Quote:
Originally Posted by Snapolit1
Really interesting, thoughtful post and I enjoyed reading it. I don't want to go on at length on someone's BST thread, but I have serious doubts that Ted Williams cards however rare will ever approach the rarified air of a Gehrig 25 Rookie. An amazing baseball legend, and singular talent, but frankly has little of the star mystique needed to catapult one into the realm of Gehrig / Ruth / Jackie / Mantle. Just my opinion of course.
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I'd have to strongly disagree on that one. Williams has had many, many more books written about him than Gehrig has, who was almost completely lacking in color. Teddy F---ing Ballgame (as he would often call himself, was just the opposite--just oozing with color. Can't disagree with Pete about the New York mystique, but Williams has also had numerous television specials done about him and his career, while Gehrig has had just one that I can recall in more than three quarters of a century. Plus, Ted is a god in Boston, along with Larry Bird and Bobby Orr (witness the TWT("Twit") = Ted Williams Tunnel). Also not to be forgotten is the incredible reception he received from the all-star players and fans alike at the 1999 All-Star Game. Plus, you're inescapably, undeniably dealing with the best of the best at what many would consider the most important part of the game--hitting (as noted, depending on the measuring stick, either Ted or the Babe comes out on top)! He is indisputably what an old collecting friend and I called a "transcendental" player.
There is a lot of pent-up demand for the "right" Williams card (there are simply too many of the 1939 Play Ball, and it is really an ugly card compared to the Goudey premium). Before the advent of third-party grading and the pop reports, for example, the 1954 Bowman #66 Williams was thought to be far more rare than it turned out to be--consequently, prices of $12,000 for a NrMt-Mt and $20,000 for a Mint example were being asked and paid in the '90's--the '90's, for goodness sake, for what was not even a rookie card!. With the rise of TPG companies and their pop reports, it became known that this card was not even close to being as rare as had been thought, and prices dropped. What the R303A (and the V351, for that matter) lacks with the collecting body at large is simply recognition. The exact same thing was true of the '25 Exhibit Gehrig in the '90's. When it got that, "ZOOM!"
Don't be too shocked when my forecast becomes reality. I also predicted the rise in Ty Cobb rookie postcards, especially the ultra rare ones, well before it occurred.
Best of luck in your collecting, Steve--may your own choices bring happiness to you!
Larry