The Top 100
 

Leon's quote from a 1997 book brought to mind another book found on Memory Lane entitled "The Top 100; The best baseball cards to own, ranked and rated for the investor and collector" by Paul M. Green and Kit Kiefer (1990). Messrs Green and Kiefer were, among other things, were involved with various Krause publications like Baseball Cards Magazine and SCD.

The introduction to the book states "our job was to pick out 100 good buys and write about them" and that "each card in this book has been rated on five different 10-point numerical scales: scarcity, marketability, historical importance, artistic value, and appreciation potential."

I hadn't looked at this book for a while so when I dug it out I was a bit surprised to find that the top 5 cards were all pre-war:

1) T206 Honus Wagner
2) 1934 Goudey Lou Gerhig
3) 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth ("take your pick")
4) T206 Ed Plank
5) M101-4 Babe Ruth

Of course, number 6 is a 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly :)

Totalled, 22 of the top 50 and 29 in all are pre-war.

Here are some other listings:

18) Diamond Stars Jimmie Foxx
19) 1975 Topps Robin Yount

37) 1984 Fleer Update Dwight Gooden
38) 1941 Play Ball Lefty Gomez

51) 1972 Topps Fisk/Cooper
52) R312 Joe DiMaggio
53) 1932 US Caramel Fred Lindstrom
54) 1986 Donruss Rookies Bo Jackson

92) 1983 Donruss Ryne Sandberg
93) W517 Ted Lyons
94) 1988 Score Glossy Gregg Jefferies

Sure, some of these look silly 20 years later...but so do Members Only jackets and Jordache jeans. However, I think some good credit needs to be given as nearly half of the top 50 cards are pre-war, regardless of the specific examples chosen.

I'm not an investor (far from it) and don't really have the desire to undertake an empirical study of the listing, but if nothing else it appears to illustrate the relative holding power of pre-war cards and the hysteria that surrounded the white-hot rookie craze of the day.

If you can find a copy, it's might be worth a nostalgic read...and a short trip in Mr. Peabody and Sherman's wayback machine.

Where did the 1933 Goudey Lajoie wind up?

It was not listed.

Don't worry though: the T222 Alexander was #27...just ahead of the 1986 Sportflics Canseco/Greenwell/Tartabull error ;)

Cool - thanks for digging that out. Some of those choices look pretty funny today. I expect almost everything on the list from 1975 on was more expensive then than it is now.

So your post inspired me to dig out my 1991 "Mr. Mint's Insider's Guide to Investing" by Alan Rosen with Doug Garr. Here's a summary of his "excellent buys" as Investment Strategies for the '90s:

1. Any cards or items from the 19th century,
2. Cap Anson and Nap Lajoie cards,
3. Items of 1919 Black Sox players,
4. Any items from the Negro leagues,
5. A 1969 Topps set in NM-MT condition,
6. A 1958 Topps set in NM-MT condition,
7. A 1954 Topps set in NM-MT condition,
8. The 1914 Cracker Jack set,
9. Any star cards (NM or better) from T205 and T206
10. 1933 Goudey and 1934 Goudey, and
11. Unopened material, especially pre-1980.

I'd have to say you would have done OK to follow this...I didn't (I just bought the book)...oooops!

Cheers,
Blair

Fun
 

Thanks Jim...it was fun to see some of the choices. One head scratcher is the W517 Ted Lyons...when has the W517 set ever gotten any real respect? Is this his rookie card? Even so, we're talking Ted Lyons here, not a player on the top of many wantlists. Would love to see all 29 of the Pre-WW2 cards they list, and see how many of the 'top' cards of today they missed.

Brian

Never could fit in Jordache jeans but do I have to stop wearing my Members Only jacket?

Ask and you shall receive Brian!

