10 Most Iconic Cards under $200

[jared6180]

I get very nervous about buying fake cards and for this reason I will probably buy most if not all graded by PSA. I frankly do not trust BGS with anything as fragile as old cards, they barely get new cards done right plus their labels look like dog do-do with older cards.

It might be a little goofy, but ideally I would like to buy based on my own grading expectations and tolerances. I have provided the following "chart" to show you what I mean...
Year Min. Grade
2000+ 10
1990-99 9
1980-89 8
1970-79 7
1960-69 6
1950-59 5
etc...

Now, obviously there are some cards, esp RCs that will not fit this criteria. So these are set within perfect world scenarios.

I am thinking about starting my vintage collection with a Brett RC in a PSA 7 or a 58 Mantle/Aaron in a PSA 6.

[MCoxon]

Also Jared, if you're willing to go PSA 5 for 1950s card, you've got TONS of iconic cards to choose from:

1954 Bowman Willie Mays, Duke Snider (mentioned earlier)
1956 Topps Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente
1957 Topps Sandy Koufax, Ted Williams

Originally Posted by jared6180

I get very nervous about buying fake cards and for this reason I will probably buy most if not all graded by PSA. I frankly do not trust BGS with anything as fragile as old cards, they barely get new cards done right plus their labels look like dog do-do with older cards.

It might be a little goofy, but ideally I would like to buy based on my own grading expectations and tolerances. I have provided the following "chart" to show you what I mean...
Year Min. Grade
2000+ 10
1990-99 9
1980-89 8
1970-79 7
1960-69 6
1950-59 5
etc...

Now, obviously there are some cards, esp RCs that will not fit this criteria. So these are set within perfect world scenarios.

I am thinking about starting my vintage collection with a Brett RC in a PSA 7 or a 58 Mantle/Aaron in a PSA 6.

[Laxcat]

I'm not that big on condition. I would suggest a lower condition, but not fugly, '69T White Letter Mantle. Tough & Iconic card IMO.

[Rookiemonster]

I call it the forgotten hall of famers.

Duke snider

Harmon killabrew

Whitey ford

Ernie banks

Bob Gibson
These guys are always affordable . You can get a whitey ford rookie for 200!
And if your in to football you can get even more bang for your buck . I think for 200 you can almost have any player in low grade. The guys I listed you can find better grade for you price point .

[nat]

If you're willing to go PSA 3 in the 30s and PSA 2 in the 20s you can get tons of great stuff for under 200 bucks. Quick search shows a PSA 3 Goudey Hornsby sold for $175 two weeks ago. There's a 3.5 BIN at 230 right now. (Which is >200, but gives you the idea of what it'll sell for if an auction comes around.)

If you're looking postwar, I like the 71 Ryan. Or how about a 54 Robinson.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by jared6180

I get very nervous about buying fake cards and for this reason I will probably buy most if not all graded by PSA. I frankly do not trust BGS with anything as fragile as old cards, they barely get new cards done right plus their labels look like dog do-do with older cards.

It might be a little goofy, but ideally I would like to buy based on my own grading expectations and tolerances. I have provided the following "chart" to show you what I mean...
Year Min. Grade
2000+ 10
1990-99 9
1980-89 8
1970-79 7
1960-69 6
1950-59 5
etc...

Now, obviously there are some cards, esp RCs that will not fit this criteria. So these are set within perfect world scenarios.

I am thinking about starting my vintage collection with a Brett RC in a PSA 7 or a 58 Mantle/Aaron in a PSA 6.

Those two seem like a good place to start. A 75 Brett should have a 75 Yount to go with it though. You could get one of each in a 7 for 200 bucks.

The 58 Mantle/Aaron is my favorite Mantle combo card. I also like his 62 with Mays and 57 with Berra. Both well within your price range. Good luck building your collection.

[the 'stache]

Exactly. I don't get it when somebody lists a '75 Brett as iconic, but not the Yount from the same set. Both came up at the same time. Both were among the very best players of their generation. Both got their 3,000th hit within 10 days of each other, and both went into the Hall together.

It's like having Lennon but not McCartney. Blasphemous!

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

Those two seem like a good place to start. A 75 Brett should have a 75 Yount to go with it though. You could get one of each in a 7 for 200 bucks.

