Hottest Player To Collect...And Why?

[LincolnVT]

Interested in people's thoughts on "the player to collect (card wise) and why." Not just current value or up-side, but long term...could be a modern day player or dead ball era. Where is your money best spent and why?

[MattyC]

Seems like you mean invest instead of collect.

[Snapolit1]

Babe Ruth. Because he's Babe Ruth.

[Johnny630]

If you have more then 10 years continual dollar cost averaging deposits in S&P 500 index with reinvesting dividends. Double down or more I’d you can during recessions.

Cards should be fun, buy whatever makes you smile :-)

Never let emotions dictate your investment strategy. If certain cards bring any sorta of emotion to you don’t use them as investments.

[Paul S]

Mike Trout errors and variations.

[toolman tj]

Ty Cobb all the way for me. Babe is definitely the "icon" for the hobby, but Cobb is the only player unanimously voted into the hall of fame and his records make him fascinating to me. Also, the sport put him out there as "the player to see" 7 years before Ruth and subsequently a lot more collectibles were produced promoting ticket sales and player notoriety for the team.

[A2000]

Gleyber Torres!

[Koufax32fan]

Originally Posted by toolman tj

Ty Cobb all the way for me. Babe is definitely the "icon" for the hobby, but Cobb is the only player unanimously voted into the hall of fame and his records make him fascinating to me. Also, the sport put him out there as "the player to see" 7 years before Ruth and subsequently a lot more collectibles were produced promoting ticket sales and player notoriety for the team.

No player has been unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame by the baseball writers. Cobb received 98.2% of the vote. Griffey (Jr.) received 99.3% of the vote.

[orly57]

Originally Posted by toolman tj

Ty Cobb all the way for me. Babe is definitely the "icon" for the hobby, but Cobb is the only player unanimously voted into the hall of fame and his records make him fascinating to me. Also, the sport put him out there as "the player to see" 7 years before Ruth and subsequently a lot more collectibles were produced promoting ticket sales and player notoriety for the team.

Cobb was not unanimously voted into the Hall of Fame. He did receive 222 out of 226 votes. I still agree with your assessment, but I'm biased. I think Steve's vote was pretty decent too, though I don't think Ruth's cards are as attractive (as a whole) as Cobb's. The period between 1916 and 1932 did not produce, in my opinion, cards as nice as the earlier part of the century. But yeah, Ruth is a great bet.

[Bigshot69]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Babe Ruth. Because he's Babe Ruth.

100% in agreement, however, the flavor of the day appears to be Ben Simmons (NBA) rpa’s.

[Hxcmilkshake]

Cobb such a dirtbag...i like Judge if hes the baby bomber version of Jeter. RCs still reasonable. Mantle is always good. I think Ryan is underrated.

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[MattyC]

Originally Posted by Hxcmilkshake

Cobb such a dirtbag...i like Judge if hes the baby bomber version of Jeter. RCs still reasonable. Mantle is always good. I think Ryan is underrated.

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Nolan Ryan has such a great Topps run.

[packs]

Jeter is probably the Mantle of the current generation. His SP card will probably be out of control down the line.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by packs

Jeter is probably the Mantle of the current generation. His SP card will probably be out of control down the line.

Jeter certainly not burnishing his reputation as an executive.

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by Hxcmilkshake

Cobb such a dirtbag...i like Judge if hes the baby bomber version of Jeter. RCs still reasonable. Mantle is always good. I think Ryan is underrated.

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Even as a "dirtbag", as you so eloquently put it... Cobb will ALWAYS be more desirable than Judge, Jeter, Ryan and ANY OTHERS you can name with the lone exception of Ruth.

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

Even as a "dirtbag", as you so eloquently put it... Cobb will ALWAYS be more desirable than Judge, Jeter, Ryan and ANY OTHERS you can name with the lone exception of Ruth.

More desirable to whom? This is all completely subjective; there will be people who like Jeter and not Ryan. People who like Gehrig and not Cobb. Judge collectors who don't have any interest in Mantle. And on and on.

[toolman tj]

Sorry for the error, I read the Cobb HOF info in a book years ago and it stuck with me. I should have fact checked that, so thanks for the correction.

[oldjudge]

Jeter who? DD is better than Jeter ever was.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by toolman tj

Sorry for the error, I read the Cobb HOF info in a book years ago and it stuck with me. I should have fact checked that, so thanks for the correction.

Not every book is accurate...especially (IMO) about Cobb - the more recent bios of him, with far more research, paint a very different picture than the previous ones.

Call it revisionist history if you want to, but those books may have helped spur the new interest in collecting his cards.

[packs]

Originally Posted by MattyC

More desirable to whom? This is all completely subjective; there will be people who like Jeter and not Ryan. People who like Gehrig and not Cobb. Judge collectors who don't have any interest in Mantle. And on and on.

There are literally millions of cards out there for Judge and Jeter collectors though. They'll never reach the same level. For ANY career-contemporary Cobb card it's going to cost you, which is what sures up the value of his more expensive options.

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by packs

There are literally millions of cards out there for Judge and Jeter collectors though. They'll never reach the same level. For ANY career-contemporary Cobb card it's going to cost you, which is what sures up the value of his more expensive options.

