Best memorabilia investment out there

[Snapolit1]

Interesting thoughts.

I actually don’t recall seeing a line up card for an important game at auction. What I usually see is “here’s a lineup card from the NY Mets against the Cincinnati Reds from May 19, 2020….”. A lineup card from a huge game would be pretty huge indeed.




QUOTE=Topnotchsy;2246147]Trying to figure out what will go up in value in the future is challenging because you have to answer a two-part question: what are the items that people will want in the future, that they also don't want now (or want less now). Otherwise the items will either remain unvaluable, or remain valuable, but not significantly grow in value.

I think there are two general categories; items that are very prominent currently which experience a real changed, and items that are popular now that continue to grow.

In the latter category, I expect Jackie Robinson's legend to continue to grow. As time passes, it seems like many of the secondary characters get forgotten, but the legend around the primary characters only grows. I see that with Jackie.

Negro League collectibles are in high demand, albeit fairly niche. With the recognition of the Negro Leagues as a Major League, and additional attention on the league, I could see those growing.

An area that I think may catch on are rookie cards of vintage HOFers. Gehrig's 1925 Exhibit card blew up over the past few years and I wonder if other HOFers will as well (although at the same time, I think the number of people who know of or care about Gabby Hartnett, Al Simmons and others will likely continue to decline, so who knows...)

I remain surprised at how much cheaper programs are than tickets. I find programs so much more interesting, and wonder if the market will ever feel the same.

Finally, my personal niche of lineup cards is one that I love because of how close it is to the game. It's a rare item that actually tells the story of the game, especially when it is well-worn and marked up by the umpire or manager. I think the scarcity of any particular game makes it difficult as a primary area of collecting focus, but especially for significant games, I think there's a lot of upside.[/QUOTE]

[Topnotchsy]

I appreciate that.

Regarding lineup cards, ones from significant games are difficult to find for at least 4 reasons:

1. There are so few copies in existence (even when considering the copy that each manager has the one the umpire has, and adding to that the larger ones that they post on the dugout walls, it is still a tiny total)
2. Lineup cards weren't traditionally viewed as significant, and therefore were often thrown out. To this day, some managers and umpires toss their lineup cards (although I imagine they are more likely to preserve ones from more significant games)
3. Even when saved, many stay in the collection of the umpire or manager for many years before they decide to part with them.
4. There is generally nothing about the lineup card itself that makes it clear that it was from a significant game, outside of World Series games and the like. So at times they hide in plain site.

That said, I've collected lineup cards for years, and have been able to find/acquire some nice ones. Some came from large collections (I purchased the vast majority of umpire John Hirschbeck's personal collection, which included lineups such as Adrian Beltre's 1st career HR, Carl Yastrzemski's final career HR, Steve Carlton's final career win and others, as well as Tommy Lasorda's personal collection from the last 8-9 years of his career. That included Mike Piazza's 1st career HR, and Pedro Martinez MLB debut and 1st career win.

I've also found lineup cards on eBay that simply were not identified. I acquired Frank Thomas and Ivan Rodriguez MLB debut lineup cards in that way. 99.99% of the time, when looking up a game there is nothing of significance, but those 1 in a million are what keep me searching.

Of course, probably most common is paying market price (and sometimes overpaying in my case, since I'm a big fan of them) on the rare occasion when they turn up.

There are some really cool ones posted in this thread (some mine, some from other people). I've also included a couple of pictures here, one from Brett's 3000th hit game and the other form Ripken's.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...=lineup&page=2

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Interesting thoughts.

I actually don’t recall seeing a line up card for an important game at auction. What I usually see is “here’s a lineup card from the NY Mets against the Cincinnati Reds from May 19, 2020….”. A lineup card from a huge game would be pretty huge indeed.

[JMANOS]

BABE RUTH in his playing days anything....