Baseball Card Market Report for April 27-May 3, 2023 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Is peak value more important that longevity for card prices?

May 05, 2023

Note: When you click on links to various merchants in this newsletter and make a purchase, this can result in this newsletter earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

The “Manny” Splendors of Spring

Spring is in the air, we’re a month into the new season, and there are a million reasons for baseball fans to be pickled pink (or maybe green, in keeping with the season).

The top of the baseball card market reminds us of many of those splendors.

Take a gander at the list of the top-selling cards on eBay last week (bottom of post), and you’ll find everything from the obligatory handful of Trout and Ohtani cards to a Mantle rookie to a Satchel Paige RC.

And then there are plenty of cards of players you might not have heard of, but probably will, including Druw Jones, Andruw’s 19-year-old son.

And THEN there is a run of PSA 10 cards from a 1975 Topps set. Included among those is a Manny Sanguillen pasteboard that looks a little off considering he’s barely smiling.

But you know Manny is smiling somewhere, and in our hearts, as always.

Maybe on the ‘75 gem he’s caught up in thought, pondering ….

Peak Value v. Longevity for Card Prices

One of the age-old questions in the hobby, even if it’s not always asked explicitly, is which type of player has more valuable cards: guys with a few huge peak years, or guys who stick around forever and rack up big career numbers (The Accumulators)?

Since I’m both aged and old and love baseball cards, I thought I’d take a crack at this one.

To do so, I found five players with really exciting peaks but who who are not Hall of Famers (to remove that honor from the list of factors affecting card value). Then, for each of the five, I:

Found one of his top historical comps who had a long, long career but a mild peak, according to Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores (or other swags in some cases)
Found the top rookie card for each of those two players, by measure of number of graded card sales
Found the Card Value Multiplier for each of those cards
Found the Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM) for the two cards, with Peak Dude in the numerator and his long-winded comp in the denominator

Here’s are how this week’s matchups played out …

(The following section contains affiliate links to eBay listings for the cards being discussed.)

Roy Oswalt v. Jamie Moyer

Oswalt was one of the game’s premier pitchers for about five years in the early 2000s until his body fell apart. Moyer didn’t get started in the majors until he was 23, which would be late for a prospect but was just fine for a dude who pitched until he was cashing Social Security checks.

2000 Bowman Chrome Roy Oswalt (#395) - PSA 9

WAR: 50
Peak WAR: 40.2
Value: $7
Common Value: $1
Multiplier: 7

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1987 Topps Tiffany Jamie Moyer (#227) - PSA 10

WAR: 49.8
Peak WAR: 32.8
Value: $45
Common Value: $6
Multiplier: 7.5

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.93

Albert Belle v. Moises Alou

There was no more fearsome hitter in the game than Belle during the 1990s, but he was gone by the end of 2000. Alou stuck around a long time, played well most of his career, and made some big postseason memories.

1990 Leaf Albert Belle (#180) - PSA 9

WAR: 40.1
Peak WAR: 36
Value: $6
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 2

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1990 Bowman Moises Alou (#178) - PSA 10

WAR: 39.9
Peak WAR: 27.6
Value: $35
Common Value: $6
Multiplier: 5.83

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.34

Jim Wynn v. Johnny Damon

The Toy Cannon was one of the most underrated hitting stars of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but playing for the early Astros didn’t help his visibility. Damon played for 18 seasons and was one of the few guys to win rings with both the Yankees and the Red Sox.

1964 Topps Jim Wynn (#38) - PSA 8

WAR: 55.7
Peak WAR: 43.3
Value: $40
Common Value: $14
Multiplier: 2.86

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1993 SP Foil Johnny Damon (#273) - PSA 8

WAR: 56.3
Peak WAR: 33
Value: $11
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 3.67

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.78

Chuck Knoblauch v. Tony Phillips

Knoblauch took the game by storm as the 1991 American League Rookie of the Year and an immediate star on a World Series-winning Twins team. Phillips played for six teams in 18 seasons, racking up more than 2000 hits and a reputation as maybe the greatest superutility man the game has ever seen.

1990 Bowman Chuck Knoblauch (#415) - PSA 10

WAR: 44.6
Peak WAR: 38.6
Value: $30
Common Value: $6
Multiplier: 5

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1983 Topps Traded Tony Phillips (#87T) - PSA 10

WAR: 50.9
Peak WAR: 34.1
Value: $65
Common Value: $10
Multiplier: 6.5

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.77

Dick Allen v. Darrell Evans

Allen was sort of the Belle of the 1960s and 1970s, but much better. Evans played for a long, long time and won his first (and only) home run crown at age 38. Both still have reasonable cases for Hall of fame enshrinement.

1964 Topps Dick Allen (#243) - PSA 8

WAR: 58.7
Peak WAR: 45.9
Value: $450
Common Value: $14
Multiplier: 32.14

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1970 Topps Darrell Evans (#621) - PSA 8

WAR: 58.7
Peak WAR: 37.2
Value: $55
Common Value: $15
Multiplier: 3.67

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 8.8

So, what do these numbers tell us?

Well, somewhat surprisingly — to me, at least — the longevity guys took four of our five battles.

The one outlier was Allen, who trounced Evans handily. But you can probably chalk a lot of that up to Cooperstown support Allen has received in the popular press in recent years.

Otherwise, the market seems to prefer career achievements over big peaks, at least among these non-HOF superstars.

Might be something to keep in mind when you’re deciding between RCs of, say Rich Hill and Kevin Gausman.

Neither of whom you’re likely to find among the …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for April 27-May 3, 2023

(Quick note — this list contains affiliate links to the original eBay listings.)

If you want to see updated 30-day market toppers anytime, we have a couple of resources over on WaxPackGods.com:

Most expensive baseball cards sold in the last 30 days
Most expensive football cards sold in the last 30 days
Most expensive basketball cards sold in the last 30 days

Now, on with the show …

Baseball Card Values Newsletter

Discussion about this post