Comments on: The Real Reason Your Childhood Baseball Cards are Worthless Today [Infographic]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Apr 2018 10:49:19 +0000

By: Adam Hughes

Adam Hughes — Sun, 25 Feb 2018 00:37:51 +0000

I’m pretty far behind in my knowledge of current/recent cards, but I would guess the chase/insert/bling/auto/etc. cards might get more DNA/PSA play than the base cards. As you say, these should hold up a lot better than the cards from a generation ago. Why bother to have them graded? (rhetorically … I’m sure plenty will)

By: Michael fox

Michael fox — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 03:33:29 +0000

I’m curious if you have given thought to the future. Given the high quality of Topps offerings today. It seems that there will be far more cards graded EX-MT than from those of a previous generation printed on inferior cardboard. Are we going to be overwhelmed with twenty-year old PSA 9s and 10s owing to the beautiful job Topps has done of late?

By: Adam Hughes

Adam Hughes — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 01:20:23 +0000

In reply to Dean.

Thanks for reading and for adding your perspective. Card pricing is influenced by a complex stew of factors, for sure — always has been!

By: Dean

Dean — Sat, 16 Dec 2017 12:25:38 +0000

Hello and thanks for a nice story that sheds light on the supply and demand issue with baseball cards from the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately the reality is far worse than your numbers indicate. They are directionally correct to be sure. However they suggest, for example, that my 5 PSA 9 rookie Mattingly cards will only be worth half as much as my PSA 9 George Brett. Turns out, based on recent eBay sales, a PSA 9 George Brett rookie goes for about $1,800.00 while a Mattingly PSA 9 goes for $23. My kids could get through college if the real ratio was 76/37 or approximately 2 to 1. The real ratio is 1800/23 or approximately 78 to 1.

OOOOOUCHHHHH! lol.

The biggest factor that explains the reality is that in the 70s not everyone appreciated that baseball cards could be worth a lot of money, especially if kept in nice condition. By the 80s this was much more well known. Therefore not only is the demand on a per card basis higher for 70s cards, but the probability of finding any particular card in mint or bear mint condition is orders of magnitude lower.
Just thought I’d add that flavoring to your story. (Unfortunately the flavor is well known to me. In 1975 I excitedly rode home on my bicycle with my Nolan Ryan AND Hank Aaron in my back pocket, couldn’t wait to show my friends, while the George Brett I never heard of was clothes pinned to my bicycle spokes to make me sound like a cool motorcycle… uggghhh).