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Baseball Card Market Report for May 5-11, 2022 - Top eBay Sales
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Baseball Card Market Report for May 5-11, 2022 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Do collectors prefer hitters or pitchers?

Baseball Briefs
May 13
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Party Like It’s 1979

So, just when you think it’s safe to assume the card market is shaping up around the new on-field happenings of this new season — BAM! — a 1979 Topps set break hits the like a tidal wave.

And, so, in our list of top eBay sales from last week (see bottom of post), we have a ‘79 Nolan Ryan … and a ‘79 Paul Molitor … and a couple others … and then, well, a ‘79, uh, Shane Rawley.

Yeah, more than $5700 for a Shane Rawley baseball card.

Who said dreams don’t come true??

And those nifty 1970s also sort of play into our recent discussion, featuring as they do some our 3000-hit men … who just so happen to make a cameo of sorts in our question du jour.

But first …


(affiliate offer)
Complete Sports Cards Collecting and Investing Guide
Many readers of this newsletter have expressed an interest in learning more about the hobby in general, and about the investing side of the game in particular. 

Not surprising, seeing as how we spend our time here digging into the nuances of the sports card market.

Recently, however, I ran into a complete course on Udemy dedicated to teaching you the ins and outs of investing in sports cards. It's taught by David Lee, who has years of experience in helping entrepreneurs in various walks of life, and who is a veteran collector.

Anyway, thought I'd bring this course to your attention, in case you're interested.

You can check it out right here, or by clicking on the image below.
(end affiliate offer)

Now, I can hear you over there, just dying to know …

Do Collectors Like Hitters or Pitchers Better?

There has been a lot of talk about the “dead” ball this season in Major League Baseball, and indeed, runs and home runs have been hard to come by for almost all hitters and teams.

It’s to the point where we may see some records set, both on the pitching side, and on the hitting-futility side. You can choose sides, and plenty have, but mostly, there’s hand-wringing about the general state of the season.

But, absent any extreme conditions in the game, which set of players do collectors prefer more — hitters or pitchers?

There are as many ways to look at that question as there are words on the back of 1981 Donruss baseball cards, but here and now, we’re going to examine relative rookie card prices for players who have done similar amazing things either on the mound or at the plate, and who ended up with similar career WARs.

Specifically, for each pair of players below, we’ll …

  • Find the top rookie card for each of the two players, by measure of number of graded card sales

  • Finding the Card Value Multiplier for each of those cards

  • Found the Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM) for the two cards, with the hitter in the numerator and pitchder in the denominator

Here are our head-to-head battles:

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

George Brett v. Bob Gibson

Brett tried to hit .400 in 1980, while Gibson tried to keep ALL runs off the board in 1968. Both almost succeeded, and both have cherry rookie cards.

1975 Topps George Brett (#228) - PSA 8

WAR: 88.6
Value: $850
Common Value: $5
Multiplier: 170

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1959 Topps Bob Gibson (#514) - PSA 8

WAR: 89.2
Value: $6300
Common Value: $35
Multiplier: 180

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.94

Roger Maris v. Don Newcombe

Maris of course took down Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in 1961.

Newcombe helped the Dodgers to three National League pennants and won the first-ever Cy Young Award in 1956, and the N.L. MVP award that same summer.

1958 Topps Roger Maris (#47) - PSA 7

WAR: 38.2
Value: $925
Common Value: $18
Multiplier: 51

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1950 Bowman Don Newcombe (#23) - PSA 6

WAR: 38.9
Value: $250
Common Value: $65
Multiplier: 4

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 12.75

Harold Baines v. Charlie Hough

Baines played a long time and had a sort of meh calling card — he was a full-time DH for much of his career.

Hough pitched until he was 83 years old and had his own calling card — that knuckleball of his.

1981 Topps Harold Baines (#347) - PSA 9

WAR: 38.8
Value: $93
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 31

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1973 Topps Charlie Hough (#610) - PSA 8

WAR: 38.4
Value: $13
Common Value: $6
Multiplier: 2

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 15.5

Gil Hodges v. Jack Morris

Hodges was one of the most solid hitters of the 1950s, whose big moment in the 1969 World Series (as Mets manager) helped cement his Hall of Fame election.

Morris won more games than anyone else in the 1980s, and his big moment in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series pretty much cemented his own Hall of Fame election.

1949 Bowman Gil Hodges (#100) - PSA 6

WAR: 43.9
Value: $450
Common Value: $55
Multiplier: 8

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1978 Topps Jack Morris (#703) - PSA 9

WAR: 43.5
Value: $105
Common Value: $4
Multiplier: 26

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.31

Fred McGriff v. David Wells

McGriff fell seven home runs short of 500 and the Hall of Fame, though he’s better than some enshrined and will probably get in.

Wells pitched a perfect game in 1998 and had more WAR than McGriff. He, too, is better than some HOFers, but he’ll probably never sniff Cooperstown.

1986 Donruss Rated Rookie Fred McGriff (#28) - PSA 9

WAR: 52.6
Value: $40
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 13

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1988 Topps Traded David Wells (#128T) - PSA 10

WAR: 53.5
Value: $25
Common Value: $5
Multiplier: 5

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 2.6
—

So there we have five pitcher v. hitter matchups, with each end of the pair having accomplished something pretty nifty, and with each in the same general WAR bucket.

Who comes out on top, card-value-wise?

Well, the hitters won three of the battles, with the pitchers taking two.

And, though Gibson bested Brett, they were essentially even in this row. In fact, the only convincing pitcher victory is Jack Morris over Gil Hodges, which might owe to the general inflation for solid 1940s and 1950s baseball cards.

