Steve Carlton Rookie worth so little

[rats60]

Originally Posted by cgjackson222

Does anyone know why Steve Carlton's Rookie is worth so little?

I mean a PSA 8 for well under a grand? It basically has the same value as a PSA 8 Luis Tiant Rookie from the same year.

Tiant was a great pitcher, but he's not in the hall of fame, and didn't win 4x Cy Youngs, including one of the greatest pitching seasons ever in 1972.
In '72 Carlton won the triple crown with a sub 2 ERA, 30 complete games, 310 strikeouts and 27 Wins. His WAR was 12.1 one of the highest single seasons ever.

I realize there are 4x as many PSA 8 Carlton's as Tiants, but I would assume that is because a much higher percetage of Carlton's are graded.

I guess it also has to do with the dreaded two person rookie card. Tiant was on his own card, and Carlton was not.

The last two sales on Carlton RC in PSA 7, 475 and 540. Tiant in PSA 7 is a 100.00 card.

I think Carlton pitching too long also hurts the value of his card. A lot of collectors remember the 1985-1988 Carlton and not the 1972-1982 Carlton. In the earlier days of the hobby, it was definitely priced stronger versus other superstar rookie cards. It used to be the key card in the 1965 Topps set. Now it is behind base cards of Mantle, Mays, Clemente, Koufax, Aaron and Rose as well as the Morgan RC.