a couple are just very slightly soft? It doesn't look fresh out of the pack I guess but neither are there any flaws that I can detect. Same with the Aaron card.
I'll report back!
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 22:14 (three years ago) link
I'm surprised looking some of these rookie cards up—Ryan, Palmer, Kaline, Brett mini, Morgan (signed) among others—that the Rickey, which is def mint, evidently goes for a lot more that those older cards
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Saturday, 9 May 2020 22:17 (three years ago) link
I could never quite figure out why certain rookie cards were valuable but others weren't. Not at the extremes--Mantle, Seaver, etc.--and I can even understand why PED rookie cards took a hit. But Pedro Martinez or Randy Johnson; you can get at least one of their rookie cards very cheap (under $5). It might not be the card to have--once there were numerous companies, one card would always end up being the most valuable--but that still seems comparatively low next to lesser players worth more.
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 May 2020 22:58 (three years ago) link
my guess is the PED aspect just depreciated demand for those players.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Sunday, 10 May 2020 23:26 (three years ago) link
@Topps 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor @MikeTrout graded @beckett_grading 9.5 sells for $3.93 million at goldin auctions “ goldin elite” tonight. Session 2 ends Sunday night at 10pm ...highest priced ever for ANY trading card.. pic.twitter.com/axV4sXjMcC— Goldin Auctions (@GoldinAuctions) August 23, 2020
― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 23 August 2020 21:52 (three years ago) link
Saw that yesterday. Personally, I find refractor cards garish and ugly, although that one's not too bad.
― clemenza, Sunday, 23 August 2020 22:43 (three years ago) link
I didn't know you could do this, buy shares in sports cards like they're stocks:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/12/investing/baseball-cards-markets/index.html
Very tempting to a self-deluded blowhard like me who has a gift for picking out HOF'ers a decade out. I have dozens of Juan Gonzalez and Albert Belle cards to prove it.
― clemenza, Friday, 12 February 2021 15:08 (three years ago) link
Hey, Belle should have made the Hall!
The amount of time I spent as a kid searching my grandparents' house for tobacco cards...
― Sam Weller, Friday, 12 February 2021 15:12 (three years ago) link
He was headed there, although I'm guessing he would have been stopped by PED allegations eventually. Even without PEDs, his career just ended too soon--didn't reach either 400 HR or 2,000 hits. He was awesome for a few years, though, and should have won the MVP in 1995.
― clemenza, Friday, 12 February 2021 15:16 (three years ago) link
No thread for basketball cards...Wanted to buy a box for my friend's eight-year-old son; preferably something discounted from the '90s, the era when they were over-producing everything. Forget it. A kid that age has about the same chance of starting a card collection as a young married couple does of buying a house.
― clemenza, Friday, 17 December 2021 04:34 (two years ago) link
i used to have a karl malone rookie. i sold it for 60 bucks when i needed money for weed.
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 17 December 2021 10:44 (two years ago) link
plant that weed in the ground and grow some more, and the next 2 ounces will be free
― Karl Malone, Friday, 17 December 2021 17:11 (two years ago) link
thank you based karl 🙏
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 17 December 2021 17:15 (two years ago) link
lolso wait 90s cards are still dumb cheap right? i sold off mine for peanuts a few years ago. The new ones are pricey?
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 17 December 2021 17:30 (two years ago) link
I looked around for a '90s set online--an overproduced Hoops set, something like that--and they were all around $150 a box. As far as new cards go, here's a Toronto store I looked at:
https://totalsportcards.com/collections/sports-cards-basketball-cards
Insane. (Your rookie card, Karl, seems to be selling for $500-1000 on eBay, depending upon shape/grading.)
― clemenza, Friday, 17 December 2021 23:03 (two years ago) link
It's impossible to get sports cards right now we tried to add them as a product line at work but can't get enough stock to bother. Very weird boom because the individuals usually aren't worth much, like 1993 all over again it's based on a set being laced with 5 signed Mike Trout holographic cards. The only difference is how they've wised up on making them actual rarities.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Friday, 17 December 2021 23:16 (two years ago) link
and they're all difficult to sell unless graded and the major grading houses for comics and cards have a 12+ month backlog
ffs this is a lot of weed
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-87-FLEER-68-Karl-Malone-Rookie-RC-BGS-9-5/264648683368
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 17 December 2021 23:47 (two years ago) link
mine was probably more like a 7 though, it was just loose.
