What are the top 10 famous players to collect: 1887 Old Judge baseball cards

[Zone91]

If someone could please let me know...I know this is subjective and I do not want to stir up the bees nest. I just want to some players that I can research while I am waiting for my book on this series.

It can also be a top 5, 15 or 20 it is up to you.

[Zone91]

Just trying to figure out who the star players where of that period in baseball.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Just off the top of my head, here are the ones I like most:

Ed Delahanty $5K
Cap Anson $3,500
Kid Nichols $3K
Amos Rusie $2,500
Connie Mack $2K
Harry Wright $4K

[Zone91]

bcbgcbrcb

Can you tell me if cards from those players are possible to locate or mostly impossible and what kind of price range are we talking about with these type of players.

[Zone91]

Just found a Amos Rusie I can see they are quite expensive!!!


http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1887-Old-Judg...item45e934d393

[terjung]

Some OJs have sold for north of $100,000.

[Zone91]

terjung:

Holy....that is way out of my league for sure I will stick with much cheaper cards in the series. Do you know what cards sold for over 100K? Any links would be appreciated.

Is there any way of finding a site where there is a rarity scale for Old Judge baseball cards....to give me a idea.

[paul]

The California League players have sold for over $100K. The Cap Anson in uniform card would also very likely sell for well over that amount. The book you have ordered ranks Hall of Famers by scarcity and lists some of the other very scarce cards as well.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by Zone91

terjung:


Is there any way of finding a site where there is a rarity scale for Old Judge baseball cards....to give me a idea.

There is a chapter in the book you ordered on this very topic.

You might also find some old discussions here on this Board if you do a bunch of searches.

Cheers,
Blair

[kkkkandp]

Get yourself copies of David Nemec's books on 19th century baseball - The Beer and Whisky League and The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Major League Baseball.

Read about all the players and teams and some players will tickle your fancy. They don't have to be HOFers. Lots of great characters back then. Lots of them are in the Old Judge set.

[Zone91]

Thanks I will wait for my book to arrive.

[Matthew H]

Originally Posted by kkkkandp

Get yourself copies of David Nemec's books on 19th century baseball - The Beer and Whisky League and The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Major League Baseball.

Read about all the players and teams and some players will tickle your fancy. They don't have to be HOFers. Lots of great characters back then. Lots of them are in the Old Judge set.

Thanks for posting that Kevin. I will check those out too.

[bcbgcbrcb]

I will add approximate prices now for cards in decent but not great condition.

[Zone91]

kkkkandp

I will purchase those 2 books as well....feels good to be overloaded for once since I finished university back in 2006.

[cyseymour]

Originally Posted by Zone91

Just found a Amos Rusie I can see they are quite expensive!!!


http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1887-Old-Judg...item45e934d393

I would lay off the ebay Buy It Now's. The Keefe is a quality card, worth approx. $600, but a lot of the BIN's are vastly overpriced. You'd be better off participating in auctions where you know there is an underbidder.

[Zone91]

cyseymour

Noted!!! Thanks.

[Matthew H]

Originally Posted by cyseymour

I would lay off the ebay Buy It Now's. The Keefe is a quality card, worth approx. $600, but a lot of the BIN's are vastly overpriced. You'd be better off participating in auctions where you know there is an underbidder.

+1 on laying off the eBay BINs. Some of those have been sitting there for years.

I'll disagree on the $600 value on the Keefe though. The next one with a front that nice might be graded a 5. Even if you could have gotten it at auction for 650, you would have to wait for another nice front graded poor to be offered, which could take awhile. I'd rather over-pay 100 then sit and wait for a year or two.

[Zone91]

What about buying from this seller:

Dave's Vintage Baseball cards he seems to be everywhere on youtube when it comes to this series.

https://www.gfg.com/baseball/


How does one figure it has a 600$ value....do you base yourself on SMR PSA's online price guide???

[cyseymour]

Nope, I don't use SMR, and wouldn't recommend using it for OJ's. Look at past auction prices, that is the only real barometer. Good luck!

[bbcard1]

All things being equal...and they most certainly are not...I would rather have a Billy Sunday than any other card in the OJ set. it is not unattainable. I am of the opinion that he is as interesting of a baseball player as we have seen in the glorious game's history.

An OJ appears on his wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Sunday

[cyseymour]

Originally Posted by Matthew H

+1 on laying off the eBay BINs. Some of those have been sitting there for years.

I'll disagree on the $600 value on the Keefe though. The next one with a front that nice might be graded a 5. Even if you could have gotten it at auction for 650, you would have to wait for another nice front graded poor to be offered, which could take awhile. I'd rather over-pay 100 then sit and wait for a year or two.

Yeah Matt, except that it just sold at auction for $500 last December. But even for $750, at least it is a really nice card, a quality piece. There's plenty of OJ's that sell in that range that aren't so good. So still a decent buy.

[cyseymour]

Originally Posted by Zone91

What about buying from this seller:

Dave's Vintage Baseball cards he seems to be everywhere on youtube when it comes to this series.

https://www.gfg.com/baseball/


How does one figure it has a 600$ value....do you base yourself on SMR PSA's online price guide???

SMR prices are completely irrelevant when it comes to OJ's. There are a lot of other factors, like image quality, etc, that come into play. That's why I'd say study auction prices and get a feel for what things are worth. I can't comment on one particular guy's website or what he's doing, that's his business. But OJ's are complex and it takes time to get a feel for it. Good luck!

[Bobsbats]

Here is my Rusie !!

Rusie OJ front.jpg

[Zone91]

Bobsbats

Very very cool!!!

[E93]

FYI Rusie is one of the tougher HOFs.
JimB

[Matthew H]

Originally Posted by cyseymour

Yeah Matt, except that it just sold at auction for $500 last December. But even for $750, at least it is a really nice card, a quality piece. There's plenty of OJ's that sell in that range that aren't so good. So still a decent buy.

Really, the exact same card? I missed that one, I haven't seen that example.

[Zone91]

Matthew H

Yes I saw it sold on Heritage auctions before I decided to buy it for 700$. I figured a famous player from that period and a top 1 or top 2 pitcher of the same period must be worth at least the price I paid for it.....in the end I am very happy with my purchase.

You can find it in the ended sport card section on Heritage auctions website.