1984 Mark McGwire Topps

[Leon]

Build it and they will come? Here is our new forum so I will start out with a small hobby catastrophe of mine.

I remember when McGwire broke the HR record. I was at a card show and bought one of these raw for $125. Several years later I sold it for $40-$50 in an 8 holder. I don't think they even bring that much today (though not sure)....Any other newer card stories?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mark-McGwire1984-Topps-401-United-States-Baseball-Team-/130717478808?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item1e6f5e6f98#ht_500wt_1287






.

[peterose4hof]

Thank you for creating this Leon. I'm not sure how much traffic it will get, but I think alot of board members would be surprised to find out how many of us collect the modern/shiny stuff as well.

I'm just as happy to show off my Joey Votto Bowman Autograph RC as I am my collection of T206 Cincinnati Reds cards.

[HOF Auto Rookies]

In pursuit of my HOF autographed rookie card collection, I have to get a whole bunch of newer signed cards of some of these players and future players. But another focus of mine is Joe Mauer. I'd like to think and believe I'm an expert on his signature, and can usually pinpoint what year it is. I have roughly over 400 Mauer autographs, a good half or so more in person, and mainlly all on rookie cards.

[Leon]

Thank you for creating this Leon. I'm not sure how much traffic it will get, but I think alot of board members would be surprised to find out how many of us collect the modern/shiny stuff as well.

I'm just as happy to show off my Joey Votto Bowman Autograph RC as I am my collection of T206 Cincinnati Reds cards.

Hey Chris
This forum won't eat much and doesn't cost anything....so it's not a big deal if it doesn't get too many posts. I do think it will eventually pick up some steam as the postwar forum has...though maybe not to that extent.

[Deertick]

What's the over / under on first argument? :D

[HOF Auto Rookies]

Build it and they will come? Here is our new forum so I will start out with a small hobby catastrophe of mine.

I remember when McGwire broke the HR record. I was at a card show and bought one of these raw for $125. Several years later I sold it for $40-$50 in an 8 holder. I don't think they even bring that much today (though not sure)....Any other newer card stories?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mark-McGwire1984-Topps-401-United-States-Baseball-Team-/130717478808?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item1e6f5e6f98#ht_500wt_1287






.


Leon I think you got a steal at that time for $125. I was seeing them sell for $500 a pop.

[bigtrain]

I can relate to that story, Leon. I didn't pay $125 for a McGwire RC but I did pay $105 for the whole set. Thought I'd get it for my son who was born that year. Nice to have but a bad investment.

[Deertick]

Build it and they will come? Here is our new forum so I will start out with a small hobby catastrophe of mine.

I remember when McGwire broke the HR record. I was at a card show and bought one of these raw for $125. Several years later I sold it for $40-$50 in an 8 holder. I don't think they even bring that much today (though not sure)....Any other newer card stories?


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mark-McGwire1984-Topps-401-United-States-Baseball-Team-/130717478808?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item1e6f5e6f98#ht_500wt_1287



.

Boy, you pre-war guys know the S*** outta those cards, but enter the post Reagan era...... whoops! :D

That would actually be a 1985 Topps rookie. Too bad it wasn't a Tiffany.

[bigtrain]

85 Topps but 84 Olympic Team.

[UOFLfan7]

First: I would like to thank you for taking the time to create this section! Hopefully it will gorw and prosper in the near future haha.
Second: Now on to the topic of the Mark McGwire card you are talking about. The McGwire Oly-Team RC can actually go for quite a bit of money, especially if it is graded a 9 or a 10. I have seen Mark McGwire's that are graded 10 go for 340 dollars (The book price for a graded 10 Mark McGwire) up to 400 dollars! Now graded 9's don't go for nearly as much...more than likely they will go for 40-50 dollars, and 8's even less. However, if the card is Raw such as the one from the Ebay link, I would be surprised to see it go for anything more than ten dollars.

[Leon]

Boy, you pre-war guys know the S*** outta those cards, but enter the post Reagan era...... whoops! :D

That would actually be a 1985 Topps rookie. Too bad it wasn't a Tiffany.


Don't ask why but for some stupid reason I have had 1984 Fleer on my mind all day. I have no idea why. So the "1984" is just stuck in my head. But admittedly I don't know the modern stuff almost at all.

As for the over and under on an argument in this area.....well, we could start now :).

[steve B]

I've got a bunch of those kind of stories, but was too cheap to spend big on anything.

Instead I'd buy big boxes of random cards and pull out all the "better but not big star" cards plus a few guys I thought had a shot at 3000 hits. Of course now I've got a nice box full of cheap cards of great players, as well as quite a few has-beens. Like Johnny Ray. Averaged 150+ hits for a few years, and I figured with a 20 year+ career he might make 3000.
Of course his 11th year he was released after a not so good season and just vanished. 1502 hits, almost exactly halfway and a .290 average, not bad. But not good enough.

On the plus side I also collected Signature rookies and got the same guy a few times for the signed card. I was a bit annoyed at the time since I figured none of the prospects were actually going anywhere. And 4 of the same guy wasn't as interesting as getting the set. Plus he was a Yankee.
Yeah, that guy Jeter didn't really stick:rolleyes: Fortunately I was very slow about getting rid of the duplicates and did pretty well with them.