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 17 December 2021 23:48 (two years ago) link
a loosie, if you will
I saw one that was supposed to be a 9 and selling for ~$800. (I always view these prices as purely hypothetical, meant for the one person insane--or rich--enough to pay what they're asking. Surely a lot of these get resposted eventually at a drastically reduced price?)
― clemenza, Friday, 17 December 2021 23:52 (two years ago) link
To reiterate my original point, though, this is No Country for 8-Year-Old Kids.
― clemenza, Friday, 17 December 2021 23:54 (two years ago) link
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-Fleer-Karl-Malone-Rookie-RC-68-PSA-9-Mint-/353802025829?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0
Going up from there makes them increasingly rare but a 9.5 or 9.8 is probably more like $1500 as a realistic selling price.
Also I think the graders are just making shit up at that point. Like 1 out of 100 9s gets a bump just so some exist.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:02 (two years ago) link
It's wild that '90s sealed crap is going for $$$ these days, although it seems like bulk loose cards from then are still relatively dirt cheap? Occasionally I'll see a Facebook marketplace ad with "1000 Cards for $30" or something.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:32 (two years ago) link
totally picked through, i’m assuming.
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:34 (two years ago) link
(xpost) I've left it too late, but that's probably what I should have got him. I would hope they'd be in good shape, with at least the occasional star mid-career.
― clemenza, Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:37 (two years ago) link
XP No doubt. I imagine these are the same people I'd see at antique/collectable shows in the before times with big vending bins of '80s-'90s commons for cheap.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:39 (two years ago) link
It's wild that '90s sealed crap is going for $$$ these days, although it seems like bulk loose cards from then are still relatively dirt cheap?
Fun lottery ticket. Maybe your $200 purchase pulls a $3000 9.8 rookie card. If not you still got to open packs of cards and remember some guys.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:43 (two years ago) link
Makes sense. Although the thought that something from say, overprint Kings Pro Set or Score* being ridiculously valuable is hmmmm to me.
*Aside from their early stuff, and whatever later limited things they had.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:52 (two years ago) link
Still think the Pro Set saga would make a great 30 For 30.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 December 2021 00:53 (two years ago) link
The National Sports Collectors Convention was in Houston in '94, so I went on multiple days. Pro Set, despite literally being on the cusp of going under, had a huge corporate display, and in lieu of printing up exclusive freebies for the event (as was becoming the style at the time), they just had employees sitting at tables with loads of open wax boxes, tearing open packs and handing anyone who asked 30 loose cards.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 December 2021 01:04 (two years ago) link
Found an acceptable substitute for $15: a mini Funko Pop! Michael Jordan.
― clemenza, Saturday, 18 December 2021 01:10 (two years ago) link
(And ordered a mini Julius Erving for myself!)
― clemenza, Saturday, 18 December 2021 01:11 (two years ago) link
i knew kids who used to steam open the wax wrappers from card packs, pick out the good cards, replace with commons, and reseal the packs. we sure these ebay sellers aren’t doing that?
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 18 December 2021 01:24 (two years ago) link
If you're going to pay big bucks you want the box with intact shrinkwrap with the manufacturer logo printed on it. My memories of my parents working card shows in the early-mid '90s are hazy but the Upper Decks and higher tiers of cards had unique shrinkwrap IIRC.
Magic is the worst about this. Early packs are real easy to sort without even opening.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 18 December 2021 01:30 (two years ago) link
I think it was easy to reseal vinyl records.
― clemenza, Saturday, 18 December 2021 01:39 (two years ago) link
Iirc, foil and plastic packs were harder to reseal as well.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 18 December 2021 01:54 (two years ago) link
i have an entire topps 1987 baseball set in absolute mint condition -- the only baseball cards i ever bought. i mean i even resisted putting tony pena in my wallet ffs
can i buy a house with this yet?
― mookieproof, Saturday, 18 December 2021 03:16 (two years ago) link
purchased out of the back ads of the sporting news even! good god i'm old
― mookieproof, Saturday, 18 December 2021 03:17 (two years ago) link
that's a beautiful set imo. bonds rookie iirc!