I do get that the PreWar players have fewer career contemporary cards— and thus taken in the aggregate, those cards will be worth more money that the average career contemporary card of a modern player. That said, it does not mean the best card of a modern player is not as worthwhile to the collector or potentially to the investor as well, provided the latter is content to shoulder the accompanying risk.

From a strictly monetary standpoint, which is admittedly not my purview, one who bought a PSA 10 Jeter SP early on did fantastically well. And the "entry cost" of obtaining that Jeter back then was probably not even high enough to buy a nice Cobb or Ruth card. The salient point being there are all sorts of good options in terms of players and cards for both the collector and the investor. Multiple avenues for satisfaction that are neither competitive nor mutually exclusive.

Interesting case in point, for the monetarily minded: in the last year, if I paid the usual AH retail dollar to obtain a great Cobb, Gehrig, Ruth, or Shoeless Joe, I would be lucky to be able to break even on the sale of those cards today. In contrast, if I was so inclined, I could make a much greater profit on some Harpers and Judges I purchased in that very same window of time.

Another factor to consider on such a topic is how thin the air is as one progresses from 5 digits to 6 digits, and even upward. Such cards can be much harder to sell than one would think, at first blush. So there are many variables to consider, from which cards, at which prices, to investment horizon. Buying "for keeps," as it were, for a collection, really does a great job of simplifying the situation— and a great job of eliminating the headache that usually accompanies anything money-related.

[Hxcmilkshake]

Originally Posted by packs

There are literally millions of cards out there for Judge and Jeter collectors though. They'll never reach the same level. For ANY career-contemporary Cobb card it's going to cost you, which is what sures up the value of his more expensive options.

They dont have to reach the same level. If you bought 100 93 SP Jeters 10 yrs ago you will have done well for yourself. You dont need to flip Cobbs to do well. Thats where I'm coming from ....thats what i thought this thread was about. *shrug* So, maybe buy some undervalued Ryan RC or some 2013 Judges and see what happens.



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[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by MattyC

More desirable to whom? This is all completely subjective; there will be people who like Jeter and not Ryan. People who like Gehrig and not Cobb. Judge collectors who don't have any interest in Mantle. And on and on.

The OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of collectors. There is very little subjectivity for this board on this topic. Have you read the other posts? Have you followed the hobby for any amount of time? Ruth and Cobb reign supreme atop all others when it comes to collecting... and whether or not you agree with it... is inconsequential.

[Snapolit1]

No one is arguing what is subjectively nicer, cooler, better, more important to collect. Those are not factual arguments. That's personal taste. If you want to collect every Mackey Sasser card every printed, go for it. Sounds like fun to me. If you want to open up a museum to Kevin Maas or Bake McBride, go for it. Sounds cool. But if someone is going to argue that modern era cars are a good investment I beg to differ. Yes, there is the occasional amazing obscure piece that someone is going to pay boku bucks for. But what is driving sales of cards today is a lottery aspect of burying supposed relics in boxes and people rushing to find them and make money.

People line up at 6 am in the morning outside the sneaker store in my neighborhood a few times a month. Like 200 people deep. It's because there is some new Jordan shoe or something being released. People line up and buy a dozen pairs and sell them to grateful people in Japan for 10 times the sticker price. Cool. Nice business model. God bless. It doesn't mean they are Michael Jordan or foot ware fans. I have seen people in card store literally cracking open cases of the Topps Heritage card and throwing them into garbage cans as quickly as they can looking for the supposed rareties.

[trdcrdkid]

My 13 year old nephew collects baseball cards, primarily recent cards with an emphasis on the Cubs. I gave him Javy Baez and Willson Contreras rookie cards for Christmas, along with a Donruss blaster box, and he was very happy. A few years ago I gave him a bunch of my doubles from the late 70s and early 80s, and he went through them picking out the Hall of Famers, which he put in his album. So this is a kid who collects current cards but is also interested in older cards.

I would assume that most of the people buying high-end recent cards at shows (autographs, relics, refractors of Trout, Bryant, Ohtani, etc.) are adults, simply because they're the ones with the money for that stuff. Same goes for the people paying $100-$150 for hobby boxes. But I'm sure there are plenty of other kids like my nephew, buying individual packs with what money they have and picking up a nicer card if the opportunity presents itself.

[Hxcmilkshake]

Youre right. Dings, creases, and 6's. Not what i was talking about ...we are talking about cards you can make money on. So yeah i agree lower end modern cards are not a good investment .....

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[rats60]

Originally Posted by Hxcmilkshake

Youre right. Dings, creases, and 6's. Not what i was talking about ...we are talking about cards you can make money on. So yeah i agree lower end modern cards are not a good investment .....

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I count 153 that sold for under 100 and many of those aren't lower end. You can find them with a little effort. Of course, your claim was vague without any facts to base it on. When I asked for details, you didn't provide any.

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by rats60

I count 153 that sold for under 100 and many of those aren't lower end. You can find them with a little effort. Of course, your claim was vague without any facts to base it on. When I asked for details, you didn't provide any.

+1

[Hxcmilkshake]

Originally Posted by rats60

I count 153 that sold for under 100 and many of those aren't lower end. You can find them with a little effort. Of course, your claim was vague without any facts to base it on. When I asked for details, you didn't provide any.

And you provided Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, and Wagner in your argument. I hear the 52 Mantle is a good card to have too.

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