Cal Ripken Jr. And The Hobby
 

Always been a fan of his on and off the field. 3,000+ hits, 400+ home runs, 1600+ runs scored, almost 1,700 RBI's, and 35th all-time in WAR and a game streak that will probably never be broken, yet his rookie cards sell for a fraction of modern unproven players. Even his rare minor league cards are so much cheaper than these modern players. Just can't wrap my head around the current state of the hobby. The fact that someone would spend seven figures on a guy just starting out is just insane. Wondering what a Ripken Superfractor would go for if he had one.
Just ranting.
Happy collecting everyone.

I’m not a fan of modern prospecting, but there are a ton more people interested in 2022 baseball than there are 1982 baseball. There are more Ripken rookies than collectors looking for Ripken rookies. 80’s stuff is never going to have much value outside some of some manhood measuring competitions over the top grading recognized examples. The cycle repeats.

Yup I agree. I wonder how it's working out for those that bought Ben Simmons rookies. Especially the high end cards.

His autographed cards do well but he wasn't really an exciting player. Other than his streak-breaking game I can't think of any Cal Ripken Jr highlights or other major moments of his career.

Tony Fernandez, Trammel, Ripken and Larkin..

Tony Fernandez is not in the HOF. What does he have in common with Ripken?

Those were a lot of his contemporaries in his time.

Ok but what does that mean in terms of his popularity among card collectors?

i thought it was interesting to compare his card to the others...it doesnt seem like that strong demand of any of them

The crazy prices on new complete nobody cards has been around a very long time now. I remember back in the late 90s when the super rare cards started getting made. I would buy the 1/1 Wade Boggs cards in the $300-$400 range and people that never played a single MLB game would sell in the $3000-$4000 range.:confused:

At least he had the streak. There are many greats you would be hard pressed to name great moments. The only thing I remember Gwynn doing was grounding out against Maddux in the 9th. Tris Speaker highlights, anyone? Jimmie Foxx's greatest hits?

I think Tony Gwynn is a bad comparison. He had instantly recognizable qualities, like his laugh and the smile on his face all the time. I'll also never forget him because he had to do battle with the greatest team in history, the 1998 Yankees in the World Series. I watched that series like I watched all Yankees games that year and I do remember the home run Gwynn hit in game 1 with a tied game. It was his only postseason home run.

But I guess that's a personal memory more than an around the game moment. Everyone did see it though. It was the World Series.

OK one fairly dramatic homer. Ripken's streak game arguably was one of the most exciting moments in all of baseball history. And the game before was pretty exciting too not to mention the whole leadup to it.

It was personality too though. I can still hear Gwynn’s voice. Everybody loved that guy. I don’t remember anything about Cal Ripken except he was bald and a few years ago his mother was bizarrely kidnapped.

He was the All American boy who would stay at the park for hours signing autographs. Hugely popular in Baltimore.

Both played for only one team. They made the Hall together. Lots of comparisons.

Not that popular apparently. Aaron Judge’s isn’t only popular in New York. He’s a phenomenon. And Gwynn is probably going to be the most recognizable Padres player for the entirety of their franchise, in addition to having the NL batting title named after him. He’s an immortal in ways Ripken won’t be.

My hot take of the day is that Tony Gwynn is a closer comparison to Cal Ripken Jr. than Tony Fernandez.

IMO you are underestimating Cal, I bet his cards all things equal sell for more than Gwynn's. Breaking Gehrig's record was HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE. Did Gwynn get a chapter in George F. Will's book? Maybe he did, but I only remember the one on Cal.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...seball-history

Yup. 25 Gwynn, 13 Ripken. :D

13. Cal Ripken Jr.
14 OF 26
The heart and soul of the Baltimore Orioles for more than two decades, Cal Ripken Jr. put together a remarkable career that included a Rookie of the Year award, two American League MVP awards and 19 consecutive All-Star appearances.

Oh, and he broke what many considered to be the most unbreakable record in all of sports, Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive games played.

But it was the way that Ripken went about doing things that endeared him to his fellow players and fans alike.

Said Joe Torre:

Cal (Ripken Jr.) is a bridge, maybe the last bridge, back to the way the game was played. Hitting home runs and all that other good stuff is not enough. It's how you handle yourself in all the good times and bad times that matters. That's what Cal showed us. Being a star is not enough. He showed us how to be more.

Why don’t you offer your opinion on the state of his place in the hobby then? Why do you think his cards are cheap?

They aren't cheap compared to his contemporaries. Everything from that era is cheap compared to certain modern issues. Just a matter of who is in the market, and the supply.

The actual breaking was huge. I remember the lead up to it being him getting a lot of crap for playing bad and NOT taking the much needed time off.

I’m considering reasons he might still be considered cheap despite his accomplishments. If you think he’s priced correctly we’re talking about different things.

Yes, then again I think anyone with a chance to break one of baseball's most iconic and long considered unbreakable records would have done whatever it took. At the time, I thought it would have been tremendously classy to tie it then sit one out. Not realistic I guess.

Correctly is not the word I would use. I just think the explanation lies in the difference between the market segments, not anything specific about Ripken. I mean look at Finest Refractors, his card is way up there, ahead of most except Ryan and Griffey I think.

