Ted Williams

[G1911]

I think it's more that Joe D. is overpriced. Ted seems about right generally, it's just that the 2 Yankees are boosted that makes people say Williams/Mays/Musial/literally-every-other-player is undervalued.

Williams certainly got some of the best looking cards in a lot of sets.

[robw1959]

This has the ring of truth, as do the other members' comments. Even though playing in a smaller market and never winning a WS hasn't hurt Cobb's value, It does seem to have hurt most everyone else to some extent, especially Musial and Williams, I think. Musial was on par with Dimaggio, and Ted Williams was a way better hitter.

I never heard anything negative about Ted's fielding skills before, so that is a bit of a revelation to me, and, of course, could contribute to holding down the value of his cards as well.

[Aaron Seefeldt]

He wasn’t in the early Topps “glamor” sets, that possibly contributes. He is on the very short list of best hitters of all time. As mentioned, he missed a lot of time to serve in WW2 & Korea so his counting stats were affected dramatically.

[CW]

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Aaron Seefeldt

He wasn’t in the early Topps “glamor” sets, that possibly contributes.

Funny you refer to them using that term, as one thing most can agree on is that his 1955 & '56 Topps have to rank among the most glamorous of the decade. The '57 ain't too shabby, either. Man, that guy could pose for a card! The '54 Wilson's is a work of art.

[swarmee]

I think it's also possible that his 1959 Fleer set and his sticking around as a manager makes it cheaper to get a vintage/playing days card of Ted for dollars rather than tens or hundreds at a minimum.

[Carter08]

Not being in 52 or 53 Topps, playing in Boston instead of NYC, and being perceived as surly probably all go into being valued but not being explosively valued.

[jsfriedm]

I know that it generally doesn't make sense to imagine that players who we might consider "undervalued" will suddenly be appreciated more by collectors decades after their retirement (F.Robinson, Hornsby, Speaker, Collins, etc.) but occasionally it does happen (I remember when the Koufax rookie was worth more than the Clemente, for example). To connect this to a previous thread then, I think there is a reasonable chance that Ted Williams' cards on average appreciate more in percentage terms (not necessarily absolute terms) than Mantle cards from this point forward. His numbers do look better on the page (screen), esp with advanced metrics, and I wonder if his narrative - war hero, tortured genius, renegade, advocate of Negro Leaguers in the HOF, won't age better than Mantle's - country boy, matinee idol, drunk philanderer, what-if-he-had-been-healthy - with future generations. Thoughts?

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Carter08

being perceived as surly probably all go into being valued but not being explosively valued.

He was always leaps and bounds better than the sour, offish DiMaggio. Ted did have a huge ego, but was still capable of friendliness if he felt like it. DiMaggio was practically incapable.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by robw1959

This has the ring of truth, as do the other members' comments. Even though playing in a smaller market and never winning a WS hasn't hurt Cobb's value, It does seem to have hurt most everyone else to some extent, especially Musial and Williams, I think. Musial was on par with Dimaggio, and Ted Williams was a way better hitter.

I never heard anything negative about Ted's fielding skills before, so that is a bit of a revelation to me, and, of course, could contribute to holding down the value of his cards as well.

Ted was very self deprecating about his fielding but he wasn't all that bad.

He used to joke that Dom DiMaggio belonged in the HOF as the only player who played LF and CF every game.

[the-illini]

Williams and Musial are both underrated IMO and both missed key parts of their careers due to war service

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by the-illini

Williams and Musial are both underrated IMO and both missed key parts of their careers due to war service

I thought Musial only missed one season.

[DeanH3]

Ted has a lot of great looking cards. I'm drawn to his '51 Bowman issue. Average in his missed years and his numbers are eye popping. Could Ted have broken Ruth's 715 first with those years added? Maybe he would have been close enough to stick around another year or two to have a shot? I dunno, but interesting to ponder.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I thought Musial only missed one season.

I believe that is true.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by robw1959

This has the ring of truth, as do the other members' comments. Even though playing in a smaller market and never winning a WS hasn't hurt Cobb's value, It does seem to have hurt most everyone else to some extent, especially Musial and Williams, I think. Musial was on par with Dimaggio, and Ted Williams was a way better hitter.

I never heard anything negative about Ted's fielding skills before, so that is a bit of a revelation to me, and, of course, could contribute to holding down the value of his cards as well.

Musial 1946.