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Griffey Collector's Thread

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RStadlerASU22

Active member
Jan 2, 2013
8,881
11
Again thanks guys. Just to be clear, goob asked about the BGS 10, I had made a mistake and the card was a PSA 10. So there is no BGS 10 of a Purple crusade waiting in the wings.

Concerning changing the auction time and "eyes" I really don't worry about that at all. I know some of you do and I respect that. But with a 10 day auction, if someone wants a special card, they have seen it and there is no reason to be physically present to bid at the end. When I was buying heavily, I never bid on a card until the last 9 secs and programmed it in 7 days before. I know not everyone does it that way, but if they really want the card, they will do what they need to in order to put in a bid. I don't think the card will sell any lower because of a time or day. That's just my opinion. On little stuff it may matter more, but on special stuff, one isn't going to let a card go because the auction isn't closing at a optimal time or day.

Thanks again for all the helpful advice
Its great to see magic papa's name again, its been a while
Steve B

Def your call , good luck and hope you get what you'd like out of it.

Ryan
 

goobmcnasty

Active member
Apr 4, 2014
1,583
13
But you guys know the Griffey market much better than me, I'm just curious why his prices defy the overall trend of the hobby being relatively stagnant. His career was completely marred by injuries and I feel like he never lived up to the hype, and most of the collectors seem to be nostalgic for his "hype" days in the mid 90s.

Never lived up to the hype? Instead of spending time firing off accolades to someone who seems like he's neglected to do the research, I'll just say he did this: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/griffke02.shtml during the steroid/corking era, without ever once being tied to anything negative. He will probably be the first ever UNANIMOUS selection to the hall of fame. If it wasn't for injuries, a good bit of those career stats would have a (1st all time) next to it. But not even taking his lost years into consideration, what he did while on the field makes him one of the best ever.
 

jonebone

Member
Jan 3, 2011
391
0
MD
Well you made my point, Griffey's career is essentially his monster Mariner years (1st half), then his very mediocre stint with the Reds. I agree that injuries plagued him over that span, but he was never hotter than he was in the mid and late 90s... coincidentally lining up with his most valuable inserts.

Maybe "didn't live up to the hype" was the wrong phrase, and "didn't sustain his incredible statistical pace" that he set for himself. If someone today like Harper or Trout fell off from their pace, you'd expect their cards to cool off a bit. Yet Griffey collectors seem to be unphased by the second half of his career.
 

goobmcnasty

Active member
Apr 4, 2014
1,583
13
If someone today like Harper or Trout fell off from their pace, you'd expect their cards to cool off a bit. Yet Griffey collectors seem to be unphased by the second half of his career.

Mantle, Musial, Aaron, Mays -- All of the greats -- declined during the second half of their careers. I'm not sure what point you're saying I made? As much as I love Griffey, he is human. I'd challenge you to find one player who was dominant through their whole 20 year career, then retired at the top of their game.
 

goobmcnasty

Active member
Apr 4, 2014
1,583
13
With that said, a lot of the collector's I know, prefer his tough 90s inserts to his 2000+ inserts. It's the perfect storm of the pinnacle of his career, with the pinnacle of insert/parallel designs and scarcity. There is a dropoff in cost the deeper into 2000 you get. It seemed like those cool inserts declined in appeal, as his on-field performance did.
 

tidel144

Member
Jan 30, 2014
416
3
Never lived up to the hype? Instead of spending time firing off accolades to someone who seems like he's neglected to do the research, I'll just say he did this: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/griffke02.shtml during the steroid/corking era, without ever once being tied to anything negative. He will probably be the first ever UNANIMOUS selection to the hall of fame. If it wasn't for injuries, a good bit of those career stats would have a (1st all time) next to it. But not even taking his lost years into consideration, what he did while on the field makes him one of the best ever.

As much as I would enjoy it happening, there is no way Griffey is unanimously voted into the Hall. None of the First Class were, and neither were Aaron, Mays, or Williams. If those guys didn't get voted in unanimously, I don't expect Griffey to somehow get that love from the writers.

Maybe "didn't live up to the hype" was the wrong phrase, and "didn't sustain his incredible statistical pace" that he set for himself. If someone today like Harper or Trout fell off from their pace, you'd expect their cards to cool off a bit. Yet Griffey collectors seem to be unphased by the second half of his career.

It's been alluded to in previous posts: the reason why his cards sell for significantly more than any other player from that era is because Griffey was and still is one of the most popular players over the past 2 decades. Fans - especially card collectors - did not care about the second half of his career (actually, Reds fans probably did) as his popularity transcended what he did on the field.

Even when Thomas, Ripken, Bonds, and A-Rod were "worth" as much or more than Griffey in Beckett (late 90's-to-early-2000s when Beckett was still a reliable source), Griffey cards were still selling for more than those guys; I saw it first-hand on eBay and at every card show I went to back then. It's pretty much been this way for the past 20 years. While I can't predict what his market will be for the next 20 years and beyond, I expect it to be just as strong as some of the top vintage guys decades after they retired.
 
