Cards that were unbelievably hot: Then vs. Now

I came across the card below which triggered the idea for the thread. I think it would be fun to discuss some of the hottest cards in the market over the years, what made them hot, and where they are at now:

1996 Leaf Signature Series Extended Sammy Sosa Century /100





Then: Back in the late 90's this card was about as hot as any in the hobby. While Mark McGwire set the home run record in 1998, Sosa was right there with him and garnered a ton of attention winning the MVP award in 1998, hitting 60+ in 1999 and 2001. (Ironically he did not lead the league in homers in any of those seasons but the one season in middle where he did not hit 60, he lead the league in homers with 50.) Meanwhile Sosa was a media darling, and this card, a really rare early autograph card was on fire. It was #1 on Beckett's hot list many times over (back when most collectors had a Beckett and few used the internet).

Now: Crazy what a decade has done. Many/most people view the home run explosion of the late 90's as a sham, and players like Sosa who were not all that great before their home run explosion are pointed to as prime examples of cheaters. Sosa's handling of the steroid issues did nothing to engender him to the media, and there seems to be little chance that his reputation in baseball will ever really bounce back. The 1996 Leaf Signature Extended Century set is still one of the great rare autograph sets of the 1990's and the Sosa still sells for a decent amount, (the PSA above sold for $225) but it's a fraction of what it used to sell for and there's no chance it will be a hobby icon like it seemed it would be back then.

I have an SGC 98 Clemens rookie card (Donruss) that used to sell for $600-800.
The last one that sold on ebay went for $62. LOL!

Not even remotely on your scale, but was reminiscing today about selling a Ryan Howard Bowman (NON Chrome) base rookie for $30 not too many years ago

93 Select Stars. I pulled a Griffey and was offered $75. Price was about $125 so I passed. Now it's worth about .75

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Kevin Maas and Hensley Muelens in the late 80s/early 90s.

Raw McGwire RCs went for $300 cash during his HR run. The condition didn't really matter, as long as they didn't look too bad. Now getting $10 would be tough, most raws go for about $5.

But I always felt bad for the folks who bought the Michael Phelps autographed "Fans of the Game" inserts from '04 R&S during his Olympic run of '08 or '12. They went for $1000-1200 pretty regularly. USA Today did articles about it, all the hype, etc. record Golds made it too high. They still get $200 but percentage-wise that's a brutal hit from what they went for during that month or so stretch...

Bryan Taylor Topps Gold. Really good example!

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gt2590 said:

Raw McGwire RCs went for $300 cash during his HR run. The condition didn't really matter, as long as they didn't look too bad. Now getting $10 would be tough, most raws go for about $5.

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Was going to post the very same thing, but also add the 1986D Canseco RC to the mix. For obvious reasons it was the hottest card in the hobby for a while topping well over $100 for raw copies.

What did those Sosa cards sell for?Thank God I didn't collect much then, there is no telling what I would have spent on McGwire, Drew, or Ankiel rookies.

The Griffey UD rookie used to book for $175.Sure wish I moved mine then.

It was already mentioned but this is the standard bearer for Hero to Zero. In '98 when McGwire was around 50HRs, me and my dad visited the LCS they they had 3 copies, 2 raw and a PSA 8. It was the first time we had seen a graded card or even knew card grading was a thing.

Plopped down $250.

They can now be had for $9.50 Buy It Now.

There are probably better examples of % drop, but this card has to easily be the most bought/sold in this Then vs Now category.

But 1998 was so much fun to watch and really turned me from a kid with a 1991 Topps set in the closet to an actual collector, so it's still a cool card to have. And I enjoyed watching Don West on HSN try to sell "unsearched" vending boxes and gasp at every Team USA miss.

Jesus Montero 2008 Bowman Chrome Auto?

I think the 84D Mattingly defined this type of card as the boom was starting. I bought the factory set when it was new and there were zero 84D packs rot be had in my area, so I never bought into the hype, but many did.

I also seem to remember the big 5-6 93 Finest Refractors (Ryan, Maddux, Thomas, Bonds, Ripken, Piazza) selling in the high 4 to 5 figure prices at one point I think.

99% of all hot rookie cards, especially of prospects, were once worth much more than they are now.
Even most Hall of Famers' rookie cards from the '60s through '80s are worth considerably less now.

I'm looking at an April 1993 Beckett, and here are some examples of the astronomical prices of some of the more popular Hall of Famers rookie cards from 21 years ago.

1965 Steve Carlton $575
1968 Nolan Ryan $1,650
1969 Reggie Jackson $750
1973 Mike Schmidt $500
1974 Dave Winfield $165
1975 George Brett $225
1975 Robin Yount $225
1980 Rickey Henderson $150

This is raw, not graded, of course, and whatever a dealer wanted to call Near Mint condition, which could be as low as excellent condition to the untrained eye back then.

Even now, as more and more of those vintage HOF rookies get graded, the prices will go down as supply increases.

eBay is already saturated with dozens of new graded rookies of every player, and you can buy beautiful PSA 8 rookies for far less of what they were worth raw in lesser condition 20 years ago.
There is just too much supply out there, and demand lowers each year with collectors leaving the hobby.

spikes said:

Bryan Taylor Topps Gold. Really good example!

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I think you mean the Topps Auto from 92?

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Hendersonfan said:

I think you mean the Topps Auto from 92?

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Yeep! That one.

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The 1992 Bowman Frank Thomas Gold Foil was smoking hot back in '93. Sold for more than any of the rookies from that set and probably sold for more than his Leaf RC (which could probably also be included on this list). It was an easy sell in the $75-100 range. Now it routinely goes unsold on eBay for $2-3 including s/h.

along with the Fleer Rookie Sensation card and his 91 Stadium Club. All cheap finds now.

Insert any card from late 80s early 90s.

bigunitcards said:

It was already mentioned but this is the standard bearer for Hero to Zero. In '98 when McGwire was around 50HRs, me and my dad visited the LCS they they had 3 copies, 2 raw and a PSA 8. It was the first time we had seen a graded card or even knew card grading was a thing.

Plopped down $250.

They can now be had for $9.50 Buy It Now.

There are probably better examples of % drop, but this card has to easily be the most bought/sold in this Then vs Now category.

But 1998 was so much fun to watch and really turned me from a kid with a 1991 Topps set in the closet to an actual collector, so it's still a cool card to have. And I enjoyed watching Don West on HSN try to sell "unsearched" vending boxes and gasp at every Team USA miss.

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I went to a show when I was in college, mostly to meet an MLB alumni player.Being a big Rams fan, and them winning their first Super Bowl the year before, I gladly shelled out $40 for a SGC Faulk foil rookie.I had never seen graded cards before, had no idea what the grade even meant.Card is probably worthless today.

Ha ha, I used to watch those HSN shows that sold cards.I remember them trying to peddle Bonds rookies in junk WCG 10 slabs the year he hit 73 home runs.I was so tempted to buy something every time I watched those.Bonds rookies were easy money all day long.