Steve B

[Maddog]

Thanks Leon, you had to bring up McGwire and make me find my card:D
I don't feel so bad now, I only wasted $18 around 15 years ago. Wow, a loss of only $8 over 15 years, if only some of my other investments were that good:D

[mikeakac2]

That McGwire usa card is one of the first cards I bought when I got back into the hobby along with the rookies of all the other stars i watched as a kid and couldn't afford back then. Even as my interest in cards expands and grows I don't see myself ever selling those cards because they were the cards I always wanted growing up.

[Gary Dunaier]

Don't ask why but for some stupid reason I have had 1984 Fleer on my mind all day. I have no idea why. So the "1984" is just stuck in my head.

"1984" also appears on the front of the card, so that may have also influenced your thinking.

http://www.baseball-cards.com/jpgs/1/1985t-401b.jpg

[curtis-cards]

I've got a bunch of those kind of stories, but was too cheap to spend big on anything.

Instead I'd buy big boxes of random cards and pull out all the "better but not big star" cards plus a few guys I thought had a shot at 3000 hits. Of course now I've got a nice box full of cheap cards of great players, as well as quite a few has-beens. Like Johnny Ray. Averaged 150+ hits for a few years, and I figured with a 20 year+ career he might make 3000.
Of course his 11th year he was released after a not so good season and just vanished. 1502 hits, almost exactly halfway and a .290 average, not bad. But not good enough.

On the plus side I also collected Signature rookies and got the same guy a few times for the signed card. I was a bit annoyed at the time since I figured none of the prospects were actually going anywhere. And 4 of the same guy wasn't as interesting as getting the set. Plus he was a Yankee.
Yeah, that guy Jeter didn't really stick:rolleyes: Fortunately I was very slow about getting rid of the duplicates and did pretty well with them.

Steve B

Johnny Ray...Wasn't he a Pirate? I'm trying to picture him in my mind.

[7nohitter]

66843

Ahhhh.....Mr. Ray.....brings us into the era of the "ERROR" card...

[David W]

I traded 55 Topps All American football Hutson, 4 Horseman, Rockne, and others for a bunch of Todd Worrell, Cory Snyder, Eric Davis rookies circa 1988 or so....

How did I do?

[novakjr]

I remember a card show when I was about 14. A guy had a stack of 'em for $7 a piece. A few years later, he went on that HR binge. At that point I wasn't really paying much attention to the hobby, but I was went to some mall in North Dakota while I was in town for Junior National Wrestling tournament, and saw one with a $350 price. I about kicked myself. Anyways, I now own one, and paid maybe $7 for it on the bay a few years back.

[aro13]

The modern market is all about timing. I had a friend who bought countless Mcgwire RC's like you mentioned for $5-10. He also bought a ton of Bond's glossy RC's and Classic Griffey's. Had them all graded by PSA and sold them at the height of the market before people realized how plentiful they were in high grade, and before the various scandals came about.

[rsdill2]

That McGwire usa card is one of the first cards I bought when I got back into the hobby along with the rookies of all the other stars i watched as a kid and couldn't afford back then. Even as my interest in cards expands and grows I don't see myself ever selling those cards because they were the cards I always wanted growing up.

Me too. I reentered the hobby in 2007 and was so excited to get RCs of Boggs, Sandberg, Henderson, Gwynn, McGwire, Ripken, Smith, etc.

I could care less that they're not worth much I just remember the late 80s/early 90s looking at them and wanting them so bad but not having near enough $ for even a single one of them.

[mcgwirecom]

As you can tell from my ID I collect McGwire. I started back in about 1990 (late start) but when he was injured in 1993-94 I actually bought about 100 of his RC for $5 each at the Ft. Washington (nee Willow Grove) Show. I held them until 1998 and pulled out only the cream of the crop to be slabbed. I got all 8's and 9's. I wholesaled them to a dealer for $100 an 8 and $200 a 9. I did real good.

I still collect his stuff, mostly autographs and game used. Have maybe a few hundred cards. But not real active on those. His Tiffany RC still carries weight as does the 1993 Finest Refractors. I actually only came on here looking for info about the 1990 Donruss Aqueous cards. I was scanning Ebay for Mcgwire stuff that was ending and saw a 1990 Aqueous card. I did some research and saw they were rare and threw in a bid. I was blown out of the water as it sold for $825 which seemed like a lot for a guy who is personna non gratta! I did not see any forums talking about the plethora of the Aqueous cards that got listed on Ebay. Any comments?

[MrPosadas]

This forum talked about the listings last week.

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=861422&highlight_key=y&keyword1=Aqueous%20

[Iwantmorecards77]

Ah yes - I saw the recent group on ebay...finally picked up a 1990 Donruss Aqueous Kevin McReynolds for my Big Mac collection. I never thouught I'd have to pay nearly $40 for a 1990 Donruss McReynolds! LOL

[ls7plus]

The modern market is all about timing. I had a friend who bought countless Mcgwire RC's like you mentioned for $5-10. He also bought a ton of Bond's glossy RC's and Classic Griffey's. Had them all graded by PSA and sold them at the height of the market before people realized how plentiful they were in high grade, and before the various scandals came about.

As did I with regard to the McGwires--must have made $1,000-plus off his '85 rookie at the National in 1998. Kept a couple Tiffany's, along with two of the regular card, one unslabbed, the other graded PSA Mint 9, and really don't know what to do or think about them now. Give 'em 20-25 years or so, and see if attifudes change!

Larry

[doug.goodman]

The only time I ever "flipped" a card was when I bought a PSA 10 Topps 1985 McGwire for $1500 (or maybe a bit more) the week before he hit #62, and sold for double my money a couple days later.

Doug