Baseball Card Market Report for July 28-August 3, 2022 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Do trade deadline stars have more valuable baseball cards?

Aug 05, 2022

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True to His Word … Finally!

The top of this week’s list of top sellers on eBay (bottom of post) has a lot in common with other recent editions of this newsletter, namely the strong presence of the Mickey Mantle rookie card.

No surprise, given that the Mick RC has ruled the hobby for most of its 70-year existence.

But there’s a difference this time around.

This time around, we get to ponder the greatness of Mantle’s true rookie card … twice!

That’s right, Mantle’s 1951 Bowman card, his only real rookie card, occupies slots one and three on our list, interestingly interleaving with a couple of Ken Griffey, Jr., entries at two and four.

So, for once, we don’t have to deal with the grandiosity of that 1952 Topps knockoff “rookie card” of Mantle’s. I jest, but facts are facts — there’s only one true Mickey Mantle rookie card.

And there’s only one Mickey Mantle team, too. I mean, can you imagine Mantle ever taking the field for anyone other than the New York Yankees?

Nah.

Although, such an occurrence might have made answering this week’s question a bit easier …

Do Trade Deadline Stars Sell for More?

The Major League Baseball trade deadline passed this week and, though it fell at a strange time, it still brought plenty of fun and excitement.

And it also brought memories of trade deadlines past, when big names swapped teams with hopes they could bring some postseason riches.

But what about cardboard riches? Did the blockbuster trade targets of years gone by end with cards that are more expensive than their non-savior counterparts?

To find out, I dug up five of those guys who shook up a season or postseason. For each one, I identified a roughly equivalent player (by measure of Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores).

Then, I applied our familiar algorithm …

Find the top rookie card for each of the two players, by measure of number of graded card sales
Find the Card Value Multiplier for each of those cards
Find the Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM) for the two cards, with the traded player in the numerator and the non-traded guy in the denominator

(The below sections contains affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the card being discussed. Stats culled from Baseball-Reference.com.)

Here are our matchups …

Doyle Alexander v. Rick Wise

The Tigers famously (or infamously) traded a young John Smoltz to land Alexander in 1987 and, while they’ve taken plenty of grief for that over the years, the veteran was magnificent down the stretch and got the Tigers their division title.

1972 Topps Doyle Alexander (#579) - PSA 8

WAR: 35
Value: $9
Common Value: $5
Multiplier: 2

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1964 Topps Rick Wise (#561) - PSA 8

WAR: 36.3
Value: $33
Common Value: $22
Multiplier: 2

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 1.0

Manny Ramirez v. Frank Thomas

The Dodgers traded a couple of prospects (including Andy LaRoche) as part of a three-team deal to nab Manny from the Red Sox at the 2008 deadline. And the guy we all thought would be a Hall of Famer delivered with a ridiculous 1.232 OPS to help L.A. improve from a .500 club to a division winner.

1992 Bowman Manny Ramirez (#532) - PSA 9

WAR: 69.3
Value: $12
Common Value: $1
Multiplier: 12

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1990 Leaf Frank Thomas (#300) - PSA 9

WAR: 73.8
Value: $35
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 12

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 1.0

Curt Schilling v. Tom Glavine

The struggling Phillies traded Schilling to the Diamondbacks at the 2000 deadline in exchange for a bag of Omar-Daal-and-Travis-Lee-flavored magic beans. Schilling pitched pretty well down the stretch but was Cy-Young caliber in 2001 as the Diamondbacks won their first World Series (Schilling lost the actual CYA to teammate Randy Johnson).

1989 Donruss Curt Schilling (#635) - PSA 9

WAR: 79.5
Value: $8
Common Value: $1
Multiplier: 8

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1988 Fleer Tom Glavine (#539) - PSA 9

WAR: 80.7
Value: $10
Common Value: $1
Multiplier: 10

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.8

David Justice v. Tim Salmon

The Yankees traded three players to the Indians in late June of 2000 to pick up the veteran Justice, and he repaid them with 20 second-half home runs, a .305 batting average, an MVP performance in the ALCS, and — ultimately — another World Series title.

1990 Leaf David Justice (#297) - PSA 9

WAR: 40.6
Value: $11
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 4

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1991 Bowman Tim Salmon (#203) - PSA 9

WAR: 40.5
Value: $10
Common Value: $2
Multiplier: 5

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.8

Keith Hernandez v. John Olerud

The Mets traded Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to the Cardinals in the middle of June 1983 in exchange for one of the greatest fielding first basemen ever … who had a pretty good bat, too. Though the Mets finished last in 1983, they were on the rise, and Hernandez was a key component of the club that took the 1986 World Series.

1975 Topps Keith Hernandez (#623) - PSA 8

WAR: 60.3
Value: $130
Common Value: $5
Multiplier: 26

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1990 Leaf John Olerud (#237) - PSA 9

WAR: 58.2
Value: $11
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 4

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 2.6

—

OK, so how have our hotshot trade targets fared, card-value-wise, over the decades?

Well … not so well.

Or, at least, not swimmingly.

With the exception of Hernandez, all of the other guys here have pretty much exactly kept pace with their comps.

And, really, Hernandez owes his (roughly) 3X advantage over Olerud to much more than *just* the trade that sent him to New York. That 1979 co-MVP award (with Willie Stargell) and still-simmering shot at a Cooperstown plaque have to factor in somewhere, don’t you think?

Yeah.

You’ll also find plenty of guys with designs on some HOF bling — or who already have it — in our list of …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for July 28-August 3, 2022

(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
Most expensive hockey cards sold in the last 30 days

Now, on with the show …

Baseball Card Values Newsletter

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