[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by ParisianJohn

When I saw the title of this thread I wondered what we all would have said to this question in 2013.

My gut reaction is that in 10 years Pele and Messi cards might spike the most as trading cards could go more global, with a push from the US as more American investors look for the next big thing and recognize the global popularity of that sport and go for those guys. I singled out Pele and Messi because they're pretty much the only soccer players I can name, and that counts for something, kind of like how in the past decade Ruth has spiked dramatically as more people got into this hobby, especially during COVID, and then with bets on this being a safer investment than the market (or at least a good way to diversify your holdings).

If we limit this to baseball cards then, like many others have said, I feel all things Jackie Robinson should spike, with lots of room for growth on his Bond Breads, Leafs, Bowmans and his 1952 Topps. I think the latter will go up the most since "1952 Topps" has that association to the famed 1952 Mantle that T206 as a whole has to the T206 Wagner. Jackie's got a historical significance where he's well-known outside of baseball, too.

Then again (returning to my opening sentence) I started collecting vintage around 2010, took a break in 2015 when my first kid was born, relapsed for a bit in 2016, then took a break in 2017 when my second kid was born and came back to the hobby early last year. In 2013 I would have looked at the price of cards for pre-war HOFers and thought they were close to maxed out and it was time for Aaron, Mays, Robinson and Williams to go nuts. Instead it has been the old, top-tier HOFers who spiked the most. Ruth, Young, Johnson, Cobb, Wagner.

So I'll say in the end it's Boston-era Ruth cards, his Baltimore minor league cards (good luck finding or affording one) and stuff from Messi and Pele that was produced before COVID. I could be horribly wrong!

Too late. Goldin sold a Pele card for $486,000 last year.