PSA market data

[Touch'EmAll]

These numbers - from what cards ? Are we talking playing days Ruth's in higher grade ? Are we talking Cobb beaters? Or low tier HOFers from semi-obscure sets? Or Cracker Jack commons ?

Our portfolios might contain nice Ruth's and Cobb's for which we have realized nice paper profits. But our holdings also contain much lesser cards of lesser players.

Would be interesting to see how the percentages came about and from which cards.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Touch'EmAll

These numbers - from what cards ? Are we talking playing days Ruth's in higher grade ? Are we talking Cobb beaters? Or low tier HOFers from semi-obscure sets? Or Cracker Jack commons ?

Our portfolios might contain nice Ruth's and Cobb's for which we have realized nice paper profits. But our holdings also contain much lesser cards of lesser players.

Would be interesting to see how the percentages came about and from which cards.

I think the data Peter cited is an attempt to aggregate the entire market for any given era. As you noted, there are a lot of smaller data points within those groupings.

I think you can drill down on some of the data using the free resources on cardladder. But you probably need a premium account if you want to get very much. I’m not a premium user, so I can’t speak to the precise functionality, although their marketing puffery makes it seem like you can basically track everything in your collection over time no different than if you were tracking stocks in your portfolio.

Note: I agree with the earlier observations that baseball cards are not stocks, so please don’t infer that my comments above would suggest otherwise.

[Mike D.]

Player Trends (1-Month Return)
• Nolan Arenado +31%

I find it interesting that Arenado is getting some love. I think he's a great player and on track to someday get into the Hall of Fame. But "players over 30 who play in the Midwest" isn't exactly the normal "hype machine" player who'd top a list like this.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Player Trends (1-Month Return)
• Nolan Arenado +31%

I find it interesting that Arenado is getting some love. I think he's a great player and on track to someday get into the Hall of Fame. But "players over 30 who play in the Midwest" isn't exactly the normal "hype machine" player who'd top a list like this.

I think this year he probably crossed the line from possible HOFer to probable and maybe that explains it.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I think this year he probably crossed the line from possible HOFer to probable and maybe that explains it.

Maybe that's it...and I think that he's trending that way surprised a lot of people.

Of course, it's an "percentage basis" change, so maybe the number was very low, then by just going up a little bit, made for a large "percentage increase". Or maybe one person subbed 1,000 Arenado cards. Tough to say. Interesting, though!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Maybe that's it...and I think that he's trending that way surprised a lot of people.

Of course, it's an "percentage basis" change, so maybe the number was very low, then by just going up a little bit, made for a large "percentage increase". Or maybe one person subbed 1,000 Arenado cards. Tough to say. Interesting, though!

Not only has he put up another solid year but also removed some of the Colorado question, I think.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Not only has he put up another solid year but also removed some of the Colorado question, I think.

That's true...another great year in St. Louis helps remove some illusions. I think we call that the "Larry Walker", right?

I for one am all for it. My modern collecting is very much focused on "players who will/could/should" make the Hall of Fame some day". I just don't get the modern obsession with prospects. I swear, even for players who have great careers, their cards are never more valuable than when they're in A ball.