Depressing

[irv]

Are Judge's cards still getting crazy high prices like they once were last year?

[orly57]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Yes I also started out buying new cards back in the 80's. The big(crazy) difference is back then when we bought the new must have cards we usually spent less than $100. So when they became worthless in a year or 2 it sucked but was not a huge deal. Now the new must have cards are selling for 5 and 6 figures. The only thing that is the same is most are worthless after a couple years.

I bought up every Todd Van Poppel and Brien Taylor card I could find. Some were as much as a whopping $20. If those guys were coming into the league today, their 1/1 autos would sell for multiple thousands off the bat. Imagine what a 1/1 canseco rookie auto would sell for today if he had come into the league in 2015 and had those dominant seasons he had. And think of the drop on that card once Canseco lost his mojo. They can't all be Mike Trout...that's why he's special. I don't collect new stuff, but some members on the board whom I respect do. They are educated guys who enjoy rooting on the players whose cards they own. There is fun in that, and that's what collecting is all about. Any way you look at it, it's good that people come into the hobby and follow baseball.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

Correct. Searching by highest price on eBay and extrapolating out that people are more willing to spend huge cash on new cards is at least somewhat faulty because so much of the really top-level pre-war stuff doesn't get sold on eBay; it gets sold at places like REA, Heritage, Goldin.

How many Lebron jersey cards or Stanton refractors do you suppose will be up for auction at REA this year?

Not trying to be a pre-war snob here, but younger "collectors" (really speculators) on eBay ask obscene prices for auto cards and shiny crap that doesn't realize 1/3,000 of what the price they are throwing out there for shits and giggles. No one is paying $800,000 for a Trout card. Sorry. Not happening. Can ask anything you want.

Looking at what people are "asking" on eBay is really a very poor way to assess the health of a market.

[orly57]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Not trying to be a pre-war snob here, but younger "collectors" (really speculators) on eBay ask obscene prices for auto cards and shiny crap that doesn't realize 1/3,000 of what the price they are throwing out there for shits and giggles. No one is paying $800,000 for a Trout card. Sorry. Not happening. Can ask anything you want.

Looking at what people are "asking" on eBay is really a very poor way to assess the health of a market.

Didn't a Strasburg 1/1 sell on eBay for around a million bucks a few years ago? Heck of an investment for a guy who is 84-45 with a career era over 3.

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Not trying to be a pre-war snob here, but younger "collectors" (really speculators) on eBay ask obscene prices for auto cards and shiny crap that doesn't realize 1/3,000 of what the price they are throwing out there for shits and giggles. No one is paying $800,000 for a Trout card. Sorry. Not happening. Can ask anything you want.

Looking at what people are "asking" on eBay is really a very poor way to assess the health of a market.

While I completely agree with the point quoted above, I'd respectfully hang a lantern on using the term "shiny crap," especially if one doesn't want to come off like a "pre-war snob" and unnecessarily offend a whole cross-section of their fellow baseball card enthusiasts.

I do agree an eBay search is not the ideal method of assessing the PreWar space, considering the likes of REA, Heritage, etc. are where so many great pieces in the space are routinely bought/sold.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I confess to buying the occasional shiny thing. My new Trout RC lol, very sparkly in hand.

[MattyC]

What a superb ballplayer. And a very cool-looking card to represent him in your collection, Peter. The game is so damn hard, and Trout makes it look so easy.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

How many if those “new” cards are one back injury, positive drug test or scandal away from losing all value? The good thing about Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Mantle et cetera is that nothing can ever damage their reputations from this point on.

And they are all dead.

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

How many if those “new” cards are one back injury, positive drug test or scandal away from losing all value? The good thing about Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Mantle et cetera is that nothing can ever damage their reputations from this point on.

To some who buy cards of modern players, the endeavor is not about potential value one way or the other. At its purest, back in boyhood, I'd venture collecting grew from a fondness and rooting for a specific player or team, not future monetary considerations.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by MattyC

What a superb ballplayer. And a very cool-looking card to represent him in your collection, Peter. The game is so damn hard, and Trout makes it look so easy.

He and Harper (IMO the other great talent of this generation, although as yet not fully realized) are sort of yin and yang, although for all his bad ass veneer Harper is a very hard-working and fundamentally solid player.