― Tracer Hand, Saturday, 18 December 2021 09:29 (two years ago) link
Topps lives on, kind of.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fanatics-baseball-cards-topps-11641261997
― clemenza, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 22:26 (two years ago) link
Just uncovered a box of plastic protect sleeved cards from my childhood in our storage locker. This bundle is almost all early '90s inserts/chase cards with a handful of regular series exceptions (including three of the Upper Deck Michael Jordan baseball rookie card).
An amusing oddity are a few cards from a giveaway series from Church's Chicken, which weren't completely licensed, so the team logos were airbrushed off--I had totally forgotten that was a thing then.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 1 April 2022 17:29 (two years ago) link
Adding to the peak '90s of it all, that Church's set had REFRACTOR CHASE CARDS--I've got multiples of the Joe Carter one.
― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 2 April 2022 01:55 (two years ago) link
what do you want for the joe carter?
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 2 April 2022 02:18 (two years ago) link
https://www.topps.com/cards-collectibles/topps-now/goose-on-the-loose-2022-mlb-topps-now-reg-card-1066.html
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 14 October 2022 00:53 (one year ago) link
If the goose were clutching a bat with "fuckface" written on it, maybe, but I think I'll pass.
― clemenza, Friday, 14 October 2022 13:10 (one year ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/OfVoZo0.png
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 28 December 2022 23:53 (one year ago) link
Hell yeah
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 29 December 2022 01:51 (one year ago) link
Not a card, but I bought one of these for $4 in Dollarama today:
https://www.fairshop.ca/new/collectibles-c-1/zack-greinke-21-arizona-diamondbacks-player-replica-mlb-players-choice-p-64
(If you look down below, you can still get a Roughned Odor for $10 before there's a run on them when he retires.)
― clemenza, Thursday, 29 December 2022 02:00 (one year ago) link
Starlin Castro!
I still want a Mike Richter starting lineup
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 29 December 2022 02:34 (one year ago) link
Not much of a hockey fan, but you can get a new one on eBay for $15.
― clemenza, Thursday, 29 December 2022 02:39 (one year ago) link
I had a Gary Carter Mets Starting Lineup action figure back in the day and sad I don't still have it
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Thursday, 29 December 2022 03:14 (one year ago) link
Phil Neiko was born in ‘39 so he was probably 47 when that photo was taken assuming during the ‘86 Season. Awesome
― calstars, Thursday, 29 December 2022 04:26 (one year ago) link
Upper Deck ruined the baseball card industry
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Thursday, 29 December 2022 04:29 (one year ago) link
I found my old cards - i like the matter of fact-ness of the 80’s stuff. Ur right that upper deck ruined a lot of stuff (most specifically brands like score trying to do the photography that UD did but not as well). Also a pack of 89 topps was 40 fucking cents!!
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 29 December 2022 05:16 (one year ago) link
That said having switched to a pack of baseball cards instead of eating ice cream when i’m stressed the topps archive line is pretty dope
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 29 December 2022 05:17 (one year ago) link
For obvious reasons I never collected baseball cards but I have some cultural knowledge of what they mean to people who do; the sell-your-soul-for-it Sandy Koufax card that’s a notable Mcguffin in Needful Things and the Yaz card (“here you go, muttonchops Yaz”) that Milhouse is willing to pay $30 (in the 90s!) forhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr7v7FBcKoIAnyway at some point randomly last year I received a package in the post from the person who started this thread, with a collection of 2019(?) Portland Sea Dogs cards. That’s the Red Sox double A affiliate and the collection featured a number of guys now on the big team:https://i.postimg.cc/SRtsyMbq/IMG-4735.jpgThen clemenza offered to send me some old duplicate cards of his, which I accepted and they are pretty amazing. https://i.postimg.cc/7Z46qDp5/IMG-4736.jpgThere’s some beautiful cards in this, like the Griffey one on the left, but the NOMAH card on the right might be my favourite of them allhttps://i.postimg.cc/yd21tzmY/IMG-4737.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/NjbgYX6n/IMG-4739.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/x8HfSF5G/IMG-4740.jpgAs my message to TH says, they are in perfect condition! https://i.postimg.cc/JhczsgCp/IMG-4743.jpgSo now I have a very small collection of cards, most of them not worth anything (not the point to me), I’m not sure if I’ll add to it massively but certainly I have been looking out for nice cards for my favourite players and such. Thank you so much to both Tracer Hand and clemenza for your generosity and sharing your love of the game with me!
