Steve Carlton Rookie worth so little

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by GasHouseGang

When I was a new baseball card collector, I had a friend who told me I shouldn't waste my time collecting Nolan Ryan cards because he would never be considered a great pitcher or make "The Hall" because all he did was get a lot of strikeouts. He had never been a 20 game winner, and would be considered a common by the time he retired. I stupidly listened to him.

I started collecting in 1986, buying the Topps packs at the grocery store. At the time, Ryan was of course a known commodity and a star player, but I would not have considered him a superstar, or among the very elite pitchers of the game. The speed was of course impressive, but he was inconsistent. He might pitch a one-hit shutout one night, and then give up 6 runs and lose in his next start. All that started to change for Nolan along about 1988-89, when he went to the Texas Rangers and everyone suddenly realized the precipice of all the records he was on the verge of passing - 5,000K's, 300 wins, and then of course by the time he unexpectedly added two more no-hitters for the Rangers, he was a God. His '68 Topps RC - which had been perhaps a $250 card in nice shape in 1988 - was suddenly worth well over a grand in 1992.

My point is not that Ryan is not a fantastic or even legendary pitcher, so much as it is just to point out that he's more noteworthy for how freakishly unique he is. The strikeout and no-hitter records will not ever be seriously approached, let alone equaled again. But remember at the end of the day those things alone don't win ballgames or lift teams. Ryan to me would make a super interesting study of how he was regarded over time. He may have been legendary in the 1990's on - but for the prime of his career in the 70's and early 80's you could generally make the argument that he wasn't even consistently among the top 3-4 pitchers in baseball.