His Topps traded card will ensure he’s always hobby relevant. I think that’s for sure no matter whether you consider him cheap or not.

Agreed, spectacular card. And I know this is hit or miss taste, but I really like the Gregory Siff take from Topps Project 2020.

I do love the traded card. Great image. Billy probably has the most undeserved seat at the eternal hobby table but I don’t know if he considers that good or bad.

Because they like all other cards of the HOFers of that era are so over produced every collector could own several. Huge supply with small demand.

You're probably right. Most of the big regular Topps issue rookies from the 80s are priced similarly as PSA 10's. The exception is Rickey Henderson. He outsells I think any other regular issue Topps from the decade. Condition sensitive though.

Mattingly Donruss in a 10 is also a killer card from the time.

The Tiffany cards are probably the best cards you could have invested in from the 80s.

Griffey's Upper Deck I think is one that popularity of the player overcame. There's a million of those too but it's pretty pricey anyway if you're a 10 guy.

To me, the 84 FU Clemens is a great card, knocked way down by his reputation for the time being. Randy Johnson gets no hobby respect at all, his two 89 Topps Tiffany cards are too cheap for what they are IMO.

One of my favorite cards from the 80s. There are plenty of them out there; however, that doesn't minimize or cheapen the enjoyment I get out of owning one.

1980 Topps is really more like the last set of the 70's than the first set of the 80's. Can we all agree that the 80's in terms of cards start in 1981? :)

As Packs pointed out, Henderson is an extreme condition rarity in a 10, for whatever reason. That's the reason for the big disparity with him.

Watch this video and see how you feel about the 1980 Henderson and it's high grade rarity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wTMS1dmddc

IMO 1980 is the last true vintage set and the Henderson is one of the greatest HOF RC ever made. That being said 81-84 Topps still feel vintage in my mind and after 1984 they don’t have that same feel to me.

Back to Ripken, I love his 82 Topps multi player RC, if I was a Ripken fan i would have like 20 of these or more.

Both Gwynn and Ripken are both iconic, Gwynn may not have the accolades but his stats are insane.

I've seen it and others of his videos. I don't "feel" one way or the other about the rarity, I only offered it to explain the market and it clearly explains it.

I've seen his videos and while I can't say many positive things about PSA, or the other grading companies, this guy tends to wear a fitted tin foil hat. To state there is some vast conspiracy is silly.

The idea that the Henderson is the best key card in the set and has been for nearly it's entire existence is lightly discussed. The simple repercussions of that is that it has always been the one that every Tom, Dick, and Harry pulled from the box to show their friends. No one pulled or handed around the neighboring common cards, they sat calmly in storage for decades until the advent of grading. All that fondling in comparison to the other cards is going to add fingerprints, light touches and the rest to the many 9's that would have been 10's had little Tommy not pulled it from his binder to show friends.

I don't buy this guys 9/11 philosophy here...

I’ll take PSA 8s all day of this iconic card, and back to OP

My stance is Ripken was the man, to h*ll with pop reports

https://i.ibb.co/X7NTzLF/AEDECBB3-27...-EBD3372-C.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/Q6m4xKM/7-CB7023-B-...-B9-AE7-B0.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/7gfJ1Z6/38-ED2-B41-...-C91-E02-C.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/pjRfMtk/B0-FCF6-B1-...1381452433.jpg

Topps on several occasions has done player tributes in the form of posters which picture all of the player's Topps cards ( and Bowman if applicable) . I have picked up one for Mantle , Ashburn, Grich and Ripken. I have seen others, including Mays. Sorry about poor image

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...080&fit=bounds

Interesting...I figured 1980 Topps, due to the "no competition" production quality, was generally harder to get in top grade.

But looking at the numbers, the Henderson has been graded PSA 10 less than 0.001 percent of the time. The entire 1980 Topps set, including the ~15% that ARE the Henderson? 14.7%.

1981 Topps is 15.3% 10's, and 1979 Topps is 7.4%, for reference.

I recently sold a couple of raw Ripken RCs over on Reddit. They've been in my pile of cards I want to get rid of and I figured I'd give that site a shot to see what happens. I hadn't been tracking how much they typically sell for and was surprised to see how low they actually go. It seems most of what is posted/listed over there are cards within the past three years but luckily someone came along within a couple of days and bought both Ripkens. I'm hoping to eventually pick up an '82 Topps Traded Ripken for my collection.

The first pro game I ever attended was the Orioles and Red Sox up at Fenway Park. Ripken hit a three run homer into the net that used to be atop the Green Monster. Mussina started the game for the Os and they blew out the Red Sox 16-4.

I think Ripken's HR at the 2001 All Star Game in my home town in Seattle was a pretty special moment. Served up or not, he hit it out. It was even cool for the most hated man in Seattle at the time, Arod, to offer respect to Cal and switch places with him.

Nothing to do with his RC, although I do have a couple, I took my daughter and Father/Mother In Law to Ripkin's last game in Anaheim playing the Angels. We sat directly behind the visitor's dug out and enjoyed both the send off and the game. I have never met him, but he appeared to be a class act. We had a great time and a lasting memory.

Wasn't it Foxx that broke a seat pretty far back in Yankee Stadiums upper deck?