Baseball Card Market Report for January 12-18, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Revisiting 1985 Topps prices

Jan 19, 2024

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Fancy Dust

If you like vintage cards, then the list of the most expenive baseball cards old on eBay last week should be right up your alley.

The very top of the heap features Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner before Tom Brady throws a football-shaped pitcher of ice on the thing. But then Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb, and other 20th century greats get the festivities rolling again.

It’s a list of dusty old cards that can probably only exist during the offseason, so enjoy it while you can.

And speaking of dusty old baseball cards…

Checking In on 1985 Topps Baseball Cards

Back when they were issued, 1985 Topps baseball cards were one of the most exciting issues to hit the hobby in years. Featuring rookie cards of Dwight Gooden, Alvin Davis, Eric Davis, and scads more, plus the promise of the 1984 Olympians included in the set, the 1985s were hot items from day one.

Then, within a few years Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire broke out to turn 1985 Topps into a bona fide hobby inferno.

This issue rode high for decades as Clemens and McGwire broke records, but it’s sort of fallen out of the limelight in recent years thanks to overproduction, the taint of the so-called Steroid Era, and the glitz of new sets.

But the ‘85s are still out there, and collectors still seek them out, as we saw in our recent YouTube video:

So since we already cracked the seal on the 1985 market in that vid, I thought this would be a good time to see how the most expensive cards from the set fared over the course of the pandemic boom years.

Below, then, are the approximate selling prices for the top-of-the-heap 1985 Topps baseball cards, both in late 2019 and in late 2023/early 2024. Values are gleaned from prices reported in the PSA Auction Price Realized tool, and I only considered base cards — no Tiffany, no O-Pee-Chee, no Supers, etc.

Here are the numbers:

1985 Topps Mark McGwire (#401) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $50
2024 Value: $100
Profit/loss: $50
% change: 100

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1985 Topps Kirby Puckett (#536) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $25
2024 Value: $50
Profit/loss: $25
% change: 100

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1985 Topps Roger Clemens (#181) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $25
2024 Value: $50
Profit/loss: $25
% change: 100

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1985 Topps Nolan Ryan (#760) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $15
2024 Value: $40
Profit/loss: $25
% change: 167

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1985 Topps Eric Davis (#627) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $20
2024 Value: $40
Profit/loss: $20
% change: 100

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1985 Topps Dwight Gooden (#620) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $15
2024 Value: $30
Profit/loss: $15
% change: 100

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1985 Topps Rickey Henderson (#115) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $10
2024 Value: $25
Profit/loss: $15
% change: 150

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1985 Topps Orel Hersheiser (#493) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $15
2024 Value: $25
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 67

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1985 Topps Don Mattingly (#665) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $15
2024 Value: $20
Profit/loss: $5
% change: 33

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1985 Topps Cal Ripken Jr. (#30) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $10
2024 Value: $20
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 100

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—

More than half (6) of these cards just about exactly doubled in value over the last four years. And, in fact, the average increase for all 10 was also 100% — they doubled, in other words.

The outliers were Ryan and Henderson to the good, Hersheiser and Mattingly to the bad (well, to the loss side). So, the Hall of Famers outperformed the non-HOFers.

That’s a good return on investment, for sure — if you bought in 2019 or before. But these values are down from their pandemic peak in late 2021 or early 2022.

And it’s also interesting to note that 1985 Topps appears to have lagged behind other sets we’ve looked at, like 1986 Donruss and even 1989 Bowman, in terms of price increases during recent years.

Does that mean 1985 Topps was overvalued compared to the rest of the market heading into the pandemic? Maybe.

In the case of Mattingly, could his continued struggles with the Veterans Committee vote have anything to do with his modest gains here? He fell short in both 2018 and 2022, and his chances of ever making the cut in Cooperstown are looking slimmer than ever.

Whatever the case, 1985 Topps doesn’t look like the blue chip issue kids of the era once thought it was. But for many collectors, it’s still jam-packed with great memories.

And now for some pricier memory-makers…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for December January 12-18, 2024

(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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