Baseball Card Market Report for November 9-15, 2023 - Top eBay Sales post

PLUS -- Checking in on Mike Schmidt baseball cards

Nov 17, 2023

Note: When you click on links to various merchants in this newsletter and make a purchase, this can result in this newsletter earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Hobby Time Warp

One of the main appeals of baseball cards for most collectors is the nostalgia that every little rectangular hunk of cardboard whips up.

Some cards connect with us on this level more than others, of course, and most of us have a sweet spot — or sweet range — of cards that really give us the feels.

Give us new cards, and they’re just cards. Go back too far, and we can’t really connect with the players involved, other than through the stories we’ve heard and read.

All of which is to say that the top-selling baseball cards on eBay last week (see list at bottom of post) probably stretch the back end of that range for most of us. Talk about vintage!

Leading off with a lot of cards from 1910 (!), we don’t break into the 1960s until the third slot. And the 1990s are off limits until third from the bottom.

In between, we see stalwart — and hardly-ever-seen — representatives from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as some more familiar 1950s cards.

We’re in sort of a lull when it comes to the baseball news cycle, which might explain why Ohtani, Trout, Betts, and most of today’s current stars are absent below.

That probably won’t last, what with awards being handed out this week and the free agent fires starting to simmer. So enjoy the walk through hobby history while you can!

And speaking of hobby history…

Checking in on Mike Schmidt Baseball Cards

After spending a couple of weeks looking at how cards of particular sets have performed since the beginning of the pandemic, this week we dove back into the cards of an individual player.

Specifically, here is our video rundown of the most expensive Mike Schmidt baseball cards to sell on eBay during October of 2023:

So, in keeping with that theme, I decided to take a look at how Schmidt’s best cards have done since the beginning of the pandemic.

Below, then, are approximate selling prices for Schmidt’s base cards from 1973 through 1981 in the most common graded conditions, based on information reported in the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool:

1973 Topps Mike Schmidt (#615) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $450
2023 Value: $1000
Profit/loss: $550
% change: 122

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1974 Topps Mike Schmidt (#283) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $55
2023 Value: $140
Profit/loss: $85
% change: 155

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1975 Topps Mike Schmidt (#70) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $45
2023 Value: $150
Profit/loss: $105
% change: 233

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1974 Topps Mike Schmidt (#480) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $30
2023 Value: $80
Profit/loss: $50
% change: 167

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1977 Topps Mike Schmidt (#140) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $20
2023 Value: $50
Profit/loss: $30
% change: 150

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1978 Topps Mike Schmidt (#360) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $7
2023 Value: $17
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 143

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1981 Topps Mike Schmidt (#610) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $10
2023 Value: $22
Profit/loss: $12
% change: 120

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1980 Topps Mike Schmidt (#270) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $10
2023 Value: $50
Profit/loss: $40
% change: 400

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1981 Topps Mike Schmidt (#540) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $10
2023 Value: $35
Profit/loss: $25
% change: 250

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1981 Donruss Mike Schmidt (#11) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $7
2023 Value: $15
Profit/loss: $8
% change: 114.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1981 Fleer Mike Schmidt (#5) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $5
2023 Value: $12
Profit/loss: $7
% change: 140

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

—

All of these Schmidt cards more than doubled in selling price from late 2019 to late 2023, