393 replies to this topic

[SportsGuy]

But if they all treated those cards like we do now, they wouldn't be worth nearly as much.

Yep....But god, do you wish the people that you know (your parents) were one of the few to keep theirs.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Yep....But god, do you wish the people that you know (your parents) were one of the few to keep theirs.

 

Yea I bet there are so many cards from our folks generation (since we are all roughly the same age) that have insane value even if they aren't in good shape. 

[Pedro Cerrano]

Ordered two boxes on ebay of 1993 Topps Stadium Club, one is Series 1 and one is Series 2.

 

$50 total for both of them I think.

 

Mostly for nostalgia purposes.

 

These should be here early next week!

[glenn__davis]

I absolutely loved collecting cards as a kid.  I remember a few different years trying to collect entire sets just via packs, and how excited I'd get when I finally got those last 2 elusive cards.  What a great hobby, I wish I had kept up with it but eventually the packs got too expensive and when you're a teenager other things (aka cars and girls) are more fun to spend money on.

 

My cards are still at my parents house.  About once a year my mom gives me grief for it and tells me to either take them or she's going to throw them out.  I always joke sure, i'll get them next time I'm over there.  And she knows I'm not going to, and I know she's not going to throw them out.

 

A quick baseball card memory.  I guess I was probably 11 years old or so, and our baseball team hadn't had a great year.  We played an undefeated team in the playoffs and almost beat them.  This was a VERY big deal as an 11 year old.  After the game, the other team came over to our dugout.  Their coach had a box of Donruss baseball cards that he said we was going to give to his team after the game, but they were so impressed with how we fought them that they decided to give the cards to us.  Each of their players gave us a pack of cards.  I opened mine up and found a Matt Williams Elite Series card.  I wasn't that familiar with Donruss (our local Ames only had Topps) so I went home and checked the value in my Beckett magazine - $125!!!  I immediately called my cousin, who was (and still is) my best friend and played on the team with me and we totally geeked out.

 

I checked on it a few years ago and I think it was worth about 8 bucks, and I'm sure if I took it to try to sell it I'd maybe get offered $2.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I absolutely loved collecting cards as a kid. I remember a few different years trying to collect entire sets just via packs, and how excited I'd get when I finally got those last 2 elusive cards. What a great hobby, I wish I had kept up with it but eventually the packs got too expensive and when you're a teenager other things (aka cars and girls) are more fun to spend money on.

My cards are still at my parents house. About once a year my mom gives me grief for it and tells me to either take them or she's going to throw them out. I always joke sure, i'll get them next time I'm over there. And she knows I'm not going to, and I know she's not going to throw them out.

A quick baseball card memory. I guess I was probably 11 years old or so, and our baseball team hadn't had a great year. We played an undefeated team in the playoffs and almost beat them. This was a VERY big deal as an 11 year old. After the game, the other team came over to our dugout. Their coach had a box of Donruss baseball cards that he said we was going to give to his team after the game, but they were so impressed with how we fought them that they decided to give the cards to us. Each of their players gave us a pack of cards. I opened mine up and found a Matt Williams Elite Series card. I wasn't that familiar with Donruss (our local Ames only had Topps) so I went home and checked the value in my Beckett magazine - $125!!! I immediately called my cousin, who was (and still is) my best friend and played on the team with me and we totally geeked out.

I checked on it a few years ago and I think it was worth about 8 bucks, and I'm sure if I took it to try to sell it I'd maybe get offered $2.

Everyone was going for those Donruss Elites on the early 90s. That had to be awesome to pull at the time. Crazy how the oversaturation of cards in the mid 80s and 90s have devalued pretty much all the cards from that era.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

These should be here early next week!

Good luck with the Stadium Club. Two of the best inserts I pulled were Stadium Club. Pulled first day issue cards of both Cal Ripken Jr and Michael Jordan.

[SportsGuy]

I used to make a job out of baseball cards.

The selling, trading, etc...was at baseball card shows every weekend.

I miss it. One of the many things that used to be great that is now gone.

[Pedro Cerrano]

I recently asked a guy on Twitter about buying new boxes directly from Topps.  Seems to me like stores/big time collectors get first dibs on boxes and can resell them on ebay for an insane upcharge based on what cards are in the series.

 

Does Topps release boxes for sale to the general public on their site or something?  Or are they all spoken for already and you have to buy on the secondary market?

