Ohtani CARDS are Mostly UNDERVALUED

[Balticfox]

"Ohtani CARDS are Mostly UNDERVALUED"

I fully disagree!

1. I share the opinion of most MLB players. Sure Ohtani is very good. But he's not 10x or 50x as good as the average player which his salary indicates.

2. His cards are correspondingly overvalued. They're all just pieces of cardboard like any other from the set. Shohei Ohtani and Joe Shlobatnik cards are fundamentally near identical. Why some collectors choose to chase/covet just certain cards from a set and drive their prices to nosebleed levels is beyond me.

[molenick]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

"Ohtani CARDS are Mostly UNDERVALUED"

2. His cards are correspondingly overvalued. They're all just pieces of cardboard like any other from the set. Shohei Ohtani and Joe Shlobatnik cards are fundamentally near identical. Why some collectors choose to chase/covet just certain cards from a set and drive their prices to nosebleed levels is beyond me.

I essentially agree with this, when you get right down to it, it makes no sense. Based on the raw material involved, almost all baseball cards have equal value, which is next to nothing.

But coveting certain cards is the basis of pricing for the entire hobby, not just Shohei Ohtani cards. Why does Babe Ruth cost more than Marv Throneberry? Why does T208 cost more than T207? Why does PSA 8 cost more than PSA 7? Why does the first card of a player cost more than the last card?

Hobby pricing is just supply and demand and right now there is high demand for Ohtani cards. Whether that demand will continue and thus maintain his card prices is unknown.

[By the way, don't stop too long to think about why we pay money for cardboard. If everyone does this, the entire hobby will collapse!]

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by molenick

But coveting certain cards is the basis of pricing for the entire hobby, not just Shohei Ohtani cards. Why does Babe Ruth cost more than Marv Throneberry? Why does T208 cost more than T207? Why does PSA 8 cost more than PSA 7? Why does the first card of a player cost more than the last card?

I put the extreme range down to silliness. That though is because I'm not among the fortunate few for whom money is no object. I have to weigh the relative "merits" of any purchase.

Originally Posted by molenick

Hobby pricing is just supply and demand and right now there is high demand for Ohtani cards. Whether that demand will continue and thus maintain his card prices is unknown.

[By the way, don't stop too long to think about why we pay money for cardboard. If everyone does this, the entire hobby will collapse!]

I long ago realized that my collecting is a compulsion, an addiction even. I keep telling myself that it's better (less pathetic) than being a smoker, alcoholic or drug addict but I may just be rationalizing and thus fooling myself.

[molenick]

I know...every now and then I ask myself why I would rather have this card than the money I spend on it that could go towards literally anything else in the world *...and then I buy the card anyway.

And, yes, obviously we all know why certain cards cost a lot of money...it is the wide disparity in pricing that sometimes makes you go "woah".

* not "anything" but you get my drift

[icurnmedic]

Originally Posted by molenick

I know...every now and then I ask myself why I would rather have this card than the money I spend on it that could go towards literally anything else in the world *...and then I buy the card anyway.

This is me exactly. Sometimes I wonder what makes my coveting of cards ticker tick?
Is it nostalgia? I can remember times when I could not have thought to own some of the cards I have today.
I think at the end of the day for me, I still like looking at them although I will not own them forever. Enjoy them while you can.

All cardboard is essentially worthless. But heck we buy it anyway.

[Balticfox]

I'd just like to add that I'm not disparaging Shohei Ohtani as a player. How many decades has it been since an effective pitcher could hit as well as Ohtani? More than a century perhaps?



But what are the rarest Ohtani cards? Are any XX/10 rare?

[Peter_Spaeth]

The Topps, Chrome, and Update cards and the more common variations (e.g. Refractors which have long since ceased to be anything special) seem to have been produced in huge quantities, but keep rising in price especially in PSA 10. What I find interesting, given that he obviously has become much more an elite hitter than elite pitcher, is that the cards showing him as a pitcher seem just as popular if not more so. Finally, with all the hoopla about him being a true two way player as a rookie, why are there so few RCs depicting him in both poses? You would think that would have been a natural choice for Topps etc.