I'll go with history for myself (or maybe nostalgia for when I was a kid who was interested in history?), but I think that it's nostalgia that drives a lot of the card prices. There are lots and lots of people out there who don't really collect cards, but who would really love to have a Mantle and will put down the cash to do it. So Mantle prices go through the roof, even as prices for other historically great players, who don't inspire the same kind of nostalgia, lag behind.
If I had to guess, I would say that you're less likely to find self identified card collectors (you know, like the people around here) who are motivated by nostalgia, than you are to find people who casually own a card or two who are motivated by it. And that's probably x1000 on this board in particular, considering that it's dedicated to pre-war cards.
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