In general, based on these numbers, the market tends to favor big hitting accomplishments over mound prowess.

Now, let’s see if the same holds true in the current hobby, by diving into the …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for May 5-11, 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 …

1) Fernando Tatis Jr. 2016 Bowman Chrome 1st GOLD Refractor RC AUTO 3/50 BGS 9/10
Selling Price: $20,100
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

2) 2021 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor Cristian Hernandez RC AUTO /25 PSA 10
Selling Price: $15,102
Date Sold: 05/05/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

3) 1933 Goudey #144 Babe Ruth Yankees Psa 3.5 VG
Selling Price: $15,000
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

4) 2020 Bowman Chrome TRUE ORANGE 1ST AUTO Jasson Dominguez YANKEES - PSA 9
Selling Price: $15,000
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

5) T206 Ty Cobb Bat Off Shoulder Tigers HOF Tolstoi RARE BACK PSA 3 VG
Selling Price: $13,411
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

6) 1979 TOPPS #115 NOLAN RYAN ANGELS HOF PSA 10 SET BREAK A3338157-544
Selling Price: $12,225
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

7) T206 Ty Cobb Portrait Red Detroit Tigers HOF Piedmont Psa 4 VG-EX
Selling Price: $10,300
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

8) 2016 Bowman Chrome Refractor Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RC Rookie AUTO /499 PSA 10
Selling Price: $10,100
Date Sold: 05/05/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

9) 2019 BOWMAN CHROME GOLD SHIMMER JULIO RODRIGUEZ AUTO #/50 POP 2 PSA 10 DNA A0822
Selling Price: $10,100
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

10) 1979 TOPPS #24 PAUL MOLITOR BREWERS HOF POP 3 PSA 10 SET BREAK A3338155-270
Selling Price: $9,159
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

11) 1989 Topps Heads Up unonened box. mint condition and super rare Griffey Rookie
Selling Price: $8,000
Date Sold: 05/05/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

12) 1979 TOPPS #95 ROBIN YOUNT BREWERS HOF POP 8 PSA 10 SET BREAK A3338158-391
Selling Price: $7,856
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

13) 2016 Bowman Chrome Refractor Juan Soto RC Rookie /499 BGS 9.5 w/ 10 AUTO
Selling Price: $7,600
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

14) 1968 Topps #177 New York Mets Rookie Stars Nolan Ryan RC HOF PSA 8 NM-MT
Selling Price: $7,500
Date Sold: 05/05/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

15) 1909 E95 PHILADELPHIA CARAMEL HONUS WAGNER HOF PSA 2 A3339574-462
Selling Price: $7,455
Date Sold: 05/07/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

16) 1887 N28 Allen & Ginter Baseball Adrian Cap Anson HOF PSA 5 EX " LOOKS NICER "
Selling Price: $7,306
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

17) 1979 TOPPS #55 WILLIE STARGELL PIRATES HOF POP 2 PSA 10 SET BREAK A3338154-347
Selling Price: $7,100
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

18) 1993 Topps Finest Ken Griffey Jr Refractor #110 Mint 9 PSA Pop 109
Selling Price: $7,056
Date Sold: 05/07/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

19) 2018 Bowman Shohei Ohtani Atomic Refractor BGS 9 Auto /100 RC 0.5 from 9.5
Selling Price: $6,959
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

20) 1949 Bowman Baseball Larry Doby ROOKIE #233 PSA 8 INDIANS NM-MT HOF
Selling Price: $6,800
Date Sold: 05/10/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

21) 2019 Bowman Chrome Wander Franco Ref Auto RC Rookie BGS 9.5/10 TRUE GREEN GEM
Selling Price: $6,611
Date Sold: 05/07/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

22) 1933 Goudey #92 Lou Gehrig Yankees HOF Psa 3 VG
Selling Price: $6,500
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

23) 2016 Bowman Chrome Juan Soto RC Rookie AUTO Nationals PSA 10 " HIGH END "
Selling Price: $6,401
Date Sold: 05/05/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

24) 1953 Topps #82 Mickey Mantle New York Yankees HOF PSA 4 VG-EX " LOOKS NICER "
Selling Price: $6,203
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

25) 1993 Topps Finest Refractor #110 Ken Griffey Jr. Mariners HOF PSA 9 " PRISTINE "
Selling Price: $6,200
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

26) Shohei Ohtani 2018 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor RC Rookie AUTO 139/150 BGS 9/10
Selling Price: $6,101
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

27) 2019 bowmans best fernando tatis jr atomic rc auto /25 PSA10 POP 4
Selling Price: $6,000
Date Sold: 05/07/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

28) MIKE TROUT KEN GRIFFEY JR 2021 Topps DEFINITIVE DUAL ON CARD Auto 5/5 1/1 PSA 10
Selling Price: $5,996
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

29) 1954 Red Heart Mickey Mantle New York Yankees HOF PSA 8 NM-MT " SHARP CORNERS "
Selling Price: $5,900
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

30) 1979 TOPPS #74 SHANE RAWLEY RC MARINERS POP 1 PSA 10 SET BREAK A3338220-069
Selling Price: $5,754
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

31) T205 Gold Border Walter Johnson Washington Senators HOF PSA 4.5 VG-EX+ " RARE "
Selling Price: $5,600
Date Sold: 05/09/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

32) 1956 Topps Baseball #135 Mickey Mantle Gray Back Card - SGC 84 NM 7
Selling Price: $5,407
Date Sold: 05/08/2022
See listing (affiliate link)

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