Baseball Cards

And make sure she doesn't either.

I grew up my entire life listening to my father lament about his sheet of Pete Rose rookie cards getting thrown out by my grandmother because he wouldn't clean up his room.

My mother learned verrrrry quickly not to throw away mine.

 

They just sold that a couple of weeks ago for $2.35M.

 

I know it's because of market saturation but it's still a little odd that even though the baseball card boom has died the value of the Wagner cards keep rising exponentially ... millionaires :

 

It's because there are only like nine of them still existing, and this one's the only one anywhere close to mint (it's PSA 8, I believe.) Only about 25 authentic Wagner cards still around, in any condition.

Has nothing to do with the baseball card boom or fall.

 

In my hometown, the old-timer at the corner grocery store would always give us an update on when the new cards were coming in. He would always put a box aside for my brother and me, because he knew we would be in that day.

Got some great cards out of those boxes. Most are still in near-mint shape.

I miss the old Topps gum. Great stuff.

 

Somewhere I have a book of autographs I got when my dad worked at Wrigley Field in the late 70-early 80s. Unfortunately, the Cubs absolutely sucked then (even by Cubs standards), so I don't think autographs by Barry Foote, Tim Blackwell, Lynn McLaughlin, Miguel DeLeon, Rick Reuschel, etc. are worth much. Probably the biggest name in that book is Bill Buckner. Or possibly the late Donnie Moore.

Also, my Pete Rose autographed baseball ain't worth what it used to be.

 

My father, who is around 60, used to collect when he was a kid. So did his 9 older brothers and one younger brother.

When every one of them left the nest, they passed their collection down to the youngest, who got them all after more than a decade and then sold them all and bought a house.

I started collecting back in 1985 and was pretty hot and heavy with it because for 50 cents I could buy an ice cream and a pack of Topps at Thrifty. I collected until about 1994 when pack prices jumped (as previously stated). I, like everyone else, have a ton of 1986 and 1987 Topps. By the way, those are worth a lot more money now because of the rookies.

I dropped collecting during my high school years, then picked it up again after I joined the Navy (Like my Dad, I gave all my cards to my younger brother when I enlisted). I didn't collect as much when I was in the service though. After I got out, I worked at a card shop for about a year and a half. It was a blast, I got a ton of good cards off of customers that just needed some cash. However, all I did was spend my paycheck on $75 dollar boxes and I would get about $30 worth of cards. I was tired of only getting rookie cards that were worth $5 one day and 5 cents the next because he wasn't the next big thing. It was then, that I realized I was wasting money on pieces of cardboard. I then got into autographs, because they actually held their value.

I still buy a few packs here and there, but nothing serious. I have about 5,000 cards sitting in my closet, but nothing worth much. I think the best card I have is worth like $80 bucks. At least it was 5 years ago.

 

1987-89 Topps were way, way oversupplied. In contrast, 1984 Donruss, a nice set, was undersupplied. 1984 Fleer Update even more so.

 

If only Don Mattingly had stayed healthy, that '84 Donruss rookie would have been worth some cash.

 

I loved that card.

One of the new hot error cards is a Randy Johnson rookie from 1989 Fleer (the Fuck Face set). In the original printing he's shot with a Marlboro sign in the distant background (looks like the Vet to me, could be wrong). Subsequent versions have the sign blacked out.

 

I found a bunch of old cards in the garage. My wife and I moved a couple times in recent years, and didn't quite know where they were. There are cards in there that are probably worth more to me than anyone else. Fernando Valenzuela rookie card, Kirk Gibson rookie card. I managed to get a Magic Johnson and Larry Bird rookie card, but it has Jan Van Bredokoff in the middle, not Dr. J. I think that's worth something. I'm just glad I found them. Now I can give them to my sons one day and try to explain to them why Valenzuela, Gibson and Magic are important to me.

 

They were, but thanks to kids not giving a shit about them, i.e. using them to turn their Schwin into a Harley Davidson, they are worth a little bit more now. Lots of good rookie cards in 1987.