1962 Topps Rookie Parade cards

[robsbessette]

I'm closing in on my 62 set and of course mainly high numbers remain. Surprise, surprise.

I've heard from multiple people that the Rookie Parade cards are the hardest to come by. I currently only have one, but it's in rough shape.

What kind of a premium do these carry? Are they short prints? Why are they so special? There are some stars on the cards, but no HOF or super huge names.

For example, I search completed listings for the Uecker RC and see condition and sales ranging from $40 - $300. Obviously condition plays a huge issue.

Just trying to figure out how to attack these and understand them a little better.

[bobsbbcards]

VCP Prices:

PSA 6
591 Sam McDowell $59.95
592 Jim Bouton $56.00
593 Bob Veale $47.29
594 Bob Uecker $99.12
595 Ed Charles $19.68
596 Joe Pepitone $54.44
597 Denis Menke $41.80
598 Jim Hickman $63.71

PSA 7
591 Sam McDowell $80.55
592 Jim Bouton $76.31
593 Bob Veale $67.13
594 Bob Uecker $200.26
595 Ed Charles $56.69
596 Joe Pepitone $78.74
597 Denis Menke $55.42
598 Jim Hickman $204.91

PSA 8
591 Sam McDowell $130.36
592 Jim Bouton $132.74
593 Bob Veale $112.33
594 Bob Uecker $286.80
595 Ed Charles $114.79
596 Joe Pepitone $176.33
597 Denis Menke $100.50
598 Jim Hickman $720.66

As you can see, the most condition sensitive card is #598. I hunted forever to find a reasonably priced PSA 7 of that one. Raw copies of these cards are often priced higher than PSA 7's--no chance that they'd grade that. Buy PSA 6's if you want raw cards. Somewhat affordable and you're guaranteed that nobody has done some brown-marker touchups.

[glynparson]

is tough and popular. I would almost buy at VCP on the Ueckers for resale.

[brewing]

I only bought the McDowell only because it has a Tiger. It took me months to find a Ex graded one for under $30 shipped.

[mrmopar]

Like brewing, I needed one for my team collection. I wouldn't mind having all of them for at least one player on each card though.

As a Dodger fan, I am thankful that the only Dodger is Camilli, although it's on one of the more popular cards too. The following year would be the pinnacle of hard team set building though with McMullen teaming with Rose. It wouldn't be too bad again until 1973 with Cey sharing space with Schmidt. I still don't have the McMullen, but have the others.

[brob28]

The Ed Charles card is by far the easiest to find of these which is reflected in the VCP information. Anyone have any theories as to why there seems to be so many Charles compared to the others? I thought I read they were all short prints.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by brob28

The Ed Charles card is by far the easiest to find of these which is reflected in the VCP information. Anyone have any theories as to why there seems to be so many Charles compared to the others? I thought I read they were all short prints.

IMO, I think there could be multiple factors.

First, team collectors (as Mopar discussed) end up buying these cards to complete their team sets. That means that the cards with 4 or 5 teams represented will obviously be bought more frequently by various team collectors than the cards with only 3 teams represented.

The Charles card (as does the 597) has four players and only 3 teams represented. This Charles card has two small market teams represented, and IMO White Sox cards (3rd team on Charles card) do not sell as well as Yankee cards (as seen with the 596 card selling well and having just two teams represented) The 597 card seems to be the 2nd lowest in value for the same reason as the 596, with the only reason it not being last is because that Kanehil is on the card(a first year Mets player). In most cases, the 62 Topps Mets cards from the last two series seem to sell for a small premium over other similar cards (IMO due to large market team collectors and it being the first year of the team).

Second, the other cards had RCs of future AS/Key/popular players for their respective teams to appear on them ...591 -McDowell, 592-Bouton, 593-Veale, 594-Uecker, 597-Pepitone, 598-Hickman, while the 596 and 597 lacked these type of players..

[mckinneyj]

Rob> Why are they so special?

Besides being from the short printed high series, us kids back then got these cards in packs, didn't recogize the players, disliked the floating head shots, and immediately clothes-pinned them into our bike spokes thus further diminishing their population. They were also among the first risked when flipping on the schoolyard.