Card Collector Universe

This post isn’t card related, but assuming you are a baseball fan, you have to see this.  Have you ever seen a switch pitcher?  Well, you’re about to.  The Staten Island Yankees, the NY-Penn League A Affiliate of the New York Yankees, currently have a switch pitcher.  He has a glove which can be used on either hand, and he can throw well with either arm.  A pretty funny scenario came about recently when the switch pitcher met his match at the plate.  Take a look at the first few minutes of the attached clip. 

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Five Factors Affecting Baseball Card Value

1)  Obviously the player in question is the first and foremost important factor when considering card value.  A card of Derek Jeter or Mickey Mantle will sell for more money than a card of Joe Girardi or Claudel Washington.  The longer the player’s tenure (and tenure with one particular team so that fans can identify that player with their team),  the better his statistics, and the more World Series he has won, are all factors that will affect the value of the player’s card. 

In addition, it helps greatly if the player has stayed out of trouble off the field.  We can all name players who have gotten into trouble with drugs and steroids, whose cards have dropped in value dramatically, and who may never be candidates for the Hall of Fame, even though they put up amazing statistics.

2)  Card Condition is extremely important when considering card value.  A card in mint condition will always sell for more money than a card in fair condition.  That’s just how the market works.  Mint before near-mint before excellent before good before fair before poor.  It also depends who has graded the card.  A card graded a BGS 9 might be more valuable than a card graded a BCCG 9.5. 

Minor imperfections in the card will not dramatically affect the card’s value.  An off-center picture on an older card, or a surface blemish, is much more easily overlooked than rounded corners, a major crease in the middle of the card, or even worse, a piece of the actual card missing.

3)  The rarity of the card could be the single most important factor, according to some collectors.  If there is only one print of a particular card ever made, it will bring much more money in the market than if the card is part of a normal distribution.  Think of a 1 of 1 signed Albert Pujols card.  This baseball card would sell for more money 99% of the time than a 1 of 200 signed Pujols card.  This applies not only to superstar cards, but to error cards as well.  The uncorrected Topps Jeter card with Bush and Mantle in the background.  The whiteout version of the infamous Billy Ripken card.

Probably the best example of a rare card causing a marked increase in value is the T-206 Honus Wagner card.  It is rumored that this card was pulled from production, possibly because Wagner objected to the use of his likeness to promote a tobacco product.  Some experts now estimate that there are only 200 of these cards in the world.  This card in near-mint to mint condition recently sold for over $2 million! This proves the impact on card value of combining the factors of who the player is, card condition, and rarity.

4)      Recent events will often impact a baseball card’s value.  If a player was just elected, or just inducted into the Hall of Fame, look for their card value to increase.  If they are just about to reach a statistical milestone, it’s a good time to sell that player’s card.  Some prime examples of recent events affecting card value are Ken Griffey Jr. hitting 600 dingers, Cal Ripken Jr. being elected to the Hall of Fame, the multitude of players implicated in the steroid scandals, and the Red Sox winning the World Series.  So, as you can see, both positive and negative events, upcoming or in the recent past, can have an impact on a particular card’s value.

5)  Which team the player is identified with will always have an effect on a baseball card’s value.  It’s particularly helpful if a player has played with one team for his entire career.  Think of Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn, who were inducted into the Hall of Fame together.   They will both always be identified with the Baltimore Orioles and the San Diego Padres respectively.  If Ken Griffey Jr. had remained with the Mariners for his entire career, it most likely would have had a positive effect on his card value, and in particular his rookie cards.  If you say Derek Jeter, what team comes to mind?  Only one,  right?  That affects his card’s value.    

 

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Upper Deck is releasing a new set of cards on June 25th.   2008 Upper Deck MLB A Piece of History will feature three memorabilia cards and one autograph card per hobby box on average.  Not too bad for a box with a market price of roughly $70.  The value of the box, of course, depends on whose memorabilia, and more so in my opinion, on whose autograph you get.   Pull a Derek Jeter or Albert Pujols and that $70 box looks real cheap.

Upper Deck will also continue it’s “hair cuts” cards, started in the SP release.  There will be sixteen 1-of-1 hair cuts cards in the Piece of History release.  Included in those sixteen cards are non-baseball greats such as:  Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley.  The lone baseball great inlcuded in the hair cuts cards is the one and only George “Babe” Ruth.  Not a bad player to include in this subset.  For pictures of the hair cuts cards, go to the official Upper Deck site. 

