It was the summer of 1988. I, like many other pre-teen Generation X’ers, found myself in the midst of one of the great crazes and collecting images of all time, baseball cards. Paper bags were everywhere, about 50 cents a pack. At that time only Topps, Donruss and Fleer, corp. Baseball on television, no internet, no cell phones, the NFL was about 1/4 as popular. as it is today. Baseball was still America’s game. At this time, hobby shops popped up all over the world into the tens of thousands of kids, commonly called “baseball card stores.” In these stores you can buy magazines like Beckett Baseball Card Monthly, as well as another magazine that defines the course of electronic baseball cards at the time known as Current Card Pricing (or CCP). , the player’s name and the card number.These are all given the “value” and this is where the problems started.
You will hear stories from our fathers and grandfathers about how they took old cards from the 1950s and 1960s and ran them on their cool bikes. to make a “cold sound” and cut them down. So many have done this that the major cards over the years have become more difficult at all, let alone in any prime condition. This made them really rare and “valuable” from a collector’s point of view. Since there is only a finite number of those who have ever been made. Anything considered “vintage” (pre-1974) has always been a hobby and still to this day will hold a solid “value”. I mean value should only be perceived as worth what someone is willing to pay for the item. economy in the republic was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, people were looking for alternatives to money such as stocks, mutual funds and other usual resources financing, which lost many millions at the time. They were looking for a sound investment in the future. It created the perfect weather for men and boys to invest in cheap, fast, and sound commodities based on vintage baseball cards.
I mean, it was cool after all. You can buy a pack of cards at any grocery or corner store for 50 cents and maybe pull one $5.00 rookie card from someone who He had a good week or month in jasper. You should then wait for the next month’s edition of the “price guide” to see how much your card is worth for the month. Cheap, easy, fast. It was something that both parents parents and their children could safely participate in and bring families together while keeping an eye on it. investment” to hold the corner because I mean, every baseball card of a great player will get the value “on the road” as they have right? That’s how it is. At least that perception of this time was in the beloved.
Well, starting in 1981, Topps introduced something called the “herd set.” This was only introduced to “hobby shops” and was not published in packages. These forces were then described by Fleer as Update in 1984 and Donruss as “The Rookies” in 1986. These parts were unique in that they contained the first cards of players who trade in their new equipment in new clothes in the offseason as well as mid-season call-ups and what is later called the “XRC or Rookie Card” is the first definition of new players. There has always been some debate whether ” Rookie Card” that was not issued in the package was a real rookie card. For example, was the XRC rookie card from the 1984 Fleer Update of Roger Clements a real rookie card? Or were the 1985 Topps, Donruss and Fleer versions of Roger Clements’ cards first issued as his rookie card? “real”. You will see a lot of discussion about this over the years. However, the fact is that the people on the cards were always looking for the most expensive rookies or “renewal” of their favorite players, making them more expensive action always spoke more than what was printed on paper.
From 1988 to early 1991, the baseball card market was crazy. People are spending thousands of dollars collecting mass produced, baseball card sets and movie rookie cards from players like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Eric Davis, Don Mattingly, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn, and many others along with scouting for future players like Ken Griffey Jr. By now, serious signs should have warned that this supply and exit was headed for a bad place. I mean, if you can buy a 1989 Donruss 200 count Ken Griffey Jr rookie cards from a dealer, how can you? how many are there really and when compared to the “vintage” with real value, what will it be worth in the future? You certainly don’t see 200-count lots of 1952 Topps Mickey Blankets flying around. Believe it or not at this time, a 200 count lot of Ken Griffey Jr rookies were selling for between $800-$1000 and were being advertised as “better investment than stock”. Consider the situation of merchants and families across the country with thousands. You have a point. However, many, usually blinded by easy money, soon became consumed and consumed.
There were stories of dealers and people opening packages, taking out key cards, and opening them with glue. To top it all off, in mid-1989 Super Deck came out with the first high-end glossy looking baseball sheet, a staggering price of $1.00 a pack . At the time that was considered a crime. It became a lot more popular, and of course, our favorite long term investment, Ken Griffey Jr, was on the #1 card set. By the end of 1989 something seemed to change. Upper Deck had published “workshops” of their 1-700 set cards as well as “renewal” sets of 701-800 cards. They also issued these cards in what they called “high number packs” which had 2 of each 701-800 in them. This amount and the sudden release of these cards caused the magazine CCP (current card pricing) to estimate the entire issue in the January 1990 issue at about 50-60%. I was at the Atlantic City, NJ baseball card convention in January of that year right after it came out. Rumors were flying that Upper Deck was in the process of getting CCP over the mass devaluation in its product. You can get the same top deck Ken Griffey Jr rookies that the dealers were selling for $25 even a month ago for a $5 bill. And this was in a distant time. This was a sure sign of things to come.
