Top Soccer Cards

[samosa4u]

First of all, nobody on planet earth knows who G.O. Smith was (except for Al Jurgela). To make my point, I did a search on eBay and I see a few G.O. Smith cards up from the same seller, who is probably Al Jurgela! LOL

Now when PSA did the Mount Rushmore thing, they did include modern cards as well. For example, they selected the 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky RC for their hockey list. So I decided to do the same thing. Here is my choice below:

[aljurgela]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

First of all, nobody on planet earth knows who G.O. Smith was (except for Al Jurgela). To make my point, I did a search on eBay and I see a few G.O. Smith cards up from the same seller, who is probably Al Jurgela! LOL

Now when PSA did the Mount Rushmore thing, they did include modern cards as well. For example, they selected the 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky RC for their hockey list. So I decided to do the same thing. Here is my choice below:

This is absolutely a legitimate Mt. Rushmore (especially if the Messi and Ronaldo are PSA 10s)!

My post here was not really about just the top 4 cards because there are literally hundreds of players over the past century in the world's most played game! And there are a number of people who do know who GO Smith was - especially in the UK. It is kindof like pretty much everyone knows who Mickey Mantle was, but what about Pop Lloyd or Oscar Charleston? The "average" fan probably does not know about those guys, but Bill James catalogs them as top 30 all time players (#4 for Charleston, I believe).

When you calculate scarcity, there are some pretty amazing choices to be had, but I would tend to believe that the Pele, Messi and Ronaldo rookies will be easy to sell... always! A bit common for my taste, but still amazing options.

[aljurgela]

Pre-the Messi / Ronaldo age, most had Maradona #1 or #2 overall in the world. The is the scarce 1977 Fulbito card.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

First of all, nobody on planet earth knows who G.O. Smith was (except for Al Jurgela). To make my point, I did a search on eBay and I see a few G.O. Smith cards up from the same seller, who is probably Al Jurgela! LOL

Now when PSA did the Mount Rushmore thing, they did include modern cards as well. For example, they selected the 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky RC for their hockey list. So I decided to do the same thing. Here is my choice below:

Thanks for the posts, guys. I have been interested in the responses. I have only a basic knowledge of soccer cards, but I am familiar with the major cards. I am not at all surprised by your four choices.

The only thing I wondered about was keeping a Mt. Rushmore at just one card per player and going with either the Quigol or the Alifabolaget for Pele. That would open up a Mt. Rushmore spot for something like the '78 Crack Diego Maradona sticker.

IMO, a Mt. Rushmore should not be an obscure card of which only one or a couple examples exist; it should be four iconic cards that everyone who is a collector of that sport is familiar with.

[Exhibitman]

As a very casual fan I’d go with the names I know: Pele Maradona Di Stefano and I’d like to see some love for Lev Yashin too. The Black Spider deserves to rep the goalies. I was a goalie in soccer and hockey so I like goalies. In hockey I collect Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall.

In terms of cards I love the Heinerle Pele card, the 77 Maradona where he’s practically a kid, the Escenas Deportivas Di Stefano and the 67 Crack Yashin caricature card with him in a spiders web. Used to own three of them but downsizing has taken its toll.

[aljurgela]

He is a top player by most counts. Even the most "light" soccer fans would likely know of him. A miscut version of this card just sold for $2200 a few weeks ago on eBay (292300964718).

His IFFHS rating is #6 overall and World Soccer and Top End Soccer have him at #7 overall - and a pretty rare card.

For those who want to learn more about him:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferenc_Pusk%C3%A1s

[aljurgela]

If we are talking just about the Pele rookies. I used to think that the ALFA was the preferred card, but now I think that I am on the Quigol. The case for the ALFA (for me) was that it was issued in 1958 at the World Cup where he made his international debut (and came into immediate stardom)... it is cardboard (instead of thinner paper) and I loved the photo of him looking confused or angry (or focused) in an absolutely full stadium in the background.

The Quigol has taken on a life of its own. I believe one sold for nearly $15k in and HA auction recently, so it is definitely getting the love! The card design is cool and it is at least "thicker" paper, so it is not as thin as the Titulares. I also like the VAV a lot and it seems to me to be "rarer" than either of the Brazilian issues (Quigol/Titulares - except card #86) or the ALFA, but given that he shares the card with VAVA, it is less desirable than the Quigol or the ALFA.

In the end, I think that the market has voted for the Quigol and I will not really fight that assessment too hard, though I think that any of these 5 cards are great cards/stickers to have.

[aljurgela]

Here are some of my favorites of Yashin... widely considered the best goalkeeper of all time (#11 or World Soccer and Top End... #20 FIFA internet).

Here is more about him:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Yashin

[aljurgela]

Here is the Pele VAV to complete the Pele picture.

[samosa4u]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

The only thing I wondered about was keeping a Mt. Rushmore at just one card per player and going with either the Quigol or the Alifabolaget for Pele. That would open up a Mt. Rushmore spot for something like the '78 Crack Diego Maradona sticker.

When coming up with this list, I had to look at two things: price and popularity. Pele's Quigol and Alifabolaget cards are more popular than the Crack Maradona. Both of these cards also cost a lot more as well. This is the reason why this card did not make the list. Even Pele's Titulares #86 card ranks higher than the Crack Maradona.

As a collector, I am confused as to what we can call a Maradona rookie card. It looks like he had quite a few cards issued in the late 1970s in Argentina. At first I wanted to go after his Crack, but then I saw his 1977 Arg Jrs. disc. By the way, can a little disc even count as a card? It also looks like he has a few other cards from 1978 as well - it's all very confusing! None of them has come out as the winner. At least with Pele, collectors agree that anything of his which was manufactured in 1958 can be considered his rookie.

Originally Posted by aljurgela

In the end, I think that the market has voted for the Quigol

This is true. The Quigol is clearly the winner of the two.

The story behind this card is just crazy though. I was speaking to a big Pele collector and he told me that his Quigol Pele sold for only $20 USD back in 2003 on eBay! I also had a chance to purchase a beautiful PSA 5 example a couple years ago for around $4,000 USD, but I thought the seller was out of his mind - oh, how I regret walking away from it! Anyhow, the value has just exploded over the past few years. Any seller who owns this card, especially in mid to high grade, can ask for big money and get it.