From my perspective, anything with both a memorabilia piece AND an auto is a top-notch collectible card.  There are several of those in this set.  There will be 50 cards (of different runs) that are included in the Franchise History Jersey Auto subset.  They key cards to look for here are Ken Griffey Jr. (#’d to 25), Derek Jeter (#’d to 24) and Albert Pujols (#’d to 5). 

The hair cut cards, the Franchise History Jersey Auto, and the one signature and three memorabilia cards per hobby box are the real attractions of this release, in my opinion.  The release itself features a decent, but not spectacular, card design.  If you’re into nostalgia looks (like Artifacts), you may really like this set.  If you’re into color photo shots, you’re better off sticking with the Upper Deck Series I release.   All-in-all a good release for autograph and memorabilia card collectors. 

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You’re looking to sell baseball cards, huh?  Want to make some money from your baseball cards or your whole collection? Well, where are you going to do it?   

These days you have a few places where you can actually sell your cards online.  eBay is of course one of the most ubiquitous locations for baseball cards to be sold.  At any one time you’ll find thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of cards for sale. 

Another very popular online auction site with collectors is www.naxcom.com.   NAXCOM (don’t ask me where the name came from!) has been gaining ground over the years as a premier auction site.  They currently have over 200,000 registered users, with almost ten million user listings!  One of the cool things about NAXCOM is that there are no listing fees associated. 

In 2007, Naxcom launched another site, www.naxcomauctions.com (or auction.naxcom.com).  The risk of no-payment or no-shipment seems to be lower with NAXCOM.  As they state on their site, “The main attribute from NAXCOMAuctions will be the exclusive Buyer/Seller Protection with the winning bidders payment made directly to NAXCOM, rather than paying the seller directly. With other auction sites struggling with fraud, it is this unique Buyer/Seller protection that will make NAXCOMAuctions the safest venue for buyers and sellers.”

At one point, there was competition for both eBay and NAXCOM, in the form of www.thepit.com.  The Pit was owned by Topps, and had a real cool design in black and yellow colors, reminiscent of the Pirates.  (Association?)  Well, NAXCOM bought The Pit.  So…..The Pit still exists, but it is now owned by NAXCOM and in direct competition with eBay.  In my opinion, The Pit had one of the cooler website designs in the industry, although it has changed a bit. 

If you’re looking to sell more than one or two cards at a time, you can also sell your cards through www.beckett.com, the site affiliated with the popular Beckett card collecting magazines.  If you go to Beckett’s site, and mouse over the collecting tools header, you will see the “sell your collection” drop-down menu item.  Click on that, and it will take you to a list of dealers who may be willing to purchase some or all of your collection.  The caution here is that you will probably not get top market value for you cards.  The large dealers are in business for a reason, and if you’re just looking to unload your cards for some cash, they may be a place to start.  However, if you’re looking for top-dollar, and you have some quality cards, you’d be better off auctioning the cards online.

Those are really your top online options.  Now, if you are dealing in high-end, high-priced (usually old) cards, then that is a different story.  You may do better with an auction house.  We’ll save that for another post though. 

If you’re just starting out, take a look at those sites (you’re probably familiar with eBay already,) and see which one might suit your needs.  In an upcoming post, we’ll talk about some of the basic details of selling baseball cards online. 

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2008 Topps Chrome Baseball debuts on June 18th.  You’ll see all the players from 2008 Topps Series I and II, with new images.  If you purchase a hobby box, you’ll be picking up two autographed cards as well.  In all, 2008 Topps Chrome features 35 rookie autographs. 

In addition to the usual refractor, red, blue and superfractor cards, Topps Chrome has also introduced copper parallels with this set.  The copper parallels will be numbered to 599. 

Included in hobby boxes will be the four printing plates from all 220 base cards,  and the four printing plates from the 100 insert cards (980 printing plates in total).  Pretty cool, IF you’re into printing plates.

You’ll have the Topps Heritage Chrome Parallels, which are a continuation of those appearing in 2008 Topps Heritage. 

The Topps All-Rookie teamwill feature the 23 players who have been named to the Topps All-Rookie team, on a 1960 design. 

So why would I (or you, maybe) buy a box or more of these cards.  Two things from my perspective.  One is the two autographs that come with each hobby box.  The other would be if you were a chrome collector or want to be a chrome collector.

Personally, I’ll save my money for other Topps issues.  But I’m not a chrome collector.  

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