Early 90s baseball cards

[bennymac]

When we were kids on an annual camping + canoe trip we buried a time capsule. In it I put some cards I thought would be valuable down the road (dumb move #1 despite the fact that these cards are worthless now even in mint condition).

A good friend of mine put a World Series commemorative can of CocaCola in there as he thought it would be worth something someday too.

Of course the can froze and ruptured in the winter.

Needless to say the coke ruined everything in that time capsule.

Also needless to say we were all really, really stupid kids.

[stealurface831]

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...

Attachment 343823

Holy shit, that Thurman Munson card is beautiful.

[BobMc]

Heh.

[BobMc]

Holy shit, that Thurman Munson card is beautiful.

Somewhere down in the basement I also have a Catfish Hunter card from the same era.

[stealurface831]

Somewhere down in the basement I also have a Catfish Hunter card from the same era.

The alltime facial hair battery mates.

Also, can we get Munson into the hall, please?

[BobMc]

How about a Detroit News sports sections from June 15th, 1989?

[BobMc]

[Jacques Strap]

Donate

Ha! Well, by "needy", I mean some 12-year old that needs to learn about the radness of "old" comics.

I don’t drink!

Well, a couple good tacos then.

[skiHOG]

Here's a big lot I just sold to someone. A good spread covering 1954-2019. Outside of the autographed Gretzky RC, the highest potential are '86 and '89 Topps Traded Tiffany sets.

[alpinevibes]

Here's a big lot I just sold to someone. A good spread covering 1954-2019. Outside of the autographed Gretzky RC, the highest potential are '86 and '89 Topps Traded Tiffany sets.

What kind of money did you pull on those?

[skiHOG]

What kind of money did you pull on those?

About $8k.

[St. Jerry]

About $8k.

What did you get for the signed Gretzky RC? I have one.

[skiHOG]

What did you get for the signed Gretzky RC? I have one.

It was a lump sum thing, so they didn't give an offer just for that one card. In its current state it's less than $1000. It's a Topps, not O-Pee-Chee, but if the buyer gets it graded/authenticated it could sell for $2k-3k. I'm confident PSA would give it a 7; centering and soft corners keep it from being higher.

[Dee Hubbs]

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/wayne-gretzky-rookie-card-million-1.5837439?fbclid=IwAR3hg-ESfP7R1Ued14ASUr-wqjlz2-e98k6Aqcp4KXm5nk-t0ATtiCptxvE
Wayne Gretzky rookie card 1st in hockey to break $1M US milestone
Wayne Gretzky's name appears at No. 1 an astounding 60 times in the NHL's record book.
More than two decades after retiring, The Great One set another high-water mark Friday.
A mint condition 1979 O-Pee-Chee Gretzky rookie card became hockey's first to cost more than $1 million US when it fetched $1.29 million at auction.
"Gretzky is the greatest of all time," said Chris Ivy of Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale. "This is his rookie card, and then add onto all that it's O-Pee-Chee, which is the Canadian version, and is highly sought after."
The online auction house said the trading card, which features Gretzky in his Edmonton Oilers uniform during the team's final WHA season before the franchise joined the NHL, is just one of two with No. 99 from O-Pee-Chee's 1979 run to receive a perfect "gem mint" score from the Professional Sports Authenticator grading service.
That's out of the 5,711 Gretzky cards the PSA evaluated. By comparison, there are more than 300 rookie cards of NBA great Michael Jordan by Fleer with the same "gem mint" rating.
Ivy said it's extremely rare to find a Gretzky rookie card from O-Pee-Chee, which was essentially the Canadian arm of U.S.-based Topps, in perfect condition because of production issues in the late 1970s.
"Ninety per cent of the cards as they came out of the factory wouldn't be considered 'gem mint' by today's grading standards," Ivy, Heritage's director of sports auctions, said in a phone interview with The Canadian Press from Dallas. "They were using recycled cardboard that chipped easily, they were off-centre, and there were a lot of print defects.
"That this card survived 40-plus years in this perfect condition ... the desirability of it for collectors is to have the best of the best, and that's what this is."
Mount Rushmore of greats
A Topps 1979 Gretzky rookie card using the identical picture and classified with the same "gem mint" designation also sold for $720,000 during the same Heritage auction. PSA has examined 6,048 Gretzky cards from that 1979 run, and again deemed only two worthy of its highest grade.
Ivy said although the Topps card is slightly more rare, O-Pee-Chee sits atop of the heap for collectors.
"O-Pee-Chee has always outperformed Topps in hockey simply because they're the Canadian brand," he said. "They're the same cards, essentially, but hockey is the national sport of Canada.
"If you're collecting hockey [cards], the collectors want O-Pee-Chee."
The $1.29-million price tag includes a buyer's premium of 20 per cent, which goes to the auction house for marketing costs and handling the sale.
A four-time Stanley Cup winner, Gretzky retired from the NHL in 1999 with a record 894 goals, 1,963 assists and 2,857 points.
"Baseball has a much longer history and has a lion's of the sports collectors market as a whole, but hockey has its place, and Gretzky definitely goes on the Mount Rushmore of greatest of all time," Ivy said. "He's right up there with Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan."
Alternate investment strategy
Ivy added that the COVID-19 pandemic has created a boost to the sports collectors market as a number of people returned to old hobbies while stuck at home.
"A lot of the people who grew up in the 1980s going to sports collectible shows and watching Gretzky, watching Michael Jordan, they're at ages now where they have careers," he said. "A lot of them are successful and have some expendable income."
And instead of real estate or the stock market, Ivy also believes those with the means are looking to invest their money differently.
"They want hard assets to hedge against potential future inflation," he said. "That's exactly what we're offering here, and it's more fun. You can't put IBM stock on the wall.
"It's a good conversation piece, it's fun and it's an alternative investment people really enjoy."
A number of bidders were interested in the Gretzky O-Pee-Chee — the card previously sold for $465,000 in 2016 — which the auction house expected would snag at least $1 million.
"We're very excited and glad it got to (almost) $1.3 million," he said. "It very easily could have sold for $1.1 million and it just as easily could have sold for $1.6 million. It comes down to who's willing to cut the cheque. It set a record ... one more record to add to Wayne Gretzky's tally.
"He deserves to have the highest-selling hockey card of all time."

[St. Jerry]

Question for the more experienced in sports cards:

A family member gifted me a Wayne Gretzky 1979 rookie card. Looks in excellent conidition to me, but what do I know about such things? So, I sent it to PSA for grading and it just came back at a "mimimum grade." My expectation was that I was going to receive a number grade so I would be able to list it on ebay or the like.

Did I do something incorrect when I submitted it or is the card basically worthless? Do I have to spend another $150 to get a number grade, which was what I wanted in the first place?

thanks !

[ill-advised strategy]

Attachment 343247

Upper Michigan’s very own

[sirbumpsalot]

Haa funny I have a few of those same 60's and 70's cards you got there. Can't imagine they are worth more than just a few bucks each.