Within months, CCP would produce a secret magazine about baseball card pricing. No one has ever really determined why society will “fail” so much. Odds from the now-crazed collector were the highest opinion for their circulation ever. This paved the way for the standard now, because they were on monthly pricing. As odd as this all was, everyone was just kind of sniggering and acting because we all had to get a fix of monthly updates on our family business!
In 1989 to wrap up the release of the Premium Deck above, in 1990 Donruss created their highest end product, called the “Leaf”. This was done by the home of the rookie investment prodigies of the season, Frank Thomas and Sammy Sosa. The Frank Thomas card reached $150 at one point. Packs of these cards, now exclusive to my hobby, were for a feeble amount of $3 a pack. Since 1991, Topps has stood by its prize with a card, the Stadium Club. Since Jeff Bagwell was the only true rookie worth working on in this set, it was as awkward as they are trading now (you could literally make a living card at this point) run to Bradlees or stores in the retail arena that had these cards priced at $1.49 a pack before, buy the whole box and then sell them on a sheet base show up. of $8.00 a pack! Now remember, this is being done across the country by thousands of dealers and the purchase of hundreds of thousands of customers, hobbyists and of course, investors. Today, you can find these items online for much less than a penny on the dollar, if that matters.
Then, in 1992, Topps renewed the premium version of their “Bowman” brand. This supply, from a historical point of view, is a limit. Rookies who have never played a major league game have worn, of all things, street clothes. Who is Mariano Rivera? Who is Mike Piazza? Who is Manny Ramirez? Who is Pedro Martinez? This is a harbinger of things to come. This organization was another hobby only mission and the production was divided into some of the now derelict Topps products. Compare the 1 or 2 million 1992 Sagittarius set compared to base sum estimates in the tens of millions. So when there is a lot of interest and money flowing in, people will invest again as future stocks.
During this time several other issues were released as every other week there seemed to be a new product on the market. There have been stories of people metal-detectors finding causes in Donruss product cases to be found with “elite” inserts and autographs. Now, back up. If the case is an item stacked from floor to ceiling in drug store in drug store should not indicate Is the product really overproduced? But none of us care, we just kept the price guide for checking. Topps, aware of the first “Number Series” product of 1991 and 1992 Donruss Elite inserts that had value, interest and sold another terrible product without rookies and talent, decided to create a set that would define the end. the first wave of baseball card investment craze by simply putting it aside for children and the general collector, the 1993 Topps Finest set.
“Super Premium” was the phrase that just entered the market. The only way to get packages of this product was through dealers who worked as a grocery store, and the asking price was over $10 a package for about six or so cards. But what people wanted from these packs and set were super-rare parallel paper refractors. This is the first time they feel real “luck” when they run into playing cards. By the end there were only about 241 and two thousand of the best of these refractories were randomly inserted into the packs. These were all rainbow-like cards with the same image as the “base” chrome-looking cards. That is. One extra layer of light. Topps sold out of preorders for this product in less than eight weeks. To this day these refractories hold some value as they are harder to come by and are a favorite of the classic collector set. Why? Because as the 1992 baseball pitcher put it, it became a term. At the end of the year 1993, Superior Deck met again with a high end high prize set, called “SP”. In this set, it was a tough condition model before the rookie cards, this was another $5 expensive package hobby only product. In this set you will find the rookie card of a Yankee shortstop no one will have heard of for another 3 years, Derek Jeter.
Michael Jordan playing baseball? Alex Rodriguez is a top flight rookie investment. Package prices at this point have dropped to a min of $1 a package for basic cards. No one cared, we were getting better cards that hey, should have more value. He, during the previous summer of 1994, from baseball card eI threw a card. It was like a fire sale for me personally, because I knew the bottom line would come from this initial market. I was what, 19 years man-card shows and also doing conventions as setting up shop at the local flea markets every weekend up until that point? I won’t deny that in that 1989-1994 timeframe I made a ton of money from sports cards. t became not only my hobby but my second job. I know I was not alone. My final show appearance was at the Freehold Mall, NJ in the summer of 1994. I was paid $150 for the weekend to set up shop at the mall. During Saturday night with a pending hit, I decided to “fire sell” my entire inventory of baseball cards. “50% off Friends,” “Offer,” “Everything in this box is $1.” It was like a stock market selloff at my dealer’s desk. On Sunday afternoon, when I was locked up, I left with two empty cases and about $3,000 in cash in my pocket. I had many businessmen asking me why I should do this. Many are angry. I resell many of my purchases. My answer is “it’s time to get out of the business.”