[jared6180]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

I don't get it when somebody lists a '75 Brett as iconic, but not the Yount from the same set. Both came up at the same time. Both were among the very best players of their generation. Both got their 3,000th hit within 10 days of each other, and both went into the Hall together.

This is a legitimate point. My only reason is because I was born in 1980 and raised a Royals fan, so I consider Brett to be the best. Yes, I'm a bit of a homer for my Royals. I remember Brett and Yount reaching 3,000 at about the same time, but Brett had a larger impact since I watched him play in person and on the TV FAR more frequently than Yount. Is Yount still involved in baseball? I know Brett is very involved with the Royals front office.

Is there a guide for various years of cards and what to look for? Something specific I could read and maybe see images of Real vs. fake? I would love to learn this stuff, and would especially love to learn how PSA grades their cards. In my untrained opinion a PSA 3 and 1 don't look very different especially when we start talking about the difference in the half-grade differences. I bought a few vintage cards from a set breaker in 2012 and what I thought for sure would be an 6 or 7 came back 4s and 5s. I was very disappointed and decided to stay with modern cards. I just really have a desire to get mostly out of the new stuff though so I keep circling around to vintage.

1953 Bowman Color Pee Wee Reese is gorgeous. I really like that set, but I think my favorite is 1950 Bowman, for some reason the small square cards always get my attention.

[Robs70sCards]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbEHAsZxRYo

Three words: Pine Tar Incident. The footage is more iconic than the card

[begsu1013]

.

[CW]

Originally Posted by jared6180

1953 Bowman Color Pee Wee Reese is gorgeous. I really like that set, but I think my favorite is 1950 Bowman, for some reason the small square cards always get my attention.

Good call by Bill on the Pee Wee Reese.

I agree about the '50 Bowmans. They're like little works of art. The Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson are classics from this set as well, and could probably be had in raw VG condition for under $200.

[midwaylandscaping]

I Really liked Robin Yount growing up. 2 MVP's at two different positions. Hard nosed athlete. He gets overlooked a good bit.

[ls7plus]

'73 OPC Schmidt in "7" (or even a "6" with great eye appeal)--the greatest third baseman of all time and far, far tougher than his Topp's rookie.

Have fun in the quest,

Larry

[the 'stache]

I readily admit to being biased where Robin is concerned. He and Clemente are my baseball idols, with Teddy Ballgame not far behind.

I spent a lot of time at old Milwaukee County Stadium as a kid, and I watched him emerge from a strong glove guy with a pretty good stick into an absolutely lethal hitter. The ball just jumped off his bat. I mean, it screamed. He was always in tremendous shape, but when he started hitting the weight room, and adding lean muscle, you could really see what a threat he was becoming, offensively. When he was on, the doubles, triples and home runs came in bunches. He battled at the plate, and really rose to the occasion when his team needed him most. I remember the one game "playoff" the Brewers had against the Orioles in 1982; the winner would meet the Angels in the American League Championship Game. Yount absolutely destroyed Jim Palmer in that game, homering in his first two at bats. And he hit .412 in his only World Series. He's still the only player in World Series history to have multiple four hit games.

The guy always came to the game, and played his heart out. I don't remember his ever taking a play off. I mean, if he hit a grounder to short that was sure to end the inning, he ran like he was trying to beat it out.

Originally Posted by midwaylandscaping

I Really liked Robin Yount growing up. 2 MVP's at two different positions. Hard nosed athlete. He gets overlooked a good bit.

[the 'stache]

Those Bowman cards were all great; even the tv set has a unique appeal. You can't go wrong with any of them, really. It comes down to preference.

Some of my dream cards come from the '50 set.



The Splendid Splinter? Jackie? Rapid Robert? Yes, please!

If I owned that Ted Williams, I'd take it out, and stare at it all day, like Smeagol staring at "The Precious".

Originally Posted by CW

Good call by Bill on the Pee Wee Reese.

I agree about the '50 Bowmans. They're like little works of art. The Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson are classics from this set as well, and could probably be had in raw VG condition for under $200.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Exactly. I don't get it when somebody lists a '75 Brett as iconic, but not the Yount from the same set. Both came up at the same time. Both were among the very best players of their generation. Both got their 3,000th hit within 10 days of each other, and both went into the Hall together.

It's like having Lennon but not McCartney. Blasphemous!

