"Is this what it's come to?", "I feel sick"

I recently traded for an '85 McGwire and put it in the front page of my $5 rookie album.

The responses from both current and former collectors is hilarious.

One was sure it was a reprint as there's "no way a $200 card can be worth that little"

Another one saw it and said "I feel sick, I paid $50 for mine" while another customer asked me "is this what the hobby has come to?"

And I guess I can't blame them. I mean how many iconic rookie cards have fallen from hundreds of dollars to the cost of 20 McNuggets?

And so goes the deadly combination of mass production and steroids.

As well as Strawberry, Gooden, Mattingly, Bonds & Canseco but their rookie cards never hit $200 but they had reached $50+ and now can be had for less than $5 each

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fordman said:

As well as Strawberry, Gooden, Mattingly, Bonds & Canseco but their rookie cards never hit $200 but they had reached $50+ and now can be had for less than $5 each

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

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Pure economics: supply and demand at its finest.

There is nothing better than serial numbered cards. How many 1985 topps sets can be made from the production they ran? 4-10 million?

It was market manipulation and about taking marks. This is why most LCS's are now history. People in the business knew there was basically an endless supply and even at peak demand the prices were extremely inflated.

Those of us who paid $15 for the full set (or whatever the set price was at the time) and never bought any secondary market McGwire cards don't feel quite the same way. We watched the prices skyrocket. Some sold out to take advantage of the quick profits, some held on because they collected and didn't do it for the money while others got sucked into the speculation game.

My true feelings are more in the arena of disappointment that cards did become more of a commodity than a hobby and that has ruined them for many hobbyists. We all have the ability to collect what we want or what we can afford, but it was nice to buy packs of the newest issues w/o super inflation immediately after someone had a good month or did something special. it was nice to not have to deal with artificially created short prints and rare variations. The card makers exploited every avenue of what we had become as "collectors" to help sell more cards and we are equally to blame as we continued to pay more and more for the same cards.

Imagine what a Mike Trout base Topps RC would be worth if it were his ONLY rookie card.

Vince Carter SP Authentic is another HUGE card that is now "worthless".

tonsofcommons said:

Vince Carter SP Authentic is another HUGE card that is now "worthless".

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The list of RC plummets could go on forever, but I remember when a buddy pulled a Steve Francis SPA RC. He got almost $600 for it.

At least Vince MIGHT be a HOFer.

And I vividly remember when the McGwire RC was moving quickly at $300...

The arc of the 85 McGwire is really something. I wasn't collecting in the late 80s, but I imagine it was worth a few bucks, although I gather there was a controversy over whether a USA card could be considered a "true" RC. Then he was really dreadful, hitting .201 that one year, and his power was waning. But when he got it back and there was that perfect buildup in 1998 with the "comeback from the strike/lockout" theme, the "chicks dig the longball" theme, the overall explosion in power production, the race with Sosa, the Maris record, the emergence of slabbing as a price multiplier, the happy pre-9/11 days of the Clinton administration, etc. I remember being at a show around 1994-95 and this dealer was trying to work out a trade. I can't remember the main cards involved, but he pulled out a stack of 5 or 6 snap-tites holding McGwire rookies and he offered them as a sweetener in the trade, figuring them at about $10 each, IIRC. I do remember he said,"Here, take all these. That's how little I think of them." I'm sure 4 years later he was kicking himself.

Looking at ebay prices, I admit I'm quite surprised to see that BGS 9.5s are selling for less than $200, while PSA 10s are going for $460-$650. What's the story there? Is the 85T Registry that strong a market? Is there mistrust over BGS grading sheet-cuts? Something else?

I still don't own a McGwire, but I do remember being really happy to add a 1986 Donruss Canseco to my collection a few years ago. I think I paid $5 for it. I'm sure if I had been collecting in 1986, I would've loved Canseco and mowed many lawns to save up for one at full BV.

It really is amazing how that card rose and fell. It was bound to happen with or without the steroids. The internet exposed the overproduction and made everything so easy to obtain prices just bottomed out on this and every other mass produced card.

Not only RC's have swung down to nothingness.
I remember offering a guy $350 CASH for this card and being turned down at a local show!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MARK-MCGWIR...1198882167?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item566d2d7177

It's true. For every 1998 Crusade-type card that has steadily gone up over the years, or at least held its value, there are hundreds of formerly triple-digit cards that can be had for 10% or less. I remember pulling a Travis Lee autograph from 1998 SP Top Prospects and a dealer offering me a Frank Thomas auto, I think from 1996 or 1997 Leaf Signature, straight up, where BV was about even. Stupid me, even though I collect Thomas, I turned it down. I don't know what I expected it to be worth in the future, but I was definitely caught up in the Travis Lee hype. Still have that card, too.

Too many people who weren't collectors were buying into the McGwire hype, the same kind of people who were buying the Skip Schumacher squirrel card when CNN ran articles about it. Hard to feel bad for people who never knew what they were doing in the first place.