Of course I was sad. I mean, this is your youth and your teen years are just leaving you. In retrospect, it was a pretty smart idea, wasn’t it? That $3,000 in 1994 you can’t get for $100 today without a doubt. The baseball market of 1994-95 was completely killed. Some saw the time to invest longer, when most decided to jump ship and incur losses due to the failure of the user through the strike. That refers to the “value” issue. I mean what good is a baseball card with no baseball? Investors have primarily taken a beating on Don Mattingly’s rookie schedule as it appears the Yankees vs. ExposWorld Series is imminent. . Well, since this does not happen, the overall value of the cards is up to the decline.
I only took another tour until May of 1998. What I looked at from 1994-1997 was that I really don’t miss much. There is no point in setting it apart. I was surprised how many dealers still had the cards I sold in 1994. But in 1998 everything changed again. Big game home run by Marc McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Baseball is BACK!! Baseball cards are BACK!! MONEY IS BACK!! It was certainly good. However, due to the production of the 1985 Topps McGwire rookie and all of Sammy Sosa’s 1990 rookies, people were not stupid enough to make the same blind investment mistake twice. or were they? They found a new mouth. Having a functionally accessible chest.
PSA (Professional Sports Authentication) was around in 1980. It is mostly used to verify the authenticity of ancient papers and 1-10 “grades” based on their condition. This made it easier to resell and know what the real card was. People lying on paper like you wouldn’t believe. Good thinking. Well, since there are so many McGwire and Sosa rookies out there, our regular dollar writer went out and GRADED them all! In this way, people will pay more attention to the higher level of these paper models and realize that they are real. I tell a ton of people the 1985 McGwire rookies (a $30 card at the beginning of 1998) and the 1990 Leaf Sosa rookies (a $5 card at the beginning of 1998.) So let’s make ours special and appeal to the high-end collector and investor (there’s that word again).
And of course, Beckett, who still has, and still has, a virtual stranglehold on baseball prices and price lists, decided to open his own grading company called BGS or Beckett Grading Services. The great home run chase of 1998 once again ignited baseball card industry. PSA 10 Gem mint card models like 1985 Topps Tiffany McGwire, 1994 SP Alex Rodriguez, 1993 SP Derek Jeter sold for over $10,000 each. Yes, the number is correct. $10,000 dollars for a baseball card. This is a sound investment right? These guys are all going to be the next Mickey Mantles and Willie Mays of the world, so they get everything right in that. Then the people gradually began to do everything for more money. I mean, it’s real. People graded the new rookie cards of 1998 hoping he would get the elusive “10”. At $7-$25 a pop, depending on how quickly you want to withdraw it from PSA or BGS, you can take that $5 card and turn it into $100. People, luck and race are wiped out again. By the way, the exact same card today would be lucky to get 1/10/ of your investment.
Sammy Sosa corked bats and Mark McGwire used performance enhancement drugs? WHAT IS? Yes, these are the things that once again shocked the baseball world. Add the ever-hanging future home run king Barry Bonds and his explosive growth into the mix and you have yourself a real perfect storm right there. I found an old 1985 Topps set my dad had put together and sold to a dealer at the time for $150 at the height of the frenzy. The buyer said he would give him $300 for the phone within an hour. I said enjoy the product, and god bless him, because I was happy to take this $150 and go on with the day. Once the steroid era, thank you Jose Canseco, who has not yet been proven wrong, came around and flourished once again the baseball card market took yet another nosedive as people lost all interest in investing in fraudsters and once again buyers and dealers; He lost a ton of money from 1999-2001 on these plays as well as many other flash in the park superstars from that era.
But before 1998 and all that, there was a special set released in 1997 by Topps called Chrome Bowman. Here is another high-end super premium set that has organized a short list of superstars day and “rookie cards”>. /a> players you’ve never heard of in your life. Who is Adrian Beltre isn’t he 16? Lance Berkman, Roy Halliday, Kerry Wood? Who are these people?? This cannot be explained, yet another limit is set. You see, what has really been put on the stage in the future release of the baseball chest of purity and interest as well as the decline of the project of great importance a view from the baseball card community – of children.
You see, after all their “heirs” from the steroid era have been defamed as “fraudsters” their families and children have basically lost their money. Like Pokemon in previous years, POGS (remember?) had permeated the interests of children. Mainly because their parents lost so much money and so they got rid of not only the ball game, but the ball in general. By the early 2000’s video games, the internet and the general degradation of the concept of the American family had completely changed how the baseball market operated . Now it was strictly aimed at hobbyists and big dollar collectors. Making “ugly” paper marks virtually useless in this timeframe. In late 1999, Superior Deck baseball card introduced a completely new thing – the idea of having a bunch of used game memorabilia from players inserted into the baseball card.
And add one very important idea to the mix – the internet and ebay. In March 2000, I opened an eBay account in an attempt to hack and re-enter a baseball card. By the winter of 1999, the amount of baseball shows was a fraction of what they once were and the flea market seems to have dwindled. a> people were grumbling about how most of the “traders” on the popular show weekend had gone to eBay, selling items to a much wider audience and making more money by selling and selling their items. I did well indeed.