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Friday, 2 February 2024 10:42 (two months ago) link
I have a signed canseco dream team that makes me giggle
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 2 February 2024 10:58 (two months ago) link
Baseball cards got exceedingly ugly for a time--"refractor" cards looked like the worst dollar-bin album cover art--but the Nomar card is a Topps Stadium Club, and they usually looked great in the '90s.
― clemenza, Friday, 2 February 2024 15:33 (two months ago) link
lol. I actually considered sending you a Roy Halladay refractor (but was prevented from doing so because it didn’t ship to Canada!)
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Friday, 2 February 2024 15:42 (two months ago) link
I was really, really into baseball cards from about 1983 to the bubble burst in the '90s, which really killed my interest. I had a binder of my best cards that was at one point was valued (at least per the Beckett magazines I used to devour) at about $7,000 - $8,000. Hoping to use it to help pay college expenses, I held on too long and when I finally took in in it was worth about $150 total.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 2 February 2024 15:53 (two months ago) link
i've still got thousands of cards in my childhood home, gyac if you have a list of favorite players whose cards may be of negligible value from the years 1987-1991 i likely have them. plenty of Score and Donruss and Fleer and particulary ugly Topps lying around.
― omar little, Friday, 2 February 2024 16:14 (two months ago) link
Really kind of you Omar - if your webmail works, message me that way & we can discuss?
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Friday, 2 February 2024 16:40 (two months ago) link
I thought the thread might have been revived for this crazy story, what Canadian dreams are made of:
http://www.cp24.com/news/saskatchewan-collector-finds-rare-case-containing-coveted-wayne-gretzky-rookie-cards-1.6749401#:~:text=Heritage%20Auctions%20took%20the%20hockey,of%20%242%20million%20or%20more
― dinnerboat, Friday, 2 February 2024 17:30 (two months ago) link
Heard about that on the radio the other day--amazing. ($200,000 worth of baseball cards, too.)
― clemenza, Friday, 2 February 2024 17:59 (two months ago) link
Didn't know there was a baseball card thread so I want to repost this from the 'Rank Anything You Feel Like Ranking' thread just to see if anyone wanted to engage with it. I chose this period only because that's what I'm familiar with - I knew the '70s sets from growing up in that era but I also knew most of the '60s sets from older kids in my neighborhood who had hung on to their cards.
Topps baseball card sets 1960-1980 by aesthetic design:1. 19752. 19653. 19644. 19715. 19726. 19747. 19608. 19769. 197010. 196711. 196112. 197713. 196614. 197315. 196316. 196817. 196918. 198019. 196220. 197821. 1979― Josefa, Saturday, August 18, 2018 1:38 AM (five years ago)
1. 19752. 19653. 19644. 19715. 19726. 19747. 19608. 19769. 197010. 196711. 196112. 197713. 196614. 197315. 196316. 196817. 196918. 198019. 196220. 197821. 1979
― Josefa, Saturday, August 18, 2018 1:38 AM (five years ago)
― Josefa, Friday, 2 February 2024 21:46 (two months ago) link
I know the sets from the first half of the '90s much better; collected for about five years in there, mostly overproduced sets from the glut.
― clemenza, Friday, 2 February 2024 22:29 (two months ago) link
https://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/20100809/the_30_worst_baseball_cards_of_all_time_24.jpg
― omar little, Friday, 9 February 2024 17:32 (two months ago) link
Incredible stache
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Friday, 9 February 2024 17:35 (two months ago) link
phwooar
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 9 February 2024 17:38 (two months ago) link
the randiest randy
― omar little, Friday, 9 February 2024 17:43 (two months ago) link
Has mustaches over his eyes too
― never trust a big book and a simile (Neanderthal), Friday, 9 February 2024 17:50 (two months ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/PbRk0uT.jpglook what came in the mail from user gyac!!!
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Monday, 12 February 2024 21:00 (two months ago) link
Just to clarify, I did not deliberately purchase 3/4 of these cards.What does that Ortíz say on the back
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Monday, 12 February 2024 21:04 (two months ago) link
V underwhelming. No stats or anything. The others are great - little retro clip art, drawings, fun facts etc
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 13 February 2024 08:40 (two months ago) link
Is the Seabold a rookie card as well
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Tuesday, 13 February 2024 09:38 (two months ago) link
lol it is. Let's hope he gets the chance to lower his career ERA to something under 8.
