[dgo71]

I don't see why any player would "catch up" to another. I would think as time moves on, values for everyone would increase proportionally. But it'd still be Ruth > Cobb > Mantle, etc. I don't think Mantle would jump exponentially and not see a similar increase in Ruth's value. What would, 20+ years after Mantle signed his last autograph, predicate such a drastic spike in his value that wouldn't also effect the value of Ruth?

EDIT: Or is the question simply, in a vacuum, will a Mantle signed baseball ever command $15K (or whatever a nice Ruth currently sells for)? If that's the question, it would depend on the direction the hobby goes in over the next 60 years or so. Who can say? Personally I'd like to think in 2080 there will be some young collector dreaming of owning a Mantle the way people today dream of owning a Ruth.