Early 90s baseball cards

[xyz]

I've got the same but with hockey cards. They're all still sitting at my parents house so I can avoid dealing with them.

Consider yourself lucky you live far from home. My parents drove up to my place in a rented van last week and dropped off the last of my junk from their house. Then drove off quite pleased with themselves (I would be too).

There was a box of old comic books from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Spider-Man and Ironman etc. So I’m just going through the same process as OP. There are some valuation sites and eBay is good as well. From what I can tell, most comics from the 80’s and 90’s are pretty much worth less. I’m tempted to just toss them all out versus dealing with the few that may have value.

[skiHOG]

I have a couple of these. They're worth like $100 or so. Less than they were going for 20 years ago! Crazy how this market completely went to shit.

It's all about the grading now. Take the '89 UD Griffey as an example. A raw version sells for around $50. One graded a PSA 9 sells around $200. A gem mint PSA 10 sells for over $1500. And that's a junk wax era card. Modern cards(1980 and newer) just aren't worth grading unless the thing is damn near perfect in every way. The vintage stuff still sells okay if it's raw, but it's smart to get it graded/authenticated.

[The AD]

Why is it called the "junk wax era?"

[Conundrum]

Tops had a wax paper wrapper and a stick of gum inside with the cards at the start of the era as a novelty. People took interest because there was no internet and started collecting. Other companies saw the interest of collectors (teen and pre-teen kids with sports idols who hadn’t played stinky pinky yet) and got creative. No more gum because that could screw up the cards, better card stock and printing, hidden hologram cards that the good collectors could feel in the pack, limited edition cards, etc. Collectors had to buy them in random packs and trade for the players they wanted and needed to complete sets and then special edition sets. Marketing genius but they over produced and the “collectors” started trading sports cards for v-cards. There were the few unlayables that tried to hold on but slowing watching any value left in their collections slip away faster than their virginity.

Now there’s a bunch of us assholes cleaning out old printer paper boxes in our elders’ attics and basements, remembering the good old days when a Ricky Henderson rookie card outperformed the S&P 500 for four years. Then boobs.

That’s my guess having been alive in those glorious times. I bet wiki has a better explanation.

[ex-powderbroker]

"Ricky's rookie card is the greatest rookie card ricky ever saw." - ricky henderson

[skiHOG]

Why is it called the "junk wax era?"

Cards were sold in packs wrapped in wax paper. At least most of them. The hobby started to get more traction in the 80s and the card companies wanted to take advantage of this, so around 1987 they started printing absolutely massive amounts of cards. Billions. This didn't slow down until around '94. It oversaturated the market so that sweet 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey you think is so unique is quite the opposite. And that's one of the "good" cards, so 99% of the stuff is just plain junk.

It's another reason grading has become the way to add value in most cards, not just junk wax. A '93 SP Derek Jeter card is probably the most valuable card from that span of years. There's a lot of them out there, but roughly 16,000 have been authenticated/graded by PSA. Only 21 have been graded a gem mint 10. That's 0.1% and why one of those cards sells for over $150k versus a raw version of the card that sells for a couple hundred bucks.

[Mazderati]

The coolest card I ever pulled out of a pack was a hand-signed Clyde Drexler. Something from this series.

[bagtagley]

My Bo Jackson football baseball card is the family nest egg.

[Mazderati]

My Bo Jackson football baseball card is the family nest egg.

Is that one of the stop motion stills cards? Those were super cool. Upper Deck I think. Rickey Henderson had one, too.

[easyrdr]

I had complete Topps sets from 1985 thru 1996. Parents put the house up for sale told me to clean out my cards, I sold the entire lot for $100 in a Walmart parking lot. Of course being smart I immediately invested the money in weed and booze, all in all it was a good day.

[Hood26]

Going through the card collection was good times during Covid lockdown. I have nothing of great value. But it was fun to look at again.

[bennymac]

I thought the upper deck Michael Jordan baseball card was gonna be my ticket to getting an Acura NSX in the future

Fast forward to the day I brought my box of cards into a shop and asked him for $20 for the whole thing sight unseen.

5 min later that $20 was spent on wings and a pitcher of beer. Everyone was satisfied.

[ex-powderbroker]

My uncle has a Mickey Mantle rookie. He said I could have it if his kids didn't end up liking baseball. Now I've seen several games in Flushing and the Bronx with my cousin, so there goes that.

[From_the_NEK]

I'm in the same boat. A couple of big boxes of cards (primarily baseball and Hockey). Not sure if any are worth anything.
I may have a few good hockey cards. Those may be more rare.

[2nd mate]

I was all about baseball cards in the mid-late 80’s. Ill never forget going to some odd dudes house with my best friend and his mom so he could buy a couple complete sets of freaking fleer basketball cards and a couple boxes of fleer packs too. I ridiculed him endlessly telling him he was wasting his $$ and that nobody cares about those new basketball cards..... and then some dude named Jordan blew up and pretty much covered his first year of college.