In addition to those listed above...as listed in the book...
7) 1914 Cracker Jack Joe Jackson
13) 1941 Play Ball Pee Wee Reese
14) T3 Turkey Red (Vic Willis)
16) E90-1 Mike Mitchell
22) T214 Mike Donlin
23) 1933 Goudey Hack Wilson
24) 1938 Goudey Bob Feller
26) T213 Walter Johnson
40) T204 TTT Ed Karger
42) 1933 Delong Riggs Stephenson
43) E102 Christy Matthewson
44) 1911 T201 Doublefolder Cobb/Crawford
46) T207 Buck Weaver
49) Old Judge Hoss Radbourn
65) Studio Cabinet
69) 1913 Fenway Breweries/Tom Barker Baseball Honus Wagner
79) R-312 Vaughn/Wagner
88) W551 Cobb and Ruth

I remember reading this book at the time, scratching my head at a few of the examples chosen...as I do now. However, since I believe the authors wrote this book with the general public in mind rather than the hardcore hobbyist, I think they made it a point to make some non-standard selections like the W517 Lyons, T3 Willis and T204 Karger. Nothing wrong with these cards - I wouldn't mind owning any of them - but the authors even admitted in places that they could have chosen others for particular issues.

Of course, with hindsight being 20/20, they certainly could have chosen something better at #55 than a 1989 Star Co. Bob Hamelin :)

no such thing
 

If the book listed this:

69) 1913 Fenway Breweries/Tom Barker Baseball Honus Wagner

then they were wrong on more than one level as this card never existed...

Okay, hot shots.... Who has all 29 cards??? Anybody....

I was surprise to find that in my modest collection, I have seven of the twenty-nine. I'm sure some of you guys have almost all of them. What you got???

Here are all "29" prewar cards in the "Top 100":

1) T206 Honus Wagner
2) 1934 Goudey Lou Gehrig
3) 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth ("take your pick")
4) T206 Ed Plank
5) M101-4 Babe Ruth
7) 1914 Cracker Jack Joe Jackson
13) 1941 Play Ball Pee Wee Reese
14) T3 Turkey Red (Vic Willis)
16) E90-1 Mike Mitchell
18) Diamond Stars Jimmie Foxx
22) T214 Mike Donlin
23) 1933 Goudey Hack Wilson
24) 1938 Goudey Bob Feller
26) T213 Walter Johnson
27) T222 Alexander
38) 1941 Play Ball Lefty Gomez
40) T204 TTT Ed Karger
42) 1933 Delong Riggs Stephenson
43) E102 Christy Matthewson
44) 1911 T201 Doublefolder Cobb/Crawford
46) T207 Buck Weaver
49) Old Judge Hoss Radbourn
52) R312 Joe DiMaggio
53) 1932 US Caramel Fred Lindstrom
65) Studio Cabinet
69) 1913 Fenway Breweries/Tom Barker Baseball Honus Wagner
79) R-312 Vaughn/Wagner
88) W551 Cobb and Ruth
93) W517 Ted Lyons

Lovely Day...

I have some nice cards, but don't have any of these, of course I only collect Detroit.:D

Strangest thing happened the other night that brought this post to my mind. I was working an event and we had a guest/friend working with us to help out and it turned out to be the very same Kit K.

I had never linked the guy that I know now to being the one mentioned in this post or the couple others on the Board. After two long days of work I thought about it for a second on the ride up in the elevator. So I say Kit, you ever write a book about cards, he replied, yes, I used to love them and got off the elevator.

Small world,
Bob

.
 

Not me, but I do have the 1986 Donruss Rookies Bo Jackson ;)

Was the '34 Gehrig really the 2nd best card to own in the ninties? I certainly don't remember it being so.

BTW, I heard members only jackets are back in style.

where does the T206 Honus Wagner strip card rank

Iggyman--Wow!
 

OK, Iggman--you've got my WOW!

Happy collecting,

Larry

Only have a couple off that list.

I can still fit into the clothes I had then. Still have some of them. I am not bragging. I didn't look very good then either.