[Mike in STL]

So heres what annoys me about cards these days. I pulled out a box of straight rookie cards I bought a while back. Pulled out a 2008 Joey Votto.

 

Here it the one on ebay. $5.99

https://www.ebay.com...2&algv=Default#

 

Here is the same card on ebay, but it's a "refractor" version $150

https://www.ebay.com...oaAtH6EALw_wcB#

 

They put one "refractor" in every 38 packs.

http://baseballcardp...cks_&_Prospects

 

A box has 24 packs and runs on Ebay for about $50.

So if you buy two boxes you might get one refractor, but then you also have to hope it is a player like Joey Votto. Not some rookie who never amounted to anything. 

 

Same goes for Scherzer. I have the same version of the Votto card in a Scherzer. Same prices on ebay. But the "X-Refractor" which there are only 199 of them made total, goes for $400. Which is rarer than the regular refractor. Mine goes for $5.

 

It used to be if you found a rookie card of a superstar it was at least $25 and would age well when said player went to the HOF, or hit other milestones. With so many variants in cards these days, you can't just get the superstar out of the box and call it a day. You have to get the superstar with some fancy trim, an autograph stamp, some crazy variant that is equivalent to winning the lottery.

[Pedro Cerrano]

So heres what annoys me about cards these days. I pulled out a box of straight rookie cards I bought a while back. Pulled out a 2008 Joey Votto.

 

Here it the one on ebay. $5.99

https://www.ebay.com...2&algv=Default#

 

Here is the same card on ebay, but it's a "refractor" version $150

https://www.ebay.com...oaAtH6EALw_wcB#

 

They put one "refractor" in every 38 packs.

http://baseballcardp...cks_&_Prospects

 

A box has 24 packs and runs on Ebay for about $50.

So if you buy two boxes you might get one refractor, but then you also have to hope it is a player like Joey Votto. Not some rookie who never amounted to anything. 

 

Same goes for Scherzer. I have the same version of the Votto card in a Scherzer. Same prices on ebay. But the "X-Refractor" which there are only 199 of them made total, goes for $400. Which is rarer than the regular refractor. Mine goes for $5.

 

It used to be if you found a rookie card of a superstar it was at least $25 and would age well when said player went to the HOF, or hit other milestones. With so many variants in cards these days, you can't just get the superstar out of the box and call it a day. You have to get the superstar with some fancy trim, an autograph stamp, some crazy variant that is equivalent to winning the lottery.

 

Check the odds -- a lot of sets guarantee at least one refractor or autograph card her box. 

[Mike in STL]

Check the odds -- a lot of sets guarantee at least one refractor or autograph card her box. 

Yeah, but you have to hope to get a future hall of famer too. Not Ubaldo Jimenez or something. 

 

I think the best thing to do since it's like a lottery, or worse, like a lottery that someone may have already won the jackpot, is search CL, or ebay, for grandma that stumbled across unopened boxes, wants to get rid of them for cheap, and go to town. 

 

Paying $50 a box or retail prices for boxes seems like a loss in the long term. 

 

I got a Kershaw rookie thats going for about $8 on ebay, an mine isn't in mint condition or anything. Now I'm going through my cards to see which ones are "Special" since thats where the money is. Found a Matt Cain Rookie that has special gold trim that is up to $17.60 on ebay! But others are going for cheaper. I have number 113 of 2006 made.

[Mike in STL]

I got two of these guys

 

https://www.ebay.com...YaAuabEALw_wcB#

 

And thats the difference in getting a HOFer and getting a nobody. I have the same red special one as that, of Nyjer Morgan. Don't see it on ebay, but is only $3.95 on Amazon.

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: Shoeless Joe card from 1910 auctions for $492K

[Pedro Cerrano]

Ordered two boxes on ebay of 1993 Topps Stadium Club, one is Series 1 and one is Series 2.

 

$50 total for both of them I think.

 

Mostly for nostalgia purposes.

 

Opened (or ripped as the experts say lol) these today.

 

The only cards worth anything are the "First Day Productions" -- the Nolan Ryan goes for like $50.

 

My First Days were Mariano Duncan and.....LEO GOMEZ!

 

Haha, still, for not a lot of money the nostalgia of opening these was fun.

 

My next box will probably be modern and a bit more expensive.

[Mike in STL]

Opened (or ripped as the experts say lol) these today.

The only cards worth anything are the "First Day Productions" -- the Nolan Ryan goes for like $50.

