Baseball Cards

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.).

(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

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.

well, we could split hairs about "ethics" all day, but is that really so beyond the pale? i think not

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

I had the Ripken "future stars" triple rookie, which seems to go for around $25 on ebay but was once "worth" a lot more.

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

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.

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.

http://www.fangraphs.com/not/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/medium_RandyJohnsonIsAPrettyGirl-225x300.jpg

ha haah a haha

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, August 16, 2010 2:01 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Annyong.

http://leftfieldcards.com/index.html

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 Topps
Jose Fernandez -- 2013 Topps
Freddie Freeman -- 2011 Topps
Clayton Kershaw -- 2008 Topps Update
Andrew McCutchen -- 2005 Bowman Draft Picks
Adam 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.

Jerry: "Clemenza let it out?"
Elaine: "Let. It. Out."

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.)

http://www.chicagonow.com/lists-that-actually-matter/files/2011/06/bob_walk.jpg

Congratulations, you're five dollars richer.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I still have all mine!!! I'd sell them all for $5.

yeah got mine too, just got them out the other day. 88-94

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.

yeah mine are in my room at my moms place, i wonder how much i could get for them (and my pokemon) cards

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.

I think I have all of Garbage Pail Kids Series 3 too -- I actually put the entire set together from packs and trading.

yeah i got a few good ones in normal packs but can't remember specifics.

I have an Iván Calderón rookie card. And then he was MURDERED.

close thread

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.

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.

I should probably try to sell my FT Leaf RC, but to hell with getting it gem-rated or whatever.

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).

http://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/14674983388_2be6f53941_o.jpg?w=700&h=934

Oh my god does that dude live in Brooklyn? I think he goes to my Starbuck's

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

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.

Yes everyone please start throwing your cards away / burning them

Mine are just in the closet at my parents. I assume they will stay there for eternity.

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.

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

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.

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.

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)!

um – Clem, i would totally love to go to a card convention again. used to go all the time when i was a kid!

(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.

my gooden rookie is worth less now than it was in 1989 :(