[ls7plus]

Although my focus is primarily on Pre-WWII stars and hall-of-famers, I actually like some of the more limited sets from this era, especially the Topps Tiffany sets produced in far more limited quantities than its regular cards. Many of the Tiffany sets were also truly high-end in quantity well before Upper Deck in 1989 (the '89 Upper Deck Griffey Jr. will always be an iconic card; it just won't have any significant value for a very, very long time, if ever, because of the 1 million + produced). While many of the big stars from these sets were juicers, generations earlier than mine (think Bob Costas) don't and won't care as much about that--after all, we've become a drug-enhanced world in so many respects!

For the same reasons, I kind of like the stars of the '93 Topps Finest Refractors, with only 241 of each player produced. Refractors have been around for 18 years now, and have certainly demonstrated staying power.

The above being said, I wouldn't bet the farm on any of the above. For investment purposes, they are purely speculative in nature. However, its not beyond reasonable contemplation that just as we have our own historic idols of the game in Wagner, Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Williams, DiMaggio, J. Robinson, Mantle, Mays, Aaron and Banks and the like, maturing generations may well look at players like McGwire and Bonds in a much more sympathetic light. McGwire was truly awesome to watch--I was at a Tigers/Cardinals interleague game at old Tiger Stadium in 1999 in time to watch Big Mac take batting practice. Four over the roof in left, including one in left center, and from where we were sitting in the leftfield upper deck, his balls were still reaching us with the speed of cannon shots, compared to his teammates, whose balls, when they reached the upper deck, didn't have a lot left on them by that time. And Bonds, although he was probably as much pure A-hole as any player who ever set foot on the diamond, is the only guy I personally saw who made major league pitching look like it was slow-pitch softball! He was fascinating to watch, even though you knew it wasn't legit. Kind of gave you an idea of what Ruth and Williams in their prime must have been like! Younger generations may well view these guys as Bunyonesque legends, and give a lot less scrutiny to their integrity and the damage they did to the statistical traditions of the game.

I find this topic especially interesting, as I loved McGwire while he was playing, and have really conflicting feelings now. Comments are really welcomed. Thanks guys,

Larry