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clarkfan

Active member
Sep 15, 2009
1,527
1
As most of the Griffey collectors have said above, on the field productivity is only a small reason why Griffey cards sell so well. Player collector's are a varying breed of crazy and just takes a small handful of crazy collector's to drive up the market on 1 particular payer. Will Clark sells as well as Griffey and Jeter in most sets and I realize he isn't even half the player and anyone that has sold a lot of the key 90's releases will know that first hand. Same with other guys like Kirby Puckett and Vizquel/Thome as of late to name a few. Book value means nothing, on the field productivity and for how long means very little. I mean, I know Will Clark won't make the HOF, but his cards sell at or above virtually all other HOF caliber players of his era. And reach Griffey and Jeter levels in certain key sets. It's knowing the market and knowing the individual markets that will help determine which cards can sell the best or more than the novice collector would assume.
 

goobmcnasty

Active member
Apr 4, 2014
1,583
13
As much as I would enjoy it happening, there is no way Griffey is unanimously voted into the Hall. None of the First Class were, and neither were Aaron, Mays, or Williams. If those guys didn't get voted in unanimously, I don't expect Griffey to somehow get that love from the writers.

Politics baby! Williams played for Boston. A good portion of the writers were New Yorkers at the time of Teddy's induction. I don't see that same grudge keeping votes away from players today, but it was very much real in 1966. (Other side of the coin, Non-NY writers hated the Yanks, which prevented several guys who deserved it, to be unanimously selected.)

Racism. I'm not one to condone playing the race card with everything, but it was very much an issue during Mays and Aaron's playing days. How many death threats did Aaron get on a regular basis leading up to him breaking the HR record? At the time of voting (79-82), there were still writers with that old-school, segregated mindset that lead to Mays and Aaron losing some HOF votes.

For lack of a better word, HATERS kept guys who deserved it from being unanimously voted in.

Fast forward to today. Very few sports writers "hate" Griffey. He played for the Mariners, who don't have a whole lot of haters sprinkling hate on them. Racism still exists, but not in the same magnitude of the 50s-60s. The only thing I see keeping Griffey from being a unanimous selection, are writers not wanting to "waste" a vote on a sure thing, to where they vote for a guy they feel won't be voted in otherwise, (Piazza, Raines, Schilling).
 

tidel144

Member
Jan 30, 2014
416
3
Politics baby! Williams played for Boston. A good portion of the writers were New Yorkers at the time of Teddy's induction. I don't see that same grudge keeping votes away from players today, but it was very much real in 1966. (Other side of the coin, Non-NY writers hated the Yanks, which prevented several guys who deserved it, to be unanimously selected.)

Racism. I'm not one to condone playing the race card with everything, but it was very much an issue during Mays and Aaron's playing days. How many death threats did Aaron get on a regular basis leading up to him breaking the HR record? At the time of voting (79-82), there were still writers with that old-school, segregated mindset that lead to Mays and Aaron losing some HOF votes.

For lack of a better word, HATERS kept guys who deserved it from being unanimously voted in.

Fast forward to today. Very few sports writers "hate" Griffey. He played for the Mariners, who don't have a whole lot of haters sprinkling hate on them. Racism still exists, but not in the same magnitude of the 50s-60s. The only thing I see keeping Griffey from being a unanimous selection, are writers not wanting to "waste" a vote on a sure thing, to where they vote for a guy they feel won't be voted in otherwise, (Piazza, Raines, Schilling).

Agree with all of your points. Another barrier to his unanimous selection are the "purists" who won't vote for him on the principle that if, for example, Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb weren't unanimous, Griffey shouldn't be either.
 

goobmcnasty

Active member
Apr 4, 2014
1,583
13
Agree with all of your points. Another barrier to his unanimous selection are the "purists" who won't vote for him on the principle that if, for example, Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb weren't unanimous, Griffey shouldn't be either.

That could be another issue too. Although the "purists" also might want to reward the "clean" career of Griffey as well. It's gonna be fun to see.
 

murphy17

New member
Nov 28, 2010
223
0
That could be another issue too. Although the "purists" also might want to reward the "clean" career of Griffey as well. It's gonna be fun to see.

All it takes is one guy to make it not unanimous. Somebody will not vote him in. He's definitely first ballot HOF by a wide margin but there will be a few that don't vote for him.
 

jonebone

Member
Jan 3, 2011
391
0
MD
Yeah but Ripken and Ryan were just as clean and popular in their prime, and equally well liked. I guess you can argue about individual statistics, but any of those three guys were clear role models in an era tainted by steroids.

And they were both 98.5% and 98.8%. Getting 99% would be a feat in itself and 100% would be about the same odds of someone pulling a Griffey Red Crusade from a pack today :)
 

David K.

Active member
Aug 26, 2008
1,338
12
Fresno, CA
He probably has the best shot to a get a high vote count then Tom Seaver...but theres always a few sport writers who on don't vote for the player on his first try! Best regards, David
 

Keyser Soze

New member
Nov 9, 2010
3,262
0
The Woodlands, TX
Picked this up from [MENTION=11673]Crump_family[/MENTION]. 1996 Select Certified Mirror Red PP /90

THANKS JUSTIN! I look forward to getting package 2


6735B9D1-9CA9-4919-9FE4-D832BC948C85_zpseqemdd5d.jpg
 

murphy17

New member
Nov 28, 2010
223
0
Haven't seen one of these in a while. 1997 Studio Masterstrokes Holofoil and Autographed by the artist. Framed and limited to 100.

IMG_2928.jpg

IMG_2929.jpg
 
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