Value of George Brett 3000th hit lineup cards

[Topnotchsy]

Awhile back I was able to pick up the lineup cards from George Brett's 3000 hit game. As the pictures show, they are the top copies for each team, not the carbon copies.

I've been trying to get an idea of what they might be worth and thought the Lelands auction had an item that might be a decent comparison since they auctioned off Pete Rose's 3000th hit lineup cards. Link below:

The Rose auction included both manager's carbon copy lineup cards as well as the larger lineup card that hung on the wall for the Reds and sold for $7986.

In comparing the items the differences are:
- Rose vs. Brett
- Rose auction had the lineup card from the wall while for Brett it is only the smaller cards
- The Brett lineup cards are the top copy while the Rose's are carbon copies.

I'd love to get people's thoughts on the value of the Brett lineup cards.

Thanks!


https://lelands.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=84858

[Scott Garner]

Jeff,
Thanks for posting these & they are very cool!

I really like umpire lineup and dugout cards as well and have quite a few related to Nolan Ryan's HOF career in my personal collection.
I attached some photos of an original dugout card to Nolan's last career win #324 and both of the original umpire lineup cards to Nolan's 3,509 game where he passed Walter Johnson for the all-time strikeout lead in 1983.
The latter two lineup cards were purchased in 2017. For comparison purposes only, I paid less than $1,000 for these from a private collector.

Ironically I was at George Brett's 3,000th hit game as an Angels season ticket holder in 1992 when Brett got his 4th hit off the night off of Angels' pitcher Tim Fortugno for his 3,000th.
Shooting from the hip, IMHO I would estimate the value of these to be closer to $1,000-$1500 than the $7,986 number that you described for Rose's 3,000th hit dugout card and carbon copies of the umpire lineup cards.
One major difference to note is that Pete Rose is the all-time hit king (as Pete himself would tell you), whereas George Brett is another member of the 3,000th hit club.
Please understand that I do not say this to minimize the importance or value of your lineup cards in any way.

Congrats on your pickup. :)

[Topnotchsy]

...

Scott,

I came and asked for opinions. Can't ask for anything more than a perspective that is developed, and some really nice scans of other lineup cards.

I do tend to think the value is higher (can't say it for certain, but I did pay more than that...) for a few reasons:

1) Top copy vs. carbon copy. As a general rule, the top copy often sells for multiples of a carbon copy. (A really extreme example, was from Heritage back a decade ago when they sold both the top copy and carbon copy of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. The top copy sold for $5300 and the carbon copy went for $260.)

2) While Rose is the hit leader, he is not in the Hall of Fame and from what I have seen, Brett has a stronger following. (I'm not an expert on either player, but that is what it seems like to me.)

Also, here are some other milestone games and prices I've tracked:


Spahn 300th win carbon copy - $4,060
Molitor 3000th hit $2005 (auction also included a game used bat, which seems to be roughly a $500 item)
Rose 4192 hit (dugout wall) - $11,400
Griffey 500th homer - $1,600 (this is shockingly low to me)
Gary Carter most games by catcher - $717
Ripken ties consecutive game record - $3,258
Ripken sets consecutive game record - $15,405

[Scott Garner]

Scott,

I came and asked for opinions. Can't ask for anything more than a perspective that is developed, and some really nice scans of other lineup cards.

I do tend to think the value is higher (can't say it for certain, but I did pay more than that...) for a few reasons:

1) Top copy vs. carbon copy. As a general rule, the top copy often sells for multiples of a carbon copy. (A really extreme example, was from Heritage back a decade ago when they sold both the top copy and carbon copy of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. The top copy sold for $5300 and the carbon copy went for $260.)

2) While Rose is the hit leader, he is not in the Hall of Fame and from what I have seen, Brett has a stronger following. (I'm not an expert on either player, but that is what it seems like to me.)

Also, here are some other milestone games and prices I've tracked:


Spahn 300th win carbon copy - $4,060
Molitor 3000th hit $2005 (auction also included a game used bat, which seems to be roughly a $500 item)
Rose 4192 hit (dugout wall) - $11,400
Griffey 500th homer - $1,600 (this is shockingly low to me)
Gary Carter most games by catcher - $717
Ripken ties consecutive game record - $3,258
Ripken sets consecutive game record - $15,405



Thanks Jeff,
I'm in agreement that there is no doubt that original copies of lineup cards should carry a heavy premium over carbon copies. For this reason I really have never collected the carbon copies.
Thanks for providing the comparison prices which are helpful.

