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

[Kco]

Originally Posted by Bagwell-1994

It blows me away how strong and dare I say "over valued" Mickey Mantle has always been. I would love someone more knowledgeable to explain it. He was great, but not as great as numerous other players that are valued far less in collecting.

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Mantle is as much about the Americana as it is the baseball. People who don't know or even really care about Baseball still know EXACTLY who Mickey Mantle is. He's of the same legendary status level as Ruth, and is literally the prototype of "All American" for all the reasons others have pointed out.

[Kco]

As for the best investment guys:

Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Mathewson, Wagner, Walter Johnson, Gehrig. Any rare or very tough pre-war HOFers. Guys like GC Alexander, Cy Young, Mordecai Brown, Cap Anson and so on are also in heavy demand and always will be.

The next bucket is the Clemente & Jackie duo. Always desirable, and value maintains really well. Koufax, Mays & Aaron fall into this camp as well. All Blue Chip names.

The last bucket is the Mantle, DiMaggio and Williams trio. While plentiful examples of all are easily found on the market, the demand is evergreen. Additional value for these guys skyrockets for inscriptions and tough equipment and item types.

[Peter_Spaeth]

See the "Trend in Wagner cards" thread. Part of it is that there was an irrational or even a suspicious run up, but I cannot imagine Ruth, Cobb or Mantle ever falling off a cliff the way Wagner just did.

[JollyElm]

As my dad loved to say about Berra's propensity to swing at bad pitches, "Yogi never saw a pitch out of the strike zone he didn't like."

People seem to be mixing up the terms "appreciated" and "valuable."

Yogi is greatly appreciated by baseball fans, it just doesn't happen to translate into bigger prices for his cards, which is quite nice for us buyers, but not so much for sellers.
There has always been a huuuuuuuuge amount of appreciation for him as a player and a highly-engaging person.

He's not underappreciated, his cards just happen to be undervaluable.

[molenick]

When found in sets of roughly equal rarity, King Kelly is similar to Mantle in that his cards cost more than statistically "better" players in the same sets (such as Brouthers, Keefe, and Clarkson).

Rarity plays a large role in N172 and N173 pricing, so it's harder to gauge. But Kelly is probably the most common N173 HOFer (or close to it) and it has not hurt the price of his cards.

What's interesting is that the pricing seems to be because of Kelly's popularity at the time he played, due to his personality, nickname, book, stage performances, etc...but while many people saw Mantle play (or heard about him from their parents), we are many generations removed from Kelly playing, and his popularity seems to persist (at least as reflected by pricing).

[GaryPassamonte]

Originally Posted by molenick

When found in sets of roughly equal rarity, King Kelly is similar to Mantle in that his cards cost more than statistically "better" players in the same sets (such as Brouthers, Keefe, and Clarkson).

Rarity plays a large role in N172 and N173 pricing, so it's harder to gauge. But Kelly is probably the most common N173 HOFer (or close to it) and it has not hurt the price of his cards.

What's interesting is that the pricing seems to be because of Kelly's popularity at the time he played, due to his personality, nickname, book, stage performances, etc...but while many people saw Mantle play (or heard about him from their parents), we are many generations removed from Kelly playing, and his popularity seems to persist (at least as reflected by pricing).

Players who are "bad boys" or those who have "big" personalities seem to often sell for higher prices than other great players of their time. Kelly is an excellent example. Cobb, J. Jackson, Ruth, Mantle, and, to some extent, T. Williams also fit the bill. Unfortunately, being a nice guy is usually not a positive in regards to card pricing. For example, Musial was one of the nicest people in baseball and was also one of the greatest of all time, but his card prices don't reflect this. He wasn't flashy enough.

Hi, Michael.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by GaryPassamonte

Players who are "bad boys" or those who have "big" personalities seem to often sell for higher prices than other great players of their time. Kelly is an excellent example. Cobb, J. Jackson, Ruth, Mantle, and, to some extent, T. Williams also fit the bill. Unfortunately, being a nice guy is usually not a positive in regards to card pricing. For example, Musial was one of the nicest people in baseball and was also one of the greatest of all time, but his card prices don't reflect this. He wasn't flashy enough.

Hi, Michael.

Was a bad word ever written about Gehrig, Mathewson or Walter Johnson? Their prices are very strong. And Jackson I think sells not because he was bad, but because most feel he was wronged.

