Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Klein
I was not yet in the hobby in 1974 when the Aaron boom hit, however; the Fidrych (and probably Lynn and Rice in 75 in the Boston Area) was certainly a card dealers were bidding on in 1977.
But the explosion did come with CPU and their hyping of RC's. And it certainly helped that Rickey Henderson had the year in 1980 at the same time his RC came out. After 1979/80 it was RC old and new out the door.
Rich
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In 1974, Aaron became a 10-20 dollar card overnight. I remember because my brother had one. Before that, I don't remember anything being more than 1.00. I was getting several mail order catalogs, but it is possible that they just didn't have certain cards like a 52 Mantle.
I don't know how much Fidrych was, but I don't recall mail order guys asking more for it. It is possible that it was hot, but it would have been a short time. Mark was hurt in preseason and didn't pitch in 1977 until May 27 and then was hurt again pitching his last game for the season July 12. I imagine if he had a 1976 card, it would have been a 1.00 card during the season.
Lynn and Rice were .15 and .20 in the 1st Beckett annual. Brett and Yount .08. Henderson and Valenzuela became 1.00 cards as rookies. I would put the 1979-1981 time period as when the rookie card really started taking hold. Although by 1981, Brett was a 10.00 card after his 1980 season, but Robin Yount was still .08 until he took off in his 1982 MVP season. By 1984, prospecting had taken hold with people buying 100 count lots of no name rookies hoping they would break out like Ryne Sandberg did in 1984.