Why are Jose Canseco's PSA graded cards going up so much?

[sjm76]

I just noticed that Canseco's 1986 Donruss PSA 10 sold for over $600 after selling for close to $100 3 months ago and his other PSA 10 graded cards also seem to be experiencing significant spikes after looking at the sold listings on eBay.

Canseco has a history of legal troubles, he was a well-known steroid user, he's never going to make the Hall of Fame because of the steroids and he also is known as a very polarizing figure as a person. Is there something I'm missing as to why his cards have been steadily increasing?

 

[jam022316]

He’s got a hobby following, and pretty much any of the 80’s/90’s stars are skyrocketing for some reason right now. I personally collect Canseco as well but not at those prices.

 

[smapdi]

The whole market is in an upward spiral. PSA 10s of a lot of the big name RCs from the 80s-90s have exploded in the last 6 weeks pretty much out of nowhere, and no one knows why. 1990 Leaf Frank Thomas, 1989 UD Griffey, 1989 Score Aikman and Sanders, 1985 Topps McGwire and so on. These cards have been pretty stable for years and all of a sudden, boom. Tons of non-RCs and other cards are at all-time highs, too. My wife collects Lebron and Giannis and she's looking at ebay seeing all these cards she bought for $X and now they're 5-15 times the price and is thinking about selling. Not even really key cards, but things like mid-level 2015 Prizm parallels and such. There are theories and rumors (Gary Vee and his following, coordinated pump and dump, Bitcoin profits being moved into other commodities, stimulus and tax return spending) and there's likely no one impetus and probably a fair bit of mass FOMO hysteria.

 

[tpeichel]

The whole market is in an upward spiral. PSA 10s of a lot of the big name RCs from the 80s-90s have exploded in the last 6 weeks pretty much out of nowhere, and no one knows why. 1990 Leaf Frank Thomas, 1989 UD Griffey, 1989 Score Aikman and Sanders, 1985 Topps McGwire and so on. These cards have been pretty stable for years and all of a sudden, boom. Tons of non-RCs and other cards are at all-time highs, too. My wife collects Lebron and Giannis and she's looking at ebay seeing all these cards she bought for $X and now they're 5-15 times the price and is thinking about selling. Not even really key cards, but things like mid-level 2015 Prizm parallels and such. There are theories and rumors (Gary Vee and his following, coordinated pump and dump, Bitcoin profits being moved into other commodities, stimulus and tax return spending) and there's likely no one impetus and probably a fair bit of mass FOMO hysteria.

Investing clubs are making recs on certain cards so alot of new money is flowing into the hobby.

 

[nevermore]

These card "investment" videos started popping up on my YouTube feed. Watched a few this week, it helped me to understand their approach better. Didn't know these types of groups existed. I haven't really ventured beyond a few forums when it comes to my collecting.

The pump and dump theory makes sense. the increases in prices is unreal. Would a casual buyer chase PSA 10s and BGS 9.5s? I would think not, I feel must be a small group of people driving prices. I stumbled across on various threads on other forums exposing fakers, shill bidders, trimmers and forgers. Amazes me to what lengths people will go to make a quick buck. I wouldn't put this sort of thing past them, especially when they have more time on their hands now.

 

[KennerKid]

Junk wax is back. Guys who were kids like me when these guys were stars, are grown up and 37 like me now and have money. That's a lot of it.

 

[sjm76]

Junk wax is back. Guys who were kids like me when these guys were stars, are grown up and 37 like me now and have money. That's a lot of it.

I'm 43 so I can definitely relate. I'm single and I have a lot of time on my hands right now because I'm out of work so I've been ripping old wax packs looking for gradable cards. I just have to be careful that I don't spend too much money.

 

[domino2012]

I'm 43 so I can definitely relate. I'm single and I have a lot of time on my hands right now because I'm out of work so I've been ripping old wax packs looking for gradable cards. I just have to be careful that I don't spend too much money.

42 myself and exactly same idea... stuff that I couldn't get as a kid is now available for my budget. Just pulled this this morning out of 2 rack packs. (The 2 Clemens came from the same pack). I noticed the prices going up as well. It's pretty crazy right now.
Between people like us who are looking for the "blast from the past" type of feeling and for those looking to grade plus the "investors"... these cards just keep going up. At one point they will fall back down though.

 

[sjm76]

42 myself and exactly same idea... stuff that I couldn't get as a kid is now available for my budget. Just pulled this this morning out of 2 rack packs. (The 2 Clemens came from the same pack). I noticed the prices going up as well. It's pretty crazy right now.
Between people like us who are looking for the "blast from the past" type of feeling and for those looking to grade plus the "investors"... these cards just keep going up. At one point they will fall back down though. View attachment 113682

Nice pulls on the Clemens. How much did the 2 rack packs set you back?

 

[Shaggy]

There are a few things causing this spike. One, no sports, so people are looking for something to fill that void and most collectors that stopped collecting years ago have come back. People are also bored and checking out ebay more.

The docuseries on Michael Jordan caused most 80s and 90s basketball star players cards to explode, especially the players that were highlighted in it, MJ, Pippen, Grant, Rodman, and so on.

The reason way the 80s and 90s star baseball players are now exploding is that there is a docuseries coming out in June that is going over the homerun chase of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire. So people are jumping on all stars of the 80s and 90s hoping to get the card before the series starts. That's why things are going up and I believe will continue to go up until this covid 19 close off ends and sports and work starts up again.