Decision SP Jeter or what other card

[Bored5000]

IMO, Babe Ruth vs. anyone else is a no brainer. Fifty years from now or 100 years from now, Ruth will still be the most famous name in sports. Go with Ruth.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

IMO, Babe Ruth vs. anyone else is a no brainer. Fifty years from now or 100 years from now, Ruth will still be the most famous name in sports. Go with Ruth.

Certainly Babe Ruth v. Derek Jeter is.

If the only question is which card will go up more, then really who on earth knows, it depends on future generations of collectors and whether they still want the prewar cards.

Maybe the best buy out there is a relatively hard to find Trout like the Diamond Update, given his upside to be one of the top handful of players ever.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Certainly Babe Ruth v. Derek Jeter is.

If the only question is which card will go up more, then really who on earth knows, it depends on future generations of collectors and whether they still want the prewar cards.

Maybe the best buy out there is a relatively hard to find Trout like the Diamond Update, given his upside to be one of the top handful of players ever.

I completely understand what you are saying about the best buy possibly being an obscure Trout card. But maybe the best buy from a purely financial standpoint isn't even baseball. Ruth, Jeter and Trout aren't flying under anyone's radar.

I always like reading David Peck's posts on here about his Wrestling All-Stars collection and its explosion in value in recent years. Peck started scooping up those cards when they were worth virtually nothing, and a high-grade Hulk Hogan Wrestling All-Stars card could be had for $50. Who would have ever thought those cards would explode the way they have? I don't even understand what Magic the Gathering and Pokemon cards are, so I really don't get why some of them now sell for five figures at auction.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I completely understand what you are saying about the best buy possibly being an obscure Trout card. But maybe the best buy from a purely financial standpoint isn't even baseball. Ruth, Jeter and Trout aren't flying under anyone's radar.

I always like reading David Peck's posts on here about his Wrestling All-Stars collection and its explosion in value in recent years. Peck started scooping up those cards when they were worth virtually nothing, and a high-grade Hulk Hogan Wrestling All-Stars card could be had for $50. Who would have ever thought those cards would explode the way they have?

Given the popularity among the general public of golf, the fact that Jack Nicklaus is the best golfer of all time by a near consensus, and the fact that he has only two issues that could be considered early cards, both of which are pretty hard to find especially the 1973 Panini -- I don't understand why those cards aren't worth a hell of a lot more.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Given the popularity among the general public of golf, the fact that Jack Nicklaus is the best golfer of all time by a near consensus, and the fact that he has only two issues that could be considered early cards, both of which are pretty hard to find especially the 1973 Panini -- I don't understand why those cards aren't worth a hell of a lot more.

I never really thought about Nicklaus being undervalued, but that's because he hasn't been someone whose cards I have followed much. I know baseball will always be king when it comes to cards, but along your point about Nicklaus, I have always been amazed at how cheap Marilyn Monroe's cards are. Maybe that is because she has a ton of foreign issue cards, but her cards just seem so cheap for how iconic a name she is. She also has the intrigue of dying young. Her signed checks already sell for well into four figures.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I never really thought about Nicklaus being undervalued, but that's because he hasn't been someone whose cards I have followed much. I know baseball will always be king when it comes to cards, but along your point about Nicklaus, I have always been amazed at how cheap Marilyn Monroe's cards are. Maybe that is because she has a ton of foreign issue cards, but her cards just seem so cheap for how iconic a name she is. Her signed checks already sell for well into four figures.

1. Nonsports is almost uniformly cheap, across the board.
2. As you suggest, there really are a huge number of MM cards. Here are two of my favorites.

[Exhibitman]

If you are approaching this financially, forget about anything except baseball; all the rest are piss-thin markets. Speaking as a boxing collector, trust me on that. You do not want to be in a collectible that has only a handful of interested parties unless you are in there so cheap that it doesn't matter. The only exceptions are probably a 1965 Namath, a Tom Brady RC, the Star or Fleer Jordan RCs and LeBron's RCs. Also the Jim Brown RC, the Russell and Chamberlain and Alcindor and perhaps Dr. J RCs, the Magic-Bird RC, the Gretzky RC, the Orr RC, and maybe Howe and Hull. Maybe also the Ali RC , if we can agree on which it is. Those have transcendent appeal. The rest are for specialists.

As for the original question, Ruth is a much better answer than Jeter. I do not believe that the abundant Jeter RC will do a ton more long term; remember how nuts Ryan pricing was in anticipation of his election. Ruth has steadily appreciated too. Check VCP on his 33 Goudey.

Now, if it was my money and the goal was financial appreciation I'd spread it around a core of rookies in the modern era, guys like Gerrit Cole or Altuve. Trout is blazing hot right now, so i'd watch it with him, but I think the non-2011 Topps Update RCs and the pre-RCs are reasonable values. I'd plunk a grand or so into his 2011 Bowman cards. As the TU prices out of range of most collectors these should go up. I'd also try to pick up some blue chip HOFers like Williams, Aaron, Musial, Gehrig, etc. A nice play might also be Bonds: if he makes the HOF his cards, which are really cold and have been for a while should see a nice punch upwards.

All of which is academic: if you want to make money buy a stock or something. Cards have less liquidity, relatively large spreads between bid (retail) and ask (selling to a dealer), and big financial barriers to exit (selling fees are at least 13% and go up from there), plus unfavorable tax treatment relative to other investments if held for more than a year. Buy these because you enjoy owning them.

[Arazi4442]

I'm with Eddie on this one. All things being equal, I would always go with the Ruth.

People think Jeter's HOF will boost his value, but anyone willing to spend $5K on this card (not me) already knows that. I don't see a big jump, short term or long term.

The big question, for me, would be the provenance of the card. Both are very "in demand" cards and susceptible to the trimming, etc. crap going on in our hobby.

No matter what you buy, do your homework on either of these. The very last thing you want is to drop that amount of money and later realize you've bought a trimmed/recolored/altered card.