Baseball Card Market Report for July 6-12, 2023 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Is there hidden value in All-Star cards?

Jul 14, 2023

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The Derby Market

Earlier this week, some of baseball’s big hitters treated us to another round of Home Run Derby, 21st century style.

So it’s somewhat fitting that this week’s list of the top-selling cards on eBay (for last week) is dominated by big bats (see the full list at the bottom of this post).

From Babe Ruth to Shohei Ohtani, with ample dollups of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Mike Trout in between, there are big-dollar cards of big-fly hitters to satisfy just about any collector taste.

Legendary lineup, no doubt, which brings to mind some other legendary lineups.

And, of course, a related question …

Is There Hidden Value in All-Star Cards?

Sure, the All-Star break is behind us, but it’s just behind us.

I’m not ready to let that Midsummer Classic feeling go just yet, so …

Have you ever wondered how far All-Star cards lag behind base cards, value-wise?

And if any of the AS gems hold room for future growth relative to the corresponding base cards and other All-Star cards?

Well, I have. At least very recently (like, today).

So I decided to take five big-time stars and compare their base cards to their All-Star cards, one set per superstar.

For each card, I found the value multiplier and then the Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM), with the base card in the numerator and the All-Star card in the denominator.

Here is what I found:

Rickey Henderson

1983 Topps Rickey Henderson (#180) - PSA 9

Value: $50
Common Value: $10
Multiplier: 5

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1983 Topps All-Star Rickey Henderson (#391) - PSA 9

Value: $25
Common Value: $10
Multiplier: 2.5

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 2.0

Willie Mays

1962 Topps Willie Mays (#300) - PSA 7

Value: $1600
Common Value: $9
Multiplier: 178

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1962 Topps All-Star Willie Mays (#395) - PSA 7

Value: $250
Common Value: $9
Multiplier: 28

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 6.4

Don Mattingly

1986 Topps Don Mattingly (#180) - PSA 9

Value: $25
Common Value: $2
Multiplier: 12.5

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1986 Topps All-Star Don Mattingly (#712) - PSA 9

Value: $20
Common Value: $2
Multiplier: 10

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 1.25

Roger Maris

1960 Topps Roger Maris (#377) - PSA 7

Value: $260
Common Value: $10
Multiplier: 26

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1960 Topps All-Star Roger Maris (#565) - PSA 7

Value: $180
Common Value: $16
Multiplier: 11.25

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 2.3

Dave Parker

1982 Topps Dave Parker (#40) - PSA 9

Value: $20
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 6.67

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1982 Topps All-Star Dave Parker (#343) - PSA 9

Value: $12
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 4

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 1.67

—

In every single case, the base card is more valuable than the All-Star card, relative to commons from the same set and series.

No surprise there.

The interesting part of the numbers above is the range that they cover, with MoMs ranging from 1.25 to 6.4.

The average MoM among these five gents is 2.7. Throw out Mays, and that drops to 1.81.

Yeah, five is a tiny sample size, but it gives us at least a rough rubric.

We might surmise, for example, that the 1962 Topps Willie Mays All-Star card might already have made up all the ground on the 1962 Topps Willie Mays base card that it could reasonably hope to gain.

On the other hand, the 1986 Topps Don Mattingly All-Star card is a candidate to outpace its corresponding base card in terms of future gains — at least until it gets closer to that 1.81 MoM.

Of course, we’re talking chump change for most of these cards, and probably no one ever got rich off of All-Star cards.

Well, OK, Topps maybe.

But even without super big bucks at stake, it’s sorta fun to play with these numbers to see if you can uncover some hidden value.

Now, for some cards that don’t even try to hide their market value …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for July 6-12, 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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