[molenick]

I think we can find examples of players commanding higher prices than expected for a number of different reasons. The Black Sox and Hal Chase because they were infamous/bad boys, Titus because he had a moustache when others did not, Ten Million because he had a cool name, Moonlight Graham because he was in a book and movie, Halla because he had a cool pose, Whitney because he had a dog, Zernial because he had six balls, Mossi because he had big ears, various mascot poses, etc.

[Kutcher55]

Yaz for sure. He is the Mickey Mantle of the Red Sox, although not reflected at all in the pricing of his cards. His cards should spike for a week or so when he passes away as the nostalgia runs deep up here in New England. Of course I'm biased. He was the favorite player of my childhood.

Some earlier Ted cards have held strong, particularly '48 Leaf, although that might be a product of that set's popularity. It seems like it has been a good year for this set, despite us being well past Covid peak.

The 1975 Topps set is another. 50 year anniversary of that set and of the 1975 World Series coming up next year. Plus you've got those beautiful minis. Of course, this set is already popular and I'm biased.

Over the longer haul, Jackie Robinson will endure. As boomers continue to hit the nursing homes in ever increasing #s and 50s-70s vintage begins to decline further over the next ten years, Jackie will remain strong. As will Peewee Reese.

Curt Flood cards will get a bump at some point when he makes the HOF.

Of course this could all be conventional wisdom.

[Leon]

I would pretty much go with this list....

Originally Posted by Kco

As for the best investment guys:

Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb, Mathewson, Wagner, Walter Johnson, Gehrig. Any rare or very tough pre-war HOFers. Guys like GC Alexander, Cy Young, Mordecai Brown, Cap Anson and so on are also in heavy demand and always will be.

The next bucket is the Clemente & Jackie duo. Always desirable, and value maintains really well. Koufax, Mays & Aaron fall into this camp as well. All Blue Chip names.

The last bucket is the Mantle, DiMaggio and Williams trio. While plentiful examples of all are easily found on the market, the demand is evergreen. Additional value for these guys skyrockets for inscriptions and tough equipment and item types.

[Peter_Spaeth]

It's interesting only one person mentioned Aaron. If future generations reject Bonds' record, the all time HR leader is going to be Aaron, as the likelihood of anyone surpassing him has to be pretty low.

[Beercan collector]

Ruth 1st Mantle 2nd ,
Good grief ,
Five years after we save the world we get the All American boy that’s a switchhitting freak like no one‘s ever seen playing for the largest fan base in baseball , like Ruth he wins seven World Series with them while hitting more World Series home runs than anyone .. ever .
Mantle is near the top of the Hobby Where he belongs

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

It's interesting only one person mentioned Aaron. If future generations reject Bonds' record, the all time HR leader is going to be Aaron, as the likelihood of anyone surpassing him has to be pretty low.

Or if MLB decides the Indianapolis Clowns were a major league team and they add his 8 Negro League HRs to his 755 giving him 763 total.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by rats60

Or if MLB decides the Indianapolis Clowns were a major league team and they add his 8 Negro League HRs to his 755 giving him 763 total.

Why did they not get counted when all of Josh Gibson's stats were merged?

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Why did they not get counted when all of Josh Gibson's stats were merged?

Because Aaron's were after December 31, 1948.

[bk400]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

It's interesting only one person mentioned Aaron. If future generations reject Bonds' record, the all time HR leader is going to be Aaron, as the likelihood of anyone surpassing him has to be pretty low.

I would have thought that Hank Aaron has value for these reasons as well. I always wondered why he seemed undervalued. His numbers are awesome. He also played against a Jackie Robinson-esque social backdrop, which should heighten his historical value to the game. This said, his Topps rookie doesn't seem that rare. The 54 Johnston rookie is much rarer, but that one doesn't seem to get a lot of hobby love relative to its scarcity.

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by Leon

I would pretty much go with this list....

Or in another way of saying this. The best conditioned card of the best player (s) at the best price point you can afford.

That was the investment advice I got back in the day and still holds true today.

IMHO everything else is noise

Rich

[Fuddjcal]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

Or in another way of saying this. The best conditioned card of the best player (s) at the best price point you can afford.

That was the investment advice I got back in the day and still holds true today.

IMHO everything else is noise

Rich

Always sage advice Rich