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 13 February 2024 09:45 (two months ago) link
Probably not in Colorado
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Tuesday, 13 February 2024 09:47 (two months ago) link
Sends baseball cards very much in character...Thank you to gyac for some cool cards, including these two, which I think are both from heritage sets:
https://i.postimg.cc/sXVkq4zF/buster.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/C596hj3x/tim.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 02:42 (two months ago) link
Those were supposed to be smaller and side by side...
― clemenza, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 02:43 (two months ago) link
(they're side-by-side if you have a big enough screen!)
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 03:08 (two months ago) link
The Lincecum is supposed to look like an ‘85 Topps iirc. One of my favorite designs. The set with the legendary Gooden rookie.
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 08:44 (two months ago) link
I sent a few others, as clemenza alludes to, so here’s what I sent and why:Lincecum: duhPosey: the Posey/Lincecum battery of the 2010 postseason is my Roman EmpireBrandon Morrow: obviously he was a Jay but I kept reading about him when I started reading about Lincecum. He was a California kid who was drafted ahead of Lincecum, by the Mariners. Lincecum was a stud at UW and Mariners fans had been watching him carve up the pac12 for three years and Mariners fans, to this day, still bitch about (them drafting) Morrow. So you had a California kid go to Seattle and a Seattle kid go to California. Morrow was basically ruined by the Mariners messing him around but the Jays, I believe, helped him get back to what he started out as. The parallels are intense - their careers started and ended at very similar times.Sergio Romo - my Immaculate Grid stud! And the story about him striking out Miggy with a slow fastball in 2012 remains classic.I also sent a José Bautista by virtue of him being both a Blue Jays stud, baseball brawl and rule 5 legend?
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 14 February 2024 09:41 (two months ago) link
This is all really cool
― H.P, Wednesday, 14 February 2024 10:02 (two months ago) link
I was in the MLB flagship store last week and I bought a box of the new cards, some sampleshttps://i.postimg.cc/J7Yf69Sk/IMG-5664.jpgThey very thoughtfully chose photos of the Padres players in their City connect uniforms for the most part which appealed to my aesthetic sensibilities. I gave my husband the Astros fan some Astros players and also Jordan Romano, who he loves “because he always blows the save when we watch him”.The neon look is pretty cool IMO. This pack cost me $20 for 59 cards, when I was looking at the pack this man came up and was cursing about the price increase. (He asked “Do you collect?” and I said “no,” despite having a box of cards in my hand, he then went into a spiel about what cards you can get in which packs and their value which I forgot as I wasn’t interested.) Anyway I may send some of these on!
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Tuesday, 20 February 2024 11:43 (one month ago) link
The era of speculation is back
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 20 February 2024 14:54 (one month ago) link
Hey, you got Strider...I'd give those a 7/10 aesthetically; reasonably subdued by today's standards. And 30 cents a card doesn't seem too bad.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 12:56 (one month ago) link
And old man Acuña just behind him!
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 21 February 2024 13:12 (one month ago) link
Didn't even notice that--those two cards alone justify the cost.
Just for context, two sets I'd give 10/10 for their design: '91 Topps Stadium Club and '93 Upper Deck SP.
https://i.etsystatic.com/16316958/r/il/053774/2227109100/il_570xN.2227109100_qjz7.jpg
https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ud-sp-griffey.jpg
― clemenza, Wednesday, 21 February 2024 13:26 (one month ago) link
Yeah I loved '93 Upper Deck.
I always had a soft spot for the wood grain '87 Topps.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71pOBCzaVDL.jpg
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 21 February 2024 15:21 (one month ago) link
Clean af
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Wednesday, 21 February 2024 15:47 (one month ago) link
agreedmid-80s a very good time for ultra-clean designs i.e. ‘85 fleerhttps://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/onesourceauctions/05/667005/H4367-L201361811.jpg
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 22 February 2024 16:33 (one month ago) link
The antichrist of card design, marginally less garish than Las Vegas:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3c/Topps_1993_refractor_card.jpg/170px-Topps_1993_refractor_card.jpg
― clemenza, Thursday, 22 February 2024 16:47 (one month ago) link
See I love that but I love holographic anything (my nails have holographic glitter right now), spare a thought for those of us who are magpies please
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 22 February 2024 16:51 (one month ago) link
They were definitely all the craze for a while--not sure if they've maintained their value.
