Wow - Modern Card

[sox1903wschamp]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

Pretty crazy, but I would rather have that card than many of the high grade vintage PSA 9's and 10's which are trimmed. A 1965 Topps leader card sold PSA 10 for $120,000+ a few years back. That is MUCH crazier to me than the Strasburg.

Seriously? Now there is some serious disposable discretionary income at work.

[HRBAKER]

I would have to think that these folks are willing to lay out $10,000+ just to say they had the "only" one. I can't think that they seriously think of it as an investment. Hell he's a pitcher and besides the fact he hasn't thrown the first pitch in the majors yet he could be one serious arm injury away from amounting to nada.

I wonder if his mother still has her first ultrasound image of him, now there's a real rookie for ya!

[BCauley]

I'm curious if the person who wins it intends on holding it for a short period of time to do a flip. Granted, it could be a gamble but for during the first game or two, I doubt it. Guy comes up, throws a great first game or two, and throw it back up for hopefully a profitable flip.

In any event, to each his own. There are just way too many facets to this hobby to say one is wrong/dumb and the other is right/smart. Whatever makes someone happy with the hobby is OK in my book.

[JamesGallo]

Just as an FYI his 08 cards are minor league cards. This is his true rookie card and as mentioned before this is THE card everyone wants. Yes there are plenty of different versions on this card but even the base chrome card is going for around $25-30 which is nuts for something out of a brand new product without an autograph.

No one seems to complain about Pujols rookie autograph rookie cards which sell for $5000+ all that time. LeBron has some crazy expensive cards like $15K+++ it's just the nature of the beast.

James G

[barrysloate]

Since I know absolutely nothing about modern cards, may I ask how did the seller find this apparently unique card? Did he open a pack and hit the jackpot? How are these distributed?

[ichieh]

To average folks (meaning those who don't collect sports cards) we are all insane because we are willing to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollar for a piece of cardboard, whether it's 1/1 modern card, or rare vintage cards.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by ichieh

To average folks (meaning those who don't collect sports cards) we are all insane because we are willing to pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollar for a piece of cardboard, whether it's 1/1 modern card, or rare vintage cards.

Fair enough, but it seems to me there is a difference between buying a card of a HOFer and just speculating on a kid who has never thrown a pitch in the majors -- particularly where the "scarcity" of the card is completely artificial as a result of a deliberate manufacturing decision.

[BCauley]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Since I know absolutely nothing about modern cards, may I ask how did the seller find this apparently unique card? Did he open a pack and hit the jackpot? How are these distributed?

Barry,
I hang around another site that caters to the "prospector" and the guy selling this particular card posted his "hit" on that site. If I remember correctly, he purchased a case of the product and got this one in there. I do not know the insertion rate of these superfractor 1/1 cards but I would guess one per case.

I stopped picking up modern (Though I do want a Mauer RC) but still like to hang around the other site and see what people are getting. It's all interesting to me.

[barrysloate]

Thanks Bill. So it's kind of like finding a lottery ticket.

One thing that strikes me odd is that there is a history of these unique or nearly unique multi-thousand dollar cards going back to the 1990's. And if I am correct nearly all of them turn out to be worth a fraction of the purchase price, or in some cases become virtually worthless. Given that fact, why do people keep spending such insane amounts for them? Do any of these $10,000+ cards actually increase in value over the years? It's easy to say people can collect whatever they want and pay whatever they think something is worth, but nobody likes to see their $10,000 card one day be worth fifty bucks.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by JamesGallo

Just as an FYI his 08 cards are minor league cards. This is his true rookie card and as mentioned before this is THE card everyone wants. Yes there are plenty of different versions on this card but even the base chrome card is going for around $25-30 which is nuts for something out of a brand new product without an autograph.

No one seems to complain about Pujols rookie autograph rookie cards which sell for $5000+ all that time. LeBron has some crazy expensive cards like $15K+++ it's just the nature of the beast.

James G

So James does that mean an 85 Topps McGwire is a minor league card? Wasn't that a Team USA card too? Not sure I understand the difference, particularly where the major companies for years have been making cards of all these guys long before they are in the majors.