The limit is 10 cards, so why have multiple cards from the same set and too many 70s cards when many key 60s RCs can be had in that range. Ideally, you would try to get one key card from each year 52-75. It's not that Yount RC is not iconic, just not as iconic as Brett.

[KCRfan1]

Brett's stats are pretty superior to Younts, and Brett is usually in the mix when it comes to discussions about the best at his position of all time. Yount is a great player but I have never considered him as the best at his position.

This is the major factor for me between the player and their card.

[the 'stache]

Consider where they played. Brett played third base, a position that places a premium on offense. Yount was a shortstop, a position that placed a premium on defense. Though Ernie Banks, Vern Stephens and a few other shortstops in the live ball era showed a shortstop could play great defense, and hit for power, it was really the trio of Yount, Ripken Jr and Trammell that changed the perception of the position.

JAWS has George Brett ranked as the fourth best third baseman of all-time, Yount the fifth best shortstop of all-time. Brett's 7 year WAR peak was 53.2. Yount's was 47.2, and would have been higher had he not blown out his shoulder in 1984.

All things considered, they're pretty close.

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

Brett's stats are pretty superior to Younts, and Brett is usually in the mix when it comes to discussions about the best at his position of all time. Yount is a great player but I have never considered him as the best at his position.

This is the major factor for me between the player and their card.

[Neal]

I believe Yount also played mostly in county stadium.

Pitchers park if there ever was one. Yount was a beast as well as a fantastic ss and cf

Brett was great and not taking anything away from him byw

[rats60]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

Consider where they played. Brett played third base, a position that places a premium on offense. Yount was a shortstop, a position that placed a premium on defense. Though Ernie Banks, Vern Stephens and a few other shortstops in the live ball era showed a shortstop could play great defense, and hit for power, it was really the trio of Yount, Ripken Jr and Trammell that changed the perception of the position.

JAWS has George Brett ranked as the fourth best third baseman of all-time, Yount the fifth best shortstop of all-time. Brett's 7 year WAR peak was 53.2. Yount's was 47.2, and would have been higher had he not blown out his shoulder in 1984.

All things considered, they're pretty close.

Brett was also better in the postseason. He has a championship and he has memorable big hits.3 run HR in game 5 76 ALCS. 3 HRs off Catfish Hunter in 78 ALCS. HR off Goose Gossage in game 3 80 ALCS. Hitting .390 in 1980. 2 HRs off Doyle Alexander in 85 ALCS. 4 Hits in game 7 of 1985 World Series. He was clutch, one of the best postseason players of all time.

People remember Reggie Jackson for his HRs in 1977, not his regular season stats, Mantle for his 18 WS HR, etc. Postseason matters. Brett has that reputation and that makes him the choice. It doesn't hurt that he also has the better regular season numbers, even if they are close.

[the 'stache]

Nervous, or not, you really need to learn how to differentiate between a real card, and an inauthentic one. I cannot stress this enough. It's really not that difficult, and doing so offers you far greater protection than buying PSA slabbed cards alone could ever do. PSA slabs can be faked, and tampered with.

The mantra of Net 54 is "buy the card, not the flip" for a reason. If you automatically assume a PSA-slabbed card is authentic, you expose yourself to unnecessary risk.

I find it curious that you are so concerned about buying faked cards, but you then you have nothing but negative thoughts about Beckett. They may not command the same premium PSA does, but I've never seen a BGS slab tampered with. If authenticity is your chief concern, a Beckett-slabbed card would seem to be the way to go. You can always send it to PSA, and have them cross it over. Yes, it would cost you money, but if you ever decided to sell, you'd have iron clad provenance, as a unique serial number would be issued for your card, and you'd have been the only owner.

Originally Posted by jared6180

I get very nervous about buying fake cards and for this reason I will probably buy most if not all graded by PSA. I frankly do not trust BGS with anything as fragile as old cards, they barely get new cards done right plus their labels look like dog do-do with older cards.

[the 'stache]

Also, no discussion of iconic vintage cards is complete without this beauty:



Not a chance in heck you get this card, at this grade level, for under $200. But ungraded, you should be able to get a very nice example for yourself.

If you buy from a reputable seller, and spend just a little effort learning how to authenticate vintage cards, you're really going to expand your collecting universe. Good luck.