Best investments by player and decade

[Exhibitman]

Some guys are criminally undervalued but that doesn't make them good investments. Some guys are overvalued relative to stats, like Koufax and Nolan Ryan, and that makes them good investments because they excite collectors. A few guys have back stories that outlive their on-field excellence, like Robinson and Clemente.

Baseball: Ruth, Cobb, W. Johnson, Young, J. Jackson, Mathewson, Speaker, Hornsby, Gehrig, Alexander, Spahn, J. Robinson, T. Williams, Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Koufax, Ryan, Clemente.

Basketball: Mikan, Russell, Chamberlain, Alcindor, Erving, Bird, Magic, Jordan, James.

Boxing: John L. Sullivan, Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Robinson. Mayweather is a big ticket modern card and getting inducted into the IBHOF this year but I don't see him in this lot. He played up his rep brilliantly but doesn't have the same enduring appeal. Manny Pacquiao is a better bet than Mayweather, if for nothing more than being the best fighter ever to come out of Asia (with its burgeoning collector base and billions of inhabitants).

I shied away from active guys like Trout because we really don't know the end of their stories yet. Too many players have had mid-career issues derail careers that seemed destined for ATG status. Off the top of my head: Don Mattingly, Shawn Green, Dale Murphy and Clayton Kershaw went from world-killers to 'if only' stories. Mike Trout missed most of last season with an injury: is that the start of a brittle later career or an anomaly? Him and Kershaw will make the HOF but Trout in particular is valued like a guy who will make it into the top tier of HOFers and he might not. Fun gamble, but as investment, not quite.

The guys I selected have followings that aren't going to go away, lots of cards, lots of tougher and more obscure cards and card-like memorabilia.

As for condition, the lowest technical grade with the best eye appeal is the always the best investment, especially at this stage of the vintage market. Prices are pretty frothy right now.