Change-Ups, Spirals, and Swishes — Droolworthy Cards for August 24, 2018

With just one week left in August, it’s officially late summer, and that means the baseball season is waning.

As sad as that is, and even though we have the denouement of the pennant races and postseason in front of us, this is also the time of year when other sports start to creep into our consciousness.

The allure of football and — soon, basketball and hockey — is not limited to the field of play, either.

Nope, there is plenty of droolworthy cardboard to be found among the non-baseball sports, and this week, those goodies start creeping into our Friday listings.

So, sit back, enjoy, and don’t be surprised if a little variety strikes your fancy.

(Note that this post contains affiliate links, which means if you click over to eBay and buy something, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.)

1969 Topps Willie Mays (PSA 10)

By 1969, Willie Mays was squarely in the define phase of his career, but he still had a few seasons left to produce at All-Star levels, albeit with reduced playing tome from his heyday.

More importantly, Mays was a legend, an all-time great who had an outside shot at topping Babe Ruth’s career home run record.

That didn’t happen, of course — Hank Aaron was the one who ultimately took the homer crown — but Willie was and is one of the most popular players who ever lived.

And his 1969 Topps issue features the smiling superstar adorned in his San Francisco Giants home white jersey. It’s a great card, and this eBay lot presents it in perfect PSA 10 condition, one of only six to have ever received that grade.

The Buy-It-Now (BIN) sits at a similarly wowing $11,999.99.

Here is the eBay listing (affiliate link).

1969 Topps Baseball Unopened Wax Pack

Hailing from the same set as the Mays card above is this 1969 Topps unopened 5-cent wax pack.

It’s a great period display piece with vibrant colors — red, yellow, blue, white, black — and graded in PSA 7

The wrapper shows a few crinkles but is in great shape overall (obviously) and features advertising for the rub-offs insert.

A very nice vintage pack listed at $2499.99

Here is the eBay listing (affiliate link).

1969-70 Topps Basketball Uncut Sheet with Lew Alcindor Rookie Card

The NBA season is still a ways off, but as baseball enters the final stretch and LeBron James heads for the Los Angeles Lakers, the sports world is starting to get that hardwood itch.

Evidence of that can be seen in the basketball lots that are starting to make their way to the market.

Take this 1969-70 Topps Basketball uncut sheet, for example.

How many times do you find the rookie card of two Hall of Famers on one sheet that’s nearly 50 years old? Along with a handful of other Hall of Famers?

Hardly ever, in my experience, but that’s what you get here …

A John Havlicek rookie card …

A Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) rookie card …

… and …

… Jerry Lucas, Connie Hawkins, Jerry West, Bill Bradley, Len Wilkins.

Obviously, this thing is loaded, and it’s hard to argue with the seller’s $9999.99 BIN.

Here is the eBay listing (affiliate link).

1981 Topps Baseball Unopened Wax Case

In 1981, Fleer and Donruss broke Topps’ 25-year monopoly on the baseball card market to produce their first-ever sets of current players (although Fleer also tried the same in 1963).

None of the three 1981 sets are great, but Topps issue is almost universally accepted as the most solid among the trio.

Sporting a decent baseball-cap design that suffers from the usual dingy photography and mushy brown cardstock of the era, 1981 Topps baseball is nevertheless basically error-free, a far cry from the mess Fleer and Donruss issues.

And, while the rookie class isn’t the best ever, you can still find first-year cards of Kirk Gibson, Fernando Valenzuela (and Mike Scioscia), Tim Raines, and Harold Baines.

Given all that, this unopened wax case (20 boxes) of 1981 Topps baseball is a bona fide piece of hobby history that the seller is offering up at a $6200 BIN

Here is the eBay listing (affiliate link).

1984 Topps Football John Elway Rookie Card (PSA 10)

Though the world may not quite be ready for the NBA season, it seems everyone is ready for some football.

Friday Night Lights are firing up across the nation.

The college rumor mill is churning.

The NFL preseason is in full swing.

And some stellar cards are surfacing on eBay.

What could be a better accompaniment for your fall fun than this PSA 10 copy of the 1984 Topps John Elway rookie card?

The man is Denver Broncos through and through, a legendary Hall of Fame quarterback who led the team to two Super Bowl victories and then helped them to another as the lead front office man.

Hard to beat that legacy, and impossible to beat the quality of this card, listed at $3750.

Here is the eBay listing (affiliate link).

Check out our other posts detailing baseball cards for sale here.