That being said, I believe that the $1500 price of the Molitor 3,000th hit game is a very good measuring stick (excluding the GU bat) as a first glance.
I'm curious if this Molitor auction had both home and visiting umpire lineup cards like you have for Brett. Obviously this would have a major bearing on valuation. Both Brett & Molitor are HOF'er 3,000 hit guys although I would definitely give the edge to Brett on popularity.

[Topnotchsy]

Thanks Jeff,
I'm in agreement that there is no doubt that original copies of lineup cards should carry a heavy premium over carbon copies. For this reason I really have never collected the carbon copies.
Thanks for providing the comparison prices which are helpful.

That being said, I believe that the $1500 price of the Molitor 3,000th hit game is a very good measuring stick (excluding the GU bat) as a first glance.
I'm curious if this Molitor auction had both home and visiting umpire lineup cards like you have for Brett. Obviously this would have a major bearing on valuation. Both Brett & Molitor are HOF'er 3,000 hit guys although I would definitely give the edge to Brett on popularity.

I checked back and it was actually the dugout card, so it may not be the best comparison. (It also sold from Collect Auctions, which is definitely not an auction house I hear mentioned a lot). Link is below.

I have no plans on selling it. I believe it is the most significant game card (I also have the Braves lineup card from Glavine's first win and carbon copies from Niekro's 300th win, along with some WS line-up cards from the 90's.) I certainly paid the most.

http://www.collectauctions.com/paul_molitor_signed_3000th_hit_lineup_card_with_ga-lot12032.aspx

edit: Just came across the Young dugout lineup card which went for a hair under $2k at a Mears auction. Not sure how to compare the dugout lineup cards with the manager versions though...

http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.com/1992-robin-yount-milwaukee-brewers-actual-3000th-hit-dugout-lineup-card-displayed-in-brewers-dugout--lot60902.aspx

[Scott Garner]

Thanks Jeff, as that's also helpful info on the Yount and Molitor 3,000th dugout cards.

I couldn't help but get a chuckle at the Mears description of the Yount dugout card. Yount is "the most revered player in Brewers history" yet the team unceremoniously tossed the 3,000th hit dugout card as yesterday's trash. If not for a clubhouse worker that recognized the historic nature of this game and pulling the crumpled dugout card from a trash can, it would have been lost for eternity... :rolleyes:
Today, the same dugout card would be immediately sold for big bucks after a MLB hologram was affixed to it.

As I previously mentioned, I really like your Brett 3,000th hit cards & think it's cool that you added them to your collection. Congrats!

[Topnotchsy]

Thanks Jeff, as that's also helpful info on the Yount and Molitor 3,000th dugout cards.

I couldn't help but get a chuckle at the Mears description of the Yount dugout card. Yount is "the most revered player in Brewers history" yet the team unceremoniously tossed the 3,000th hit dugout card as yesterday's trash. If not for a clubhouse worker that recognized the historic nature of this game and pulling the crumpled dugout card from a trash can, it would have been lost for eternity... :rolleyes:
Today, the same dugout card would be immediately sold for big bucks after a MLB hologram was affixed to it.

As I previously mentioned, I really like your Brett 3,000th hit cards & think it's cool that you added them to your collection. Congrats!

:eek: so true!!

Here's from Niekro's 300th win:

[Dewey2007]

Nick pickup on the Brett 3000th hit lineup card! You'll need to get a ticket stub from that game now to pair with it.

[Topnotchsy]

Nick pickup on the Brett 3000th hit lineup card! You'll need to get a ticket stub from that game now to pair with it.

There are signed baseballs from both Brett's 3000th hit game and Niekro's 300th win on Heritage now which a part of me wants to go for, but I try to keep the collection focused since funds are far from unlimited.

Would be cool though, and I can't imagine it would be incredibly expensive to find a Brett ticket since it was pretty recent.

[Dewey2007]

There are a few Brett 3000th hit tix on eBay for sure.

There are signed baseballs from both Brett's 3000th hit game and Niekro's 300th win on Heritage now which a part of me wants to go for, but I try to keep the collection focused since funds are far from unlimited.

Would be cool though, and I can't imagine it would be incredibly expensive to find a Brett ticket since it was pretty recent.