Baseball Card Market Report for February 9-15, 2023 - Top eBay Sales

Feb 17, 2023

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Spring Greening?

If you’re a fan of big bucks being spent on old baseball cards, the top of our big-sellers list on eBay for last week (bottom of post) might make your heart pitter-patter.

After all, a Mickey Mantle card — not a rookie, either — changed hands for more than $50,000!

Does this mean that as Spring Training kicks into gear, we’re going to see a return to heftier prices at the top of the market.

Eh … probably not.

The Number 2 card on our list checks in at less than $20,000.

Then it’s a rapid descent through the teens, and we’re out of five-figure territory by Number 8.

And, despite recent Cooperstown happenings, there’s not a third baseman in the bunch! (OK, maybe Elly fits the bill, sometimes.)

But we can help with that oversight …

The Hot Corner in the Investment Corner

In honor of Scott Rolen’s election to the Hall of Fame and the little bit of limelight it has cast on one of Cooperstown’s least populated positions, I thought it might be fun to spend our faux dough his month over in the hot corner.

If you’ve been around here awhile, you know the drill. But in case you haven’t or if you need a refresher, this monthly exercise works like this:

I get to fake spend about $1000 on cards matching our theme — all-timer third basemen in this case.
I have to “buy” cards that have actually sold on eBay recently.
I have to revisit these picks in a year to see how they’ve performed.
We all have to realize that this is all cardboard we’re talking about, so investing any real money in said baubles is dicey at best and likely to leave you with significantly less money if it all turns out to be a *ahem* house of cards. This is all for fun, in other words, and no money will or even should change hands.

Got all that?

Cool, on to the third base picks …

1974 Topps Mike Schmidt (#283) - PSA 8 - $158

Schmidt is the greatest all-around third baseman ever by most objective standards, though there are certainly some who would argue for other names (see the next guy, for example).

But, while Shmitty’s cards had their big run during his heyday in the 1980s, they’ve actually languished a bit here in the 2020s boom. You won’t be able to grab a decent copy of his 1973 Topps rookie card on this budget, but a PSA 8 copy of his second-year — and first solo — card for $158 is a long-range bargain.

See listing (affiliate link)

1977 Topps George Brett (#580) - PSA 8 - $86

Brett has long been a collector favorite, and his 1975 Topps rookie card is a stone-cold hobby icon.

Heck, even his 1976 Topps second-year issue is close to untouchable in top grades.

Move to 1977, though, and you can start to pick up some great looking Brett cardboard for less than a C-note…which is just what we did here (in a fake sort of way).

See listing (affiliate link)

1967 Topps Brooks Robinson (#600) - PSA 4 - $213.25

Every ten years, it seems, B. Robby scored an iconic baseball card.

First, it was his classy 1957 Topps rookie card, which you won’t touch in any graded condition at a price most mortals can tolerate.

Then, there was this 1967 Topps high-number beauty that’s been one of the 1960s price leaders for decades. There just aren’t that many of them around, which is why we had to drop more than a fifth of our budget to get this one in *gulp* PSA 4 condition.

This is a blue-chip, long-hold investment.

See listing (affiliate link)

1997 Bowman Chrome Adrian Beltre (#182) - PSA 10 - $321

Beltre is another guy who’s at least in the conversation for best all-around third baseman, and he should walk into Cooperstown on his first ballot next January.

There should be plenty of hype around his cards between now and then, so it’s tough to see a “perfect” copy of his most popular rookie card dropping in value (relative to the rest of the market, at least) in the next year.

See listing (affiliate link)

1984 Topps Graig Nettles (#713) - PSA 10 - $46.09

Nettles was one of the greatest glove men of his generation, and he brought plenty of sock to the plate, to boot. Outside of Bobby Grich and Lou Whitaker, in fact, Nettles may be the biggest HOF snub among infielders.

This card isn’t a Nettles solo job, but it does feature him alongside Reggie Jackson and Ted Simmons — can Puff someday make this one a Cooperstown Trifecta?

See listing (affiliate link)

1973 Topps Buddy Bell (#31) - PSA 9 - $175

Bell isn’t far behind Nettles when it comes to underrated third basemen. And, while, he may be a Hall of Fame longshot at best, it’s hard to see top-notch copies of his rookie card falling much in value over the coming years.

See listing (affiliate link)
—

All told, we just fake dropped $999.34 on third basemen.

Do you think these hot corner cards will scorch the market over the next year or so, or will they leave our virtual portfolio feeling cold and lonely?

Only time will tell, and before then, we need to check out what came before.

And before third was (were?)

First Things First (?)

So, last February, to celebrate the beginning of a new season marked by the opening of Spring Training, we decided to “invest” in some baseball card firsts.

Specifically, we dumped our fake $1000 (or so) into cards from 1981, the first year after Fleer busted the Topps monopoly.

Here’s how we fared:

1981 Topps Complete Set + Traded Set (858 cards)

Bought (10/2021): $125.46
Sold (10/2022): $97.00
Profit/Loss: -$28.46 (-23%)

1981 Topps Lou Whitaker (#234) - PSA 10

Bought (10/2021): $295.00
Sold (10/2022): $140.00
Profit/Loss: -$155.00 (-53%)

1981 Fleer Unopened Wax Box

Bought (10/2021): $212.50
Sold (10/2022): $225.00
Profit/Loss: $12.50 (6%)

1981 Donruss Unopened Wax Box

Bought (10/2021): $165.00
Sold (10/2022): $180.00
Profit/Loss: $15.00 (9%)

1981 Fleer Nolan Ryan (#57) - PSA 10

Bought (10/2021): $164.03
Sold (10/2022): $140.00
Profit/Loss: -$24.03 (-15%)

1981 Fleer Johnny Bench (#196) - Lot of 50

Bought (10/2021): $38.00
Sold (10/2022): $75.00
Profit/Loss: $37.00 (97%)

—

(The price we’d have to pay now - “sold” — is culled from the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool, generally taking the most recent sale of the given card in the given condition as our barometer and leaning on recent eBay sales in some cases.)

All in all, we “spent” $999.99 on these cards last February and “sold” them for $857 this month. That’s a kick in the teeth to the tune of a $142.99 loss, or about 14.3%.

The big losers were that 1981 Topps ultra-complete set, and the PSA 10 copy of the 1981 Topps Lou Whitaker. We were sort of banking on Whitaker finally getting some Hall of Fame last fall, but his name didn’t even appear on the Contemporary Era ballot.

Pretty ridiculous from a Cooperstown perspective, and a big ding to Sweet Lou’s cardboard market.

So, if we’d really bought these cards, we’d be best served to just hold tight and see if they might eventually appear on a list like the one showing the …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for February 9-15, 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

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