Cards that were unbelievably hot: Then vs. Now

[69MetsFan]

As a Mets fan, I remember searching high and low for any Gregg Jefferies rookie, in any condition, that I could find. Ahhhh, prospects.

 

[SINFULONE]

As a Mets fan, I remember searching high and low for any Gregg Jefferies rookie, in any condition, that I could find. Ahhhh, prospects.

You didn't buy any Strawberry or Gooden?

 

[bobthewondercat77]

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.

Good post and a salient point -- it is easier to find examples of cards that HAVE drastically dropped in price in the last 10-20 years then it is to find ones that haven't.

Sad in a way, but it's also so much cheaper to pick up those cards now it's also kind of fun. Dreamed of having an 86D Canseco when I was a little kid... I just bought 3 for $1 apiece.

 

[69MetsFan]

You didn't buy any Strawberry or Gooden?

Those I could find. Jefferies eluded me. It seemed like I was always a few minutes late when I got to my LCS.

 

[SINFULONE]

Good post and a salient point -- it is easier to find examples of cards that HAVE drastically dropped in price in the last 10-20 years then it is to find ones that haven't.

Sad in a way, but it's also so much cheaper to pick up those cards now it's also kind of fun. Dreamed of having an 86D Canseco when I was a little kid... I just bought 3 for $1 apiece.

I was a big Canseco collector as a kid, and could only dream of owning his Donruss rookie.I bought one at my shop last year for $2.

 

[SINFULONE]

Those I could find. Jefferies eluded me. It seemed like I was always a few minutes late when I got to my LCS.

How much did you sink into Isringhausen, Pulsipher, and Wilson back then?

 

[69MetsFan]

How much did you sink into Isringhausen, Pulsipher, and Wilson back then?

I know those names but by the time they came around, I was heavy into the '69 squad that I collect now.

 

[gt2590]

Those I could find. Jefferies eluded me. It seemed like I was always a few minutes late when I got to my LCS.

Kinda scary, considering there were 10 BILLION Donruss "Rated Rookies" alone, let alone the others...:lol:

And is too cruel to add Rick Asordian (SP?), Travis Lee and Joba Chamberlain to this HOT/NOT list?

 

[DeliciousBacon]

I remember buying a 1993 Select Rookie/Traded Kirk Reuter RC for $8 on release, which was a reasonable price considering how hot he was at that point. That may be have been his first RC, while he was putting up an 8-0 run as a Expos rookie. Needless to say, you can probably buy every copy of this card that was ever produced for $8 these days.

 

[AmishDave]

Van Poppel Leaf Gold Rookies. That was easily a $20-$30 card. Now, $0.20 - $0.30 would be overpaying.

 

[BiggioBrooks755]

Stephen Strasburg Rookie Auto

 

[LazerShow15]

Ron Kittle rcs

Sent from my XT901 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[LazerShow15]

1992 Fleer Rookie Sensation Frank Thomas

Sent from my XT901 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[sigma_chi]

Allow me to take you guys back to a better time...December of 2007 to be exact. We were buying Bowman Draft hoping to hit a parallel chrome of Price, Heyward or Moustakas or an auto of Beau Mills or the guy below...Michael Burgess. Base autos got $40, refractors $55-60, Xfractors $80, blues $150-175. If I had a time machine I could make some serious coin on him. But since I don't I'll keep buying them for $1 each for noatalgias sake. And because I'm OCD about hoarding

 

[SINFULONE]

Kinda scary, considering there were 10 BILLION Donruss "Rated Rookies" alone, let alone the others...:lol:

And is too cruel to add Rick Asordian (SP?), Travis Lee and Joba Chamberlain to this HOT/NOT list?

The signed Chamberlain Superfractor sold for $7K plus years ago.

 

[predatorkj]

Allow me to take you guys back to a better time...December of 2007 to be exact. We were buying Bowman Draft hoping to hit a parallel chrome of Price, Heyward or Moustakas or an auto of Beau Mills or the guy below...Michael Burgess. Base autos got $40, refractors $55-60, Xfractors $80, blues $150-175. If I had a time machine I could make some serious coin on him. But since I don't I'll keep buying them for $1 each for noatalgias sake. And because I'm OCD about hoarding

That's actually a pretty cool collection on it's own minus the money aspect.

 

[The Collector]

threads like this scare the hell outta me and make me want to liquidate my collection haha

 

[predatorkj]

I was a big Canseco collector as a kid, and could only dream of owning his Donruss rookie.I bought one at my shop last year for $2.

I also was never able to get one as a kid. So imagine my joy upon finally nabbing a few years ago, and then having the opportunity to get one signed in person by him along with a ball and a bat for free at a local event. All my auto collecting friends were shuffling around with photos and bats and whatnot (he had no per person auto limit). I wanted my ball and my bat for sure but that rookie card was getting signed first and foremost. Had he told us no on duplicate items, I would have been walking around with a non-auto'd ball and bat the rest of the day. One of my favorite autos ever obtained in person.

 

[HPC]

Stephen Strasburg Rookie Auto

I can't tell if you're a troll or just a *******

Seriously...Strasburg?

Thats the best you could come up with?

 

[sigma_chi]

Thanks, I sold out my original stash about 2008 so I actually didn't lose too much. Only started buying again after they went to crap. Picked up a red auto for $20...that was a $750 ish card back in the day!