I sold on eBay and Sportsbuy for a long time. I made a ton of cash from 2000-08 simply flipping cards by buying lots that people didn’t know what they had, were doing it wrong or simply didn’t know their value correctly. I actually became a second job, for the second time in my life. But it was easy and pleasant. During this time frame, the used game market has exploded, (how many Jose Vidro used games in ligula cards do you want? ) The price of the higher end products has a very heavy $250 package, and of course the ever-present Chrome Archer. This is where the baseball card market officially hit its dead end. Nationals insist. He pointed out that the businessmen of the past did not make the mark in centurions only. The Baseball card market has been transferred from the card to the show and to the search only on eBay. Email addresses for baseball were sent from over 30 pages on Beckett in the early 90’s to about two and a half. Is the card trading table a mosquito? NOTHING TO BE. How much can you get a child involved by sitting on a computer screen typing in questions? No personal interaction other than your feedback and hoping your papers are not damaged in the mail. This generation didn’t get it like we did. It’s sad. It is really children who lose their hand.
The mass production of the game used, look at the numbered cards and the overall devaluation and confusion due to Bowman and Chrome Bowman in the real rookie card and not the MLB generation of children brought to actually take away the licenses of Donruss and Superior. Decorate in years. The name Fleer bought from Upper Deck is virtually useless. Topps is now, as it was pre-1981, the only retailer that can produce licensed MLB baseball cards. What happened to me personally was when eBay feess always increased, and the right to sell was taken away. No variety of negative or neutral feedback on the customer. I had a stellar feedback rating (over 9000) until about a month after they implemented that change. Within two weeks I had 4 rejections of about 12 months. This was in early 2009, this backlash from buyers against defenseless sellers was in full swing all over the market. Overseas Shipping? Forget it. Then once eBay has made your detailed seller Ratings (DSR’S) complete, how much you paid, in addition to this you need to track every single card sent with the precious delivery confirmation, otherwise about 40% of the time your buyers will try and steal it and say you never sent it in the first place just can’t be worth it. Done. Act with baseball cards and a rebound angle. I tried and advertised on Sportsbuy for a short time after I left eBay, but if you’re not friends with some people there, good luck getting your listings noticed. After I left there, I was officially involved in baseball and trading cards.
In 2006, MLB made Topps add the “Official MLB Rookie Card Logo” on what they thought were old school rookie cards to help get them involved again. To eliminate confusion. This was a great idea in his mind, but when he cut all other crafts out of business, he essentially blamed me for the wrong hobby. Leaving Topps there. And yet they will create a real source of confusion, Sagittarius and Sagittarius Chrome. How much sense does this make? How do you take your kid into the store in 2007 and get a Justin Upton Topps card with the “MLB Rookie Card” logo on it and tell your kid “this is going to be his rookie card and you can enjoy it” when in 2004 Archer and Archer Chrome AFLAC have a great set the value of the first year’s paper and the variations of Justin Upton
both 2006 Archer and Archer Chrome kills?? And that the only way is eBay or the Beckett market? The same can be said for Jose Bautista (Rookie year 2006 but the first card is 2002 Bowman and Chrome?) This same situation applied to Steven Strausburg and next year it will be with Bryce Haper among many others. MLB must and must shut down the Archer and Archer Chrome concept for any hope of the next generation understanding and feeling the excitement of pulling a real rookie card from a store bought package. This was one of the most popular baseball card collectibles pre-1992. This would be a wonderful way to introduce at least the beginning of the process of a new generation, since these two pasts have officially been lost. Too many people are against buying and collecting baseball cards. Because, as has been said, the common always seems to be the same. You are defeated.
So if you come across or you are one of those people who have baseball records from the time frame between say 1980 and 2000 and are trying to sell it on Craigslist or wonder why you were only offered $5 for it after you were told. years ago to “hold it for your child’s college education” or no interest in time, feel free to read or refer to this article. Because until drastic and drastic changes are made to MLB regarding Bowman and Chrome Bowman, baseball card hobby will be reduced to $20 to $300-a-pack online lottery players hoping to draw Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle game used card jersey as a gambler plays too many hoofs finished looking for a momentary big hit that just never seems to come, leaving you with a pile of Jose Vidro and Gary Sheffield game used card jersey to welcome you about 25 cents, no profit and negative feedback on eBay.
That being said, unless you stumble upon a sale in an old log in the middle of nowhere that contains vintage, the odds are on the record The odds of collecting and either winning or enjoying are stacked against you today. Each time, the work and expenses involved with the hobby are in the present state. Anyone who is different from you is in any denial of reality or prolongs the inevitable. And by the way…
It’s safe to put baseball bats on your bike spokes again.
That thing is never worth anything anyways…
