The "Sleeper" Card Thread

Every year there are a few cards that out of nowhere, percentage-wise, rise in value a great deal from the previous year. Cards that no one is talking about suddenly become highly sought after due primarily to a player's on-field performance. One example from last year would be the 2006 SP Authentic Alexei Ramirez Future Watch card. It was a $.99 card before the season started and reached $40.00+ late in the season.

Now none of us have a crystal ball (that works anyway), and the rise doesn't have to be as significant as Alexei's, so let's have fun with this...which "sleeper" cards do you think could rise more than, say 200% this year from its current eBay value? It has to be a card (or cards) that nobody is talking about here. Since there is quite a bit of prospect discussion on these boards every day, that eliminates most prospect cards right off the bat.

Besides that however, there are no wrong answers here...if you feel it could rise more than 200% this year then go ahead and list it. I apologize in advance if anyone is currently trying to "hoard" any of these cards and I'm "letting the cat out of the bag". I doubt that's happening though. I'll start with two cards:

2003 UD Prospect Premieres Autograph - Jeff Allison (currently traveling on the "Hamilton" comeback trail)
2007 Topps Rookies 1952 Edition - John Lannan (top of Nat's rotation and his only rookie card)

This is kind of different, but here is an example of a set rather than a single card...

Leaf Limited Autographs from 2008 Prime Cuts IV

There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, nobody knows that...which leaves their prices only slightly above Elite base autos which can have as much as 12 times higher of a print run than that.

And for a single card example, I'll go with Bobby Parnell's 2008 Chrome FY card from 2008 Bowman. He throws triple digits, is in a big-market organization with the Mets, he is expected to compete for the 5th rotation spot in ST this year, and the chrome had been his only card until 2009 Topps came out with him as part of that base set.

ALL_THE_HYPE said:

This is kind of different, but here is an example of a set rather than a single card...

Leaf Limited Autographs from 2008 Prime Cuts IV

There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, nobody knows that...which leaves their prices only slightly above Elite base autos which can have as much as 12 times higher of a print run than that.

And for a single card example, I'll go with Bobby Parnell's 2008 Chrome FY card from 2008 Bowman. He throws triple digits, is in a big-market organization with the Mets, he is expected to compete for the 5th rotation spot in ST this year, and the chrome had been his only card until 2009 Topps came out with him as part of that base set.

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Nice! Here's another one:

2006 SP Authentic Future Watch - Koji Uehara

ALL_THE_HYPE said:

There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, nobody knows that

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But somehow you know that?

I think Alexander Hamilton's are underrated


it's all about the hamilton's baby

JoshHamilton said:

ALL_THE_HYPE said:

There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, nobody knows that

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But somehow you know that?

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Ok I misspoke. Let me try again:

There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, MOST people are unaware of how rare they are.

Brandon Morrow. Went from the Ms bullpen to a starter late in the 08 season, poised for a big year and name recognition in 2009. Chrome is a buck.

I'm going with Kelly Shoppach,if he can cut down on the k's.He could be a 30 hr guy.

EricInCT said:

Brandon Morrow. Went from the Ms bullpen to a starter late in the 08 season, poised for a big year and name recognition in 2009. Chrome is a buck.

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Hope your right might be gettign 10 chrome rookies and 2 refractoes of his

Bornagaincollector said:

I'm going with Kelly Shoppach,if he can cut down on the k's.He could be a 30 hr guy.

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Good one...I was thinking of Shoppach too. His 2003 Bowman's Best auto in particular.

Here's two more for me:

2004 Bowman's Best auto - Luke Hughes
1995 Bowman's Best - Andruw Jones (sell for around 8 bucks right now)

99TT Crawford Auto

Hunter Pence 06 BC auto I think this is the year everyone has been waiting for

colts1888 said:

Hunter Pence 06 BC auto I think this is the year everyone has been waiting for

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What does it sell for now?

Jaypers said:

99TT Crawford Auto

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When that set released, I grabbed one and my autograph was Crawford. I was disappointed because I was really hoping for Corey Patterson or Sean Burroughs. If not them, then Pat Burrell. :lol:

Sometimes the card Gods know what they're doing.

2000 spx autos.There are a couple future hof in that set and the autos usually dont go for more then 30.00

Dellin Betances Yankees - Will be the next Joba. His cards aren't cheap, but can easily double if he makes the team.

Chris Dickerson Reds - By default will be starting in left field for the reds this season. Only played in 31 games last year but had a dozen extra base hits and surprising power. Chrome is less than a buck and has only one main product, 06 chrome.

EricInCT said:

colts1888 said:

Hunter Pence 07 BC auto I think this is the year everyone has been waiting for

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What does it sell for now?

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It sells for 15 and less I think if he has a good year that card will easily double

1995 Bowman's Best Bob Abreu--I just have a feeling he will get off to a hot start.
2005 Nelson Cruz cards esp. the auto version

ALL_THE_HYPE said:

JoshHamilton said:

[quote="ALL_THE_HYPE":dvf2qla8]
There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, nobody knows that

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But somehow you know that?

Click to expand...

Ok I misspoke. Let me try again:

There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, MOST people are unaware of how rare they are.[/quote:dvf2qla8]

I don't think you understood the nature of my question. How do you personally know there are only 99 Leaf Limited cards produced of each player? There are only three possible answers-

1. You're basing your assumption on the initial Prime Cuts sell sheet which stated the LL cards would be serially numbered to 99. Of course, anyone who has ever seen any sell sheets knows damn well they're almost never accurate since many changes are made to a product in the time between sending out a sell sheet and packing out the final product. The fact that these aren't serially numbered should be enough to tip you off to that

2. You personally know someone who works at Donruss who can confirm the actual print run is 99. I highly doubt that.

3. The most likely scenario, you didn't mention anything about suspected LL print runs until you stocked up on the stupid cards in your sig, and now you're trying to artificially inflate their value by making up figures about their perceived scarcity.

Until you know for a fact what the print runs are, how about you be quiet? Spreading lies in the hobby for your own personal benefit is pathetic

JoshHamilton said:

ALL_THE_HYPE said:

JoshHamilton said:

[quote="ALL_THE_HYPE":1pzhei8e]
There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, nobody knows that

Click to expand...

But somehow you know that?

Click to expand...

Ok I misspoke. Let me try again:

There are 99 or less of each of these, but since they were left unnumbered, MOST people are unaware of how rare they are.

Click to expand...

I don't think you understood the nature of my question. How do you personally know there are only 99 Leaf Limited cards produced of each player? There are only three possible answers-

1. You're basing your assumption on the initial Prime Cuts sell sheet which stated the LL cards would be serially numbered to 99. Of course, anyone who has ever seen any sell sheets knows damn well they're almost never accurate since many changes are made to a product in the time between sending out a sell sheet and packing out the final product. The fact that these aren't serially numbered should be enough to tip you off to that

2. You personally know someone who works at Donruss who can confirm the actual print run is 99. I highly doubt that.

3. The most likely scenario, you didn't mention anything about suspected LL print runs until you stocked up on the stupid cards in your sig, and now you're trying to artificially inflate their value by making up figures about their perceived scarcity.

Until you know for a fact what the print runs are, how about you be quiet? Spreading lies in the hobby for your own personal benefit is pathetic[/quote:1pzhei8e]

While I agree with you 100%, you could have said it without sounding so harsh.

No need to call names over something like that. If he believes the sell sheet, then that's fine, since it's the only documentation we have at this point about the print run.

Right now, I am also going on the /99 print run for the Leaf Limited and Contenders parallels.