So baseball cards were America’s tulips in the late 80s early 90s?
How crazy did the prices get at the peak? How much would Hubzilla’s set have been worth at the height of the market?
This is very interesting to read about, and a little sad – it’s ironic that one kid taking care of his cards protects their value, one million people taking care of their cards makes them lose their value.
The hero of my series (which is for kids) will collect baseball cards, but more for the cards themselves, and a love for the game, not as an investment.
The kid in me says, good, now kids will do what they’re supposed to do, which is read them and trade them and play made-up games with them and clothes-pin them to the spokes of their tires.
It depends on a whole host of factors, but a run-of-the-mill grading is typically about $20-$30 per card. If it’s a really valuable card they’ll charge more (at least PSA does; any card worth $10,000 has to be submitted for the $250 service).
Not that much. The '87 Topps set was never worth anything, relatively speaking, except for the Tiffany factory set. The base set was too overprinted to ever appreciate alongside the Donruss and Fleer issues that year.
But then the new premium sets came out and collectors went into a feeding frenzy. The 1989 Upper Deck and 1990 Leaf sets were worth hundreds of dollars. I could swear at one point 1990 Leaf COMMONS were almost worth a dollar!
I collected as a kid. My dad gave me (or I took) all his old cards, which are in pretty crappy condition. I still kind of collect, but not nearly as serious as I did in the 80’s and 90’s. Back then I’d make weekly trips to the card shop in town and buy sets or individual cards. I remember using my birthday money for a particular card that I negotiated down to $40 from $50. It’s probably worth $10 now.
Now I just buy a pack every now and then at the check out line. I try and keep the “valuable” cards in a book or in individual card sleeves or cases. The commons I toss in a box.
The baseball card industry is kind of a sad story. MLB Network has had a special about Topps lately, but I haven’t been able to catch it. I wonder if it’s a documentary about the industry?
samclem, did you do your card dealing in Akron?
If a player is called up midseason, do they issue a card for him or does he have to be on the 25-man roster at the beginning of the season? I guess put differently, do the card companies keep issuing new cards or are the sets at the beginning of the season pretty much, you know, SET.
Cards are for last year’s players. They used to put out a supplemental set later in the year that had new call-ups and traded players in their new uniforms. Once companies realized that people wanted cards of newly called-up rookies, they included prospect cards to cover their [del]asses[/del] bases.
yes great quest…need answer…
Yep.
I ended up having the kid keep all of his cards in binders with one “lucky” binder he carries with him, since he needs to be able to pull out cards from time to time for the stories to work. Thanks for your advice, you saved me from looking like a dolt to the client – a major trading card company that shall remain nameless, but the first one you think of, that’s the one.
Bumped because the first two books are now officially out. Amazon.com : topps league story