Baseball Set/Player collectors should consider themselves lucky :) $3200 88 watchers Sprewell!

[clarkfan]

If late 90's Baseball cards ever get close to the monetary value of late 90's equivalent inserts & parallel cards that Basketball cards have, the player or set collectors aren't gonna be very happy.

Saw this listing and felt it was a pretty awesome site to see

A Latrell Sprewell @ $3200 and rising, 88 watchers . . . . reserve not even met yet. Yikes!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12126236481...l?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=121262364812&_rdc=1

 

[tonsofcommons]

That's a beauty. Would have LOVED to have that one in my collection. Closest I ever got was this purdy card:

 

[smapdi]

You see a card like that and you wonder who is crazier, the bidders or the seller who has a reserve of more than $3200 on a Sprewell card. I mean, it's amazing and breathtaking and all that, but how consider how small the subset of the population must be to have that strong a desire for the card and the means to pay for it (assuming...). What, like 3 out of 7 billion people?

 

[AmishDave]

Still regret not dropping $80 on a Kerry Collins on the Beckett Buy / Sell / Trade in '99

 

[tonsofcommons]

I know that there are (atleast were in 2008), two large buyers for Sprewell cards in Australia.

Crazy thing is he probably got it for 2-300 AT THE MOST back in early 2000s.

 

[predatorkj]

A Stackhouse from the same set went for $325 plus like $20 shipping a week or two ago. And now you guys know why I don't ever update my Stackhouse collection much. I'm not paying $325 for a Stackhouse card ever. Late 90's basketball stuff is beyond insane. My question is this though: if it is happening in basketball, why not baseball? There's got to be way more baseball card collectors with deep pockets? And it's also a global phenomenon just like basketball.

 

[gradedeflator]

Doesn't the basketball card collecting community have a bit of a problem with shill bidding to boost card value? Not making any accusations, but I remember reading that on some boards, specifically with mention to Jordan cards. There's a handful of collectors who each bid each other's cards up and the same cards rotate through collections.

I would love for 90s/early 00s baseball to achieve similar value to basketball. it would probably make me feel better about what i've spent. but of course I would only want it to happen AFTER I pick up some of the biggies I'm still hunting for!

 

[clarkfan]

Just found this one on completed. That's awesome!!!!!

$12K Jason Kidd

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JASON-KIDD-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

[Dilferules]

I think there are a lot of different factors regarding why you see this in basketball and not baseball.

1. Basketball is WAY more popular internationally than baseball. When you're talking about cards with print runs of a few hundred or lower, a small number of additional deep-pockets buyers can make a massive difference in the market.

2. baseball does have high rollers spending big bucks on cards, but usually it's vintage. Basketball doesn't have the expensive pre-war cards like baseball for big spenders to sink their dollars on. And even if it did, basketball doesn't have the same level of glorification of old-time stars as baseball.

3. Michael Jordan. He's so obviously THE guy to get and so popular that his rare cards go for crazy amounts. And that brings up the entire market, because if a Jordan sells for $30,000, maybe a Latrell Sprewell for $2,000 doesn't seem that crazy.

4. I think the whole steroids thing really hampers high-end recent baseball. Look at how values have plummeted on so many players when it comes out that they used (or are even suspected)...McGwire, Clemens, Braun, A-Rod, Sosa, Bonds, etc. Imagine paying $10k for a Jeter and then the next day it comes out he was a roider, that card loses massive value. This really hasn't been an issue in other sports.

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[stangy24]

That's INSANE! However, being from the bay area, Giants/A's/Dubs/49ers collectors have some deep pockets. Couple that with the NBA's Int'l appeal and you'll get insane scenarios like this. Good for the seller and hopefully he actually gets paid.

 

[hive17]

4. I think the whole steroids thing really hampers high-end recent baseball. Look at how values have plummeted on so many players when it comes out that they used (or are even suspected)...McGwire, Clemens, Braun, A-Rod, Sosa, Bonds, etc. Imagine paying $10k for a Jeter and then the next day it comes out he was a roider, that card loses massive value. This really hasn't been an issue in other sports.

Sent from my SCH-I415 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

I think that's a really good point. When you're talking about the same era of cards, the heroes (the guys that were the PILLARS of the sport) of the late 90's/early 00's in baseball, read like a steroid report. Basketball of the same era doesn't have a bunch of guys that were universally loved one day, then despised the next.