My First Days were Mariano Duncan and.....LEO GOMEZ!

Haha, still, for not a lot of money the nostalgia of opening these was fun.

My next box will probably be modern and a bit more expensive.

I watched a few YouTube videos and damn if I don’t wanna tip through some packs. Seen that the 2020 Topps are a decent price for a hobby box. Topps Heritage looks disappointing. But there is also a Topps Tribute that is like $350 a box, but each pack has three cards, and usually 2 of the three are some limited edition only made 50 of them type. One video I saw a kid opened one stamped 1 of 1.

[Mike in STL]

Thanks Pedro, for getting me back into an old childhood hobby. 

 

I was at Walmart today and I don't know if it's the quarantine has people reliving memories, or if baseball cards collecting/trading is still a thing, but cards were pretty scarce.

 

I think I'm only going to buy Topps because they are the only company which has a contract with MLB. So Donruss cards, every player has blank hats and jerseys. That's dumb. Anyway...

 

I bought the last "hanger box" of 2020 Series 1, $10.98. 67 cards, had 5 rookies (Bo Bichette probably the best of the bunch) and a Jose Berrios relic. No short prints. Though some videos I've seen guys count short prints as a "hit" and some guys don't. 

 

I bought a Topps Heritage "Blaster box" (thats what she said) $19.98, 72 cards.  Very disappointing, only 2 short prints, and 1 scratch off game with Vlad Jr on it which probably isn't anything. 

 

Also bought the last 4 Heritage "Fat packs", a pack of 20 cards, $5.98 each. Out of the 80 cards there, 3 short prints, and two rookies.

Heritage is a throwback to the 1971 Topps cards, when the cards were players posing for the picture. They have some "action" cards snuck in there that are supposed to be worth something. I had some of those where the player was in game action, but on the checklist I found, they aren't considered "action" unless it is printed on the back, so mine aren't action. Odd. 

 

Later I stopped at Walgreens to get my prescription and picked up 2 rando boxes of 100 cards each, $4.98. They are filled with everything from late 80s to late 2000s, and inside is also an unopened pack of something from the worthless era (early 90s). Anyway, in the unopened pack of 1991 Topps, was a Larry Walker rookie card, going on ebay for anywhere from $30-$70. Also in the rando set was a Cal, an Adam Jones which was cool cause I didn't buy cards in the last 15+ years so I don't have any cards of my favorite O's post 2000. Standard Barry Bonds. Out of the 200, maybe 5 cards I was thought were cool. One worth something more than two boxes combined.

 

So now picking up a prescription is gonna cost me an extra $10. Lol.

 

I don't think I'm gonna buy any more of the Topps Heritage given the price point and the low hit rate. But the Series 1 is cool and has more variations it seams. I might snag those when I can. "Hobby boxes" have more of the special cards, but you have to go to a card shop to buy those, and I have no idea where one is. I looked online at places around me and on their site it looks like memorabilia, but no mention of cards. Probably scour ebay for some hobby boxes for cheap from random years, hope to hit something. However the hobby boxes from Trout's rookie year are going for insane prices, in the thousands. The cheaper ones for $40-$50 are probably from years where the rookie class wasn't great. 

 

I am falling asleep to watching you tube videos of dudes opening packs. Lol. 

 

Now I need to figure out how to get cards graded so I can sell them. 

[Mackus]

So now picking up a prescription is gonna cost me an extra $10. Lol.

Thanks a lot, Obama.

[Mackus]

Fleer Ultra '95 was my set. I think I completed it a couple times over.

Donruss I think '92 I also had a lot of and may have finished.

I collected a ton of Griffey Jr. cards, have a stack of over a hundred still at my parents house. I haven't looked through my collection in probably 15 years at least. Would be fun to go back.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Fleer Ultra '95 was my set. I think I completed it a couple times over.

Donruss I think '92 I also had a lot of and may have finished.

I collected a ton of Griffey Jr. cards, have a stack of over a hundred still at my parents house. I haven't looked through my collection in probably 15 years at least. Would be fun to go back.

 

Griffey cards are always popular.  If you have some rare ones and they're in decent condition they could be worth something.

 

I've been ripping 2020 Series 1.  Got a Pujols card with a piece of cloth from game worn uniform.  Worth about $20

[BSLChrisStoner]

What brand did you like best as kids? 

Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Score, Upper Deck?