― clemenza, Thursday, 22 February 2024 17:31 (one month ago) link
my favorite card sets might be the 1971 and 1973 Topps, both vv aesthetically of their specific moment in time and in the case of the '71s, notoriously difficult to find in top condition (the black gets dinged more noticeably.)
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/yvcAAOSw0UNjfDml/s-l1600.png
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.iKKAV4Y29GFIv4z7dbJ6eQHaJ2?rs=1&pid=ImgDetMain
― omar little, Thursday, 22 February 2024 17:38 (one month ago) link
Love that '71 design (don't have any myself). The '92 Bowman set is nice, with at least one famous rookie card:
https://i.postimg.cc/B6syzNnz/mariano.jpg
― clemenza, Thursday, 22 February 2024 19:07 (one month ago) link
https://sportscardinfo.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/ss88f.jpg
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 5 March 2024 01:47 (one month ago) link
Thanks again to gyac for more great cards. Can't picture them all, but highlights include my first Trout, Betts, and Arreaz cards, and I think my first Acuna too. Also: Adley Rutschman, Corey Seager, J-Rod, Adolis Garcia, Altuve, and Davis Schneider, cornerstone of any serious collection.
https://i.postimg.cc/Bbqc09z4/acuna.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/jd36G14Y/betts.jpghttps://i.postimg.cc/q7y86vVp/davis.jpg
― clemenza, Thursday, 21 March 2024 02:33 (four weeks ago) link
(Should have taken a photograph...postimages is very useful, but they don't always resize in a uniform manner like they say they will.)
― clemenza, Thursday, 21 March 2024 02:34 (four weeks ago) link
Davis Schneider, cornerstone of any serious collection
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 21 March 2024 06:30 (four weeks ago) link
On a whim yesterday I ordered a 2024 Topps hobby box. I haven't opened a pack of cards since I was in hs (c.1998), and for years I've rued the amount of money I pumped into what had become a form of gambling aimed at 10-year-olds. But I've recently become obsessed with videos of people opening junk wax. It's funny how many of those old cards I immediately recognize...
The modern sets seem pretty confusing (tons of parallels?), but I'm giddy about opening up some packs again.
― Sam Weller, Thursday, 21 March 2024 09:04 (four weeks ago) link
Yes but what did you get? Show us!
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Thursday, 21 March 2024 10:17 (four weeks ago) link
Insert culture is kind of a drag (it thwarts my twitchy collectivitis - you literally cant get them all) and many of them are stupid looking! That said when they hit they hit
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Thursday, 21 March 2024 12:40 (four weeks ago) link
Are they still tearing off little jersey shards or have they moved on to DNA samples?
― clemenza, Friday, 22 March 2024 13:24 (four weeks ago) link
Yeah its wack
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 22 March 2024 13:27 (four weeks ago) link
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Friday, 22 March 2024 13:30 (four weeks ago) link
Going to buy a magnifying glass so can check that!
― clemenza, Friday, 22 March 2024 13:39 (four weeks ago) link
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
― Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac), Friday, 22 March 2024 13:41 (four weeks ago) link
The worst are the ones where there is a “player worn” swatch, not even game used
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Friday, 22 March 2024 13:49 (four weeks ago) link
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.
― clemenza, Friday, 22 March 2024 16:05 (four weeks ago) link
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.
― clemenza, Saturday, 6 April 2024 18:39 (one week ago) link
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 ToppsBagwell - 1991 Stadium ClubBeltre - 1997 ToppsBonds - 1987 Donruss (seems to have retained some value)
https://i.postimg.cc/N00Fw49f/02.jpg
Freeman - 2011 ToppsGriffey - 1989 DonrussJeter - 1993 ToppsJones - 1991 Bowman
https://i.postimg.cc/0yk2pfCd/03.jpg
Johnson - 1989 ToppsKershaw - 2008 ToppsMaddux - 1987 LeafPedro - 1991 Upper Deck
https://i.postimg.cc/fWCPVfJh/04.jpg
Piazza - 1993 ToppsScherzer - 2008 ToppsThomas - 1990 ToppsVerlander - 2006 Topps
Wish I'd bought a dozen Kershaws when I could have--$4 or $5 online.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2024 04:24 (five days ago) link
No Betts or Trout or Pujols or Cabrera, unfortunately.
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2024 04:25 (five days ago) link