Baseball Card Market Report for January 5-11, 2023 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Playing the Cooperstown Long Game in the Investment Corner

Jan 13, 2023

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New Year’s (Hobby) Fireworks

The list of the top baseball card sales on eBay last week (bottom of this post) shows something we haven’t seen in a while around these parts: an individual sale above $20,000.

And not just one … three cards checked in about $20K last week, starting with a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (what else?) at a shade over 43 grand. The other two in the 20K club are actually in the 30K club, with price tags exceeding $30,000.

Does all this mean the high-end market is back? Was it ever gone in the first place?

Well, considering the drop to Number 4 on our list leaves us under $18K, all is still not rosy at the top of the cardboard food chain.

But these big-time sales remind us that “investing” in baseball cards is a mercurial pursuit at best, and that patience with the blue-chip pasteboards is the name of the long game.

Speaking of which, let’s take our turn on the field of the …

HOF Long Game in the Investment Corner

With Hall-of-Fame-ballot season set to draw to a close on January 24 when the Class of ‘23 is announced, it’s about time to turn our eyes to the future.

Here in the Investment Corner, that means we get to pully out our wonky wallets and faux purchase some baseball cards!

In keeping with the Cooperstown theme, this time around we’re going to phony-pony up for some active players who have a great shot of one day landing their own Hall of Fame plaques.

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 — active dudes who might someday make the Hall of Fame in this case.
I have to “buy” cards that have actuall 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 not money will or even should change hands.

Got all that?

Cool, on to the picks …

2000 Topps Traded Miguel Cabrera (#T40) - PSA 10 - $330

Cabrera has the most clearcut Hall of Fame candidacy on this list, at least from a traditional standpoint. I mean, guys with 500+ home runs, 3000+ hits, two MVP awards, and a Triple Crown don’t come along very often.

Sure, it would have been nice if his bat didn’t disappear for most of his 30s, and iffy defense and baserunning hurt his overall WAR. But Miggy will sail into Cooperstown the first time his name appears on the ballot, and his rookie cards will be all the better for it, pricewise.

See listing (affiliate link)

2005 Bowman Chrome Draft Justin Verlander (#BDP129) - PSA 9 - $51

Verlander turns 40 next month, but he’s also coming off his third Cy Young Award, just signed a gaudy two-year pact with the Mets, and also has trumpeted often his plans to pitch to age 45 or beyond. If he does that and performs league-average-ish, Verlander could become the last 300-game winner we see in a long, long time (he has 244 victories entering 2023).

JV already has a Hall of Fame resume, but 300 would add nice extra zing to his rookie cards.

See listing (affiliate link)

2008 Bowman Chrome Draft Max Scherzer (#BDP33) - PSA 10 - $163.50

Scherzer and Verlander have spent most of the last 15 years trading punches at the top of the “best pitcher in baseball” fight card. This year, they’ll match their three Cy Youngs each from the confines of the same Mets rotation, reprising the duet road show they played with great aplomb for the Tigers from 2010-14.

Scherzer probably won’t get to 300 Ws — he has 201 and turns 39 in July — but he’s a HOF lock already, and his RCs like this Bowman beauty will more than hold their own against the rest of the market on his way to Cooperstown.

See listing (affiliate link)

2002 Bowman Chrome Draft Zack Greinke (#BDP6) - PSA 9 - $258.02

Greinke is a bit of a darkhorse on this list, though his 223 victories at age 39 and 76.6 WAR (Baseball Reference version) put him right there with Verlander and Scherzer It’s just that Greinke has “only” one Cy Young to his name and has whiffed “just” eight batters per nine innings during his career, while the Mets’ duo are power-plus.

Greinke’s also bounced around a bit and, though, he appeared in two World Series for the Astros, he has no ring and pedestrian postseason record. Still, He’s a Hall of Famer waiting to happen, and his cards aren’t likely to get cheaper.

See listing (affiliate link)

2002 Bowman Crome Draft Joey Votto (#BDP44) - PSA 9 - $78.77

As a Reds fan, I’m torn on Votto. On the one hand, he’s been one of the most amazing on-base machines the game has seen since Barry Bonds, but health problems and extreme patience at the plate have limited his counting stats and power numbers.

With just over 2000 hits, 342 home runs at a position where power is a sine qua non, and 64.3 WAR, Votto is a borderline HOF candidate. That 2010 MVP award and his gritty reputation may be enough to push him over the line, though, and his cards are going to at least stay in the limelight until he’s elected or falls off the ballot.

See listing (affiliate link)

2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects Paul Goldschmidt (#BCP99) - PSA 10 - $81

Goldschmidt’s Cooperstown case lags behind Votto’s, but he’s also exactly four years younger and just won the National League MVP with his best season ever at the plate.

This is a buy-high addition to our list since he’s been a hot name this fall, but Goldschmidt still has time to reach 400+ home runs and maybe 2500 hits, which would boost his current 58.5 WAR … and his card values.

See listing (affiliate link)

2014 Donruss The Rookies Mookie Betts (#50) - PSA 10 - $39

Betts is a stretch for this list, but only because he’s 30 and has yet to accumulate the counting numbers that will assure him a plaque. Sure, this is the age of Sabermetrics, but it’s hard to see around 1300 hits and 200 home runs punching anybody’s Hall of Fame ticket anytime soon.

Assuming Betts doesn’t swan dive through his early 30s, though, he’s headed for the Hall, and his cards are headed up (at least relative to the broader market).

See listing (affiliate link)
—

All in all, that’s a $1001.29 spend on our could-be future Hall of Famers. So I had to dip into my coffee fund for the extra $1.29, which means I’ll be extra cranky today.

Still, it will all be worth it if most of these guys eventually get the Cooperstown call, right? Let’s check in again in 5-20 years and see how we did here, shall we?

Now, for a bit of semi-instant gratification, it’s high time we realize that …

Crime (Dog) Pays

So, last January, we also used this space to look ahead … all the way to today (roughly).

In particular, we limited our picks to guys who might get elected late in 2022 to the Hall of Fame via the Today’s Era Committee … which bit the dust shortly thereafter, replaced (sorta) by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.

Oh, well.

Some of our picks did make the lineup on the new ballot, and ONE even made it all the way to Cooperstown.

Here is what we (fake) bought last January …

1986 Donruss Fred McGriff (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $389.99
Sold (10/2022): $500.00
Profit/Loss: $110.01 (28.%)

1987 Topps Traded David Cone (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $39.99
Sold (10/2022): $35.00
Profit/Loss: -$4.99 (-12%)

1987 Fleer Glossy Will Clark (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $120.00
Sold (10/2022): $120.00
Profit/Loss: $0.00 (0%)

1978 Topps Lou Whitaker (PSA 9)

Bought (10/2021): $219.99
Sold (10/2022): $210.00
Profit/Loss: -$9.99 (-5%)

1987 Topps Mark McGwire (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $100.00
Sold (10/2022): $55.00
Profit/Loss: -$45.00 (-45%)

1987 Donruss Rafael Palmeiro (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $37.02
Sold (10/2022): $30.00
Profit/Loss: -$7.02 (-19%)

1985 Fleer Roger Clemens (PSA 9)

Bought (10/2021): $90.00
Sold (10/2022): $80.00
Profit/Loss: -$10.00 (-11%)
—

(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 told, we “spent” $996.99 last January and “sold” our treasures for $1030 this January — a fake profit of $33.01, or about 3.3%.

Thank goodness for McGriff and his 493 home runs — and that shiny new Cooperstown glow of his — huh?

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Now, speaking of shiny, better polish up your best gold coins if you want a shot at any of the baubles among the …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for January 5-11, 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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