Did you guys ever mail cards to teams, with a return envelope enclosed, to ask for autographs??? My friends andI had all sorts of signed cards sent back to us.

[Diamond Joe]

What sucks is, I had this card - but because I loved MJ there were pin holes and scotch tape residue and the card looked like shit. Those things go for 5-10k and up in mint shape. I gave it to my brother in law cause he thought it was cool. From 1986

I also had the Bird/Dr J/Magic rookie card that was perforated - also goes for pretty big bucks. But of course, I folded and split the card up, cause Dr J was the man. From 1981 (not sure how/why I had that card, as I was four at the time)


and yeah I thought having doubles of the Bo "rated rookie" or whatever it was was gonna fund my early retirement too. Or my Barry Bonds rookie. Nope, worthless.

[skiHOG]

An autograph version of the '86 Fleer Jordan RC sold just last week for $31k, and the card itself wasn't even graded; only the signature was graded.

Here's a list of recent high sales on eBay of late 80s/early 90s cards:

1987 O-Pee-Chee(Canadian Topps) Barry Bonds BGS 10.....$12,601
1987 Fleer Micahel Jordan PSA 10.....$7,500
1988 Fleer Michael Jordan Free Throw Dunk raw....$5,100
1989 Hoops Michael Jordan All-Star raw....$19,800
1989 Bowman Tiffany Ken Griffey PSA 10....$8,700
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey BGS 10.....$8,300
1990 Kentucky Big Blue Shaquille O'Neal PSA 10....$20,000
1990 Fleer Michael Jordan BGS 10.....$13,267
1991 Panini Foot Zinedine Zidane PSA 8....$22,100
1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones PSA 10....$14,335

[Doremite]

Zidane ftw!

My parents keep asking what I want to do with all my cards. This thread is validating my lack of interest in doing anything with the boxes upon boxes. I may rethink this in 2065 if I am lucky enough to still be around.

[MakersTeleMark]

An autograph version of the '86 Fleer Jordan RC sold just last week for $31k, and the card itself wasn't even graded; only the signature was graded.

Here's a list of recent high sales on eBay of late 80s/early 90s cards:

1987 O-Pee-Chee(Canadian Topps) Barry Bonds BGS 10.....$12,601
1987 Fleer Micahel Jordan PSA 10.....$7,500
1988 Fleer Michael Jordan Free Throw Dunk raw....$5,100
1989 Hoops Michael Jordan All-Star raw....$19,800
1989 Bowman Tiffany Ken Griffey PSA 10....$8,700
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey BGS 10.....$8,300
1990 Kentucky Big Blue Shaquille O'Neal PSA 10....$20,000
1990 Fleer Michael Jordan BGS 10.....$13,267
1991 Panini Foot Zinedine Zidane PSA 8....$22,100
1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones PSA 10....$14,335

I wish you could go through my collection and set me straight. Got a bunch of more than 80's pocket change sitting in an air jordan shoe box along with a bunch of portfolios and sealed sets.

[Jacques Strap]

same thing's happened to comic books

Spurred on by recent auction sales of rare, Golden Age comics, in 1991, thousands of people bought multiple (I've heard of a single person buying 50) copies of X-Men (Vol. 2) #1 seriously expecting to send their kids to college on the return on investment. X-Men (Vol. 2) #1 became the highest selling comic book issue of all-time, and will never be dethroned. The speculators didn't realize it was the disposable nature of the Golden Age comics, as well as there status as unprecedented innovators, that made them rare and cherished; which is the antithesis of fastidiously preserving and sequestering an arbitrarily numbered "#1" to sell off after appreciation of these perceived assets. It seems every generation has to learn the same old lessons; repeatedly, in some cases.

toss them all out

Let me know before you throw them in the garbage. I might cover the shipping and spot you a six pack to take them off your hands. At very least, you oughta donate them to needy folks in your neck of the woods.

[xyz]

At very least, you oughta donate them to needy folks in your neck of the woods.

Donate? Too much of that going round in my neck of the woods it seems. Our donation spot is super picky right now. I had to toss out a box of books and some other decent stuff as they are at near capacity. They are pretty much only accepting new skis still in plastic and arc teryx jackets with the tags still on.

I’ll do a little more research on the comics before I toss em or send them your way. You’ll have to do better than a 6-pack tho cuz I don’t drink!

[MontuckyFried]

Huh. I guess Pokemon cards CAN be worth something these days. Unless the seller is just off his rocker and won't ever get that:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-ULTIMAT...D/113135055460
$2,500,000 asking price

[BobMc]

I gave away a grocery bag of cards 30 years ago. Kept a few, most are in bad shape. I wish my Roberto Clemente card was in mint shape...

[BobMc]

Found a couple others. I’ve got a crap ton of 90’s football cards in the basement, a few action figures, and binders of various other cards.

[shroom]

i can play too, kobe almost had me dusting off the collection this year

my memory sucks but i think a rafael palmiero rookie was my money maker as of like 2005


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