What are the best vintage, investment-type players in your opinion?

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

--Some of that is Yankees mystique, but not a lot of it. Joe DiMaggio has as much Yankee mystique as anyone, The Yankee Clipper, Mr. Marilyn Monroe, so why does Joe DiMaggio show up consistently in the undervalued lists?

It is almost all this. There was a time when Mays and Mantle cards were the same price. The 1952 Topps Mantle was still one of the top 10 cards in the hobby and the 1953 Topps Mays was more valuable than the 1953 Topps Mantle.. A group of New York dealers started buying up Mantle cards driving up prices and creating demand. Mantle became the player to collect and new collectors entering the hobby since have been drawn to the player with the highest values.

DiMaggio is hurt by several factors. No Topps cards and a lack of cards overall. His career numbers were hurt by him being a right handed hitter in Yankee Stadium and missing 3 years to WWII. He only had 2241 hits and 361 HR.

Mantle on the other hand broke Babe Ruth's World Series HR record and was part of the 1961 HR chase. When he retired he was #3 all time in HRs behind Ruth and Mays. The collectors of this boom time remembered Mantle more than DiMaggio and chased his cards.