Baseball Card Market Report for May 2-8, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on the cards of the 1984 Detroit Tigers

May 10, 2024

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The Center of Attention

If you like big hitters and centerfielders, the list of the most expensive baseball cards sold on eBay last week (see bottom of post) should be right up your alley.

Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani trade punches for a while at the very top, then the “middle” men get involved, starting with Jackie Robinson and followed up by a host of all-time great centerfielders: Mike Trout, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., Mickey Mantle.

Heck, the middle-of-the-diamond representation even continues downlist with an autographed 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken card. There’s something for everyone who loves up-the-middle excellence, from home plate to second base to centerfield.

And if you want a team who excelled in up-the-middle play, you might consider…

Collecting the 1984 Detroit Tigers

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve taken a look at how the rookie cards of the top players on some all-time great baseball teams are faring in today’s marketplace.

We started with the Boys of Summer Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1940s and 1950s, then moved on to the 1975 Big Red Machine version of the Cincinnati Reds.

This week, I thought it would be fun to continue our survey of great teams by looking at the movers and shakers from the first really great team I was ever able to follow as an active fan during the season they were working their magic — the 1984 Detroit Tigers.

You can check out the previous two installments of this series here (Dodgers) and here (Reds) if you need a refresher on our methodology.

Now, without further rain delay, here is how the “Bless You Boys” Tigers rookie cards are doing in the market today.

1978 Topps Alan Trammell (#707) - PSA 9

WAR: 6.8
Value: $1465
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 366.25

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1976 Topps Chet Lemon (#590) - PSA 8

WAR: 6.2
Value: $15
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 5

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1981 Topps Kirk Gibson (#315) - PSA 9

WAR: 5.1
Value: $180
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 60

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1978 Topps Willie Hernandez (#99) - PSA 9

WAR: 4.8
Value: $20
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 5

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1978 Topps Lou Whitaker (#704) - PSA 9

WAR: 4.3
Value: $190
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 47.5

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1980 Topps Dan Petry (#373) - PSA 9

WAR: 3.5
Value: $10
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 2.5

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1978 Topps Lance Parrish (#708) - PSA 9

WAR: 2.8
Value: $130
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 32.5

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1978 Topps Jack Morris (#703) - PSA 9

WAR: 2.5
Value: $100
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 25

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1978 Topps Ruppert Jones (#141) - PSA 9

(shares 1977 RC with Jack Clark)

WAR: 2.3
Value: $4
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 1

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1978 Topps Dave Bergman (#705) - PSA 9

WAR: 2
Value: $4
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 1

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—

A couple of notes here…

First, you might notice there are a ton of 1978 rookie cards here, which probably helps explain why the 1984 Tigers were so good — all their prospects made good pretty much at once.

And second, most of these guys shared their RCs with three other players: Trammell, Lemon, Whitaker, Parrish, Morris, and Bergman all fall into that category.

As such, their values and multipliers are skewed a bit — a ton for Trammell, who shares his rookie card with fellow Hall of Famer Paul Molitor. But if we move to Tram’s first solo card, 1979 Topps, his 15 multiplier doesn’t really seem representative, either.

So we’re sticking with rookies here and letting the chips fall where they may.

And where those chips fall is sort of what you’d expect, with HOFers and superstars bumping their multipliers to multiple dozens, while the more “common” career players are closer to a multiplier of 1 — their RCs aren’t much above common cards, either.

Besides Trammell, Parrish’s multiplier is the one that looks a bit wanky, thanks to the second-year presence of Dale Murphy on that multiplayer 1978 Topps classic.

Alright, time to move on to some other classics, joined by some could-be someday classics…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for May 2-8, 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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