Conundrum Looming

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by uyu906

Hi John,

Thanks for your post. To play devil's advocate - If what you said about the Boomers creating the Mantle price premium is accurate (and I believe there is a lot of merit in what you said); what happens after all of the Baby Boom collectors pass on to the Great Ballpark in the Sky? Do Mantle prices go down and revert to prices equivalent to stars like Mays and Aaron? Or, do they stay at the same high levels due to the price premium becoming ingrained in the Hobby for 50 odd years??

Rich

No. Once you are in the stratosphere I think you stay there. Have Ruth or DiMaggio prices gone down...ever? And in fairness even as Yankees, they don't have the same wide appeal that Mantle does. Mantle fans who saw him play passed down that love to their kids, many of whom collected in the 80's. I just don't see the hobby attitude around him ever changing substantially. My LCS dealer always keeps lower grade Mantle cards in the case just because fans who are not even really collectors come in, and he can always move them. People want to be able to say they own a Mantle card, even if it's beat up. The days of collectors who actually saw him play will end, of course, but I think that mystique is transferable. None of the marquee vintage players - Cobb, Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mays, Williams, Aaron, Clemente, Koufax, etc. etc., et al. have ever really seen their card values go down, in the last 4 decades of this hobby anyway. The time may come where no collector who saw any of the dead guys play knows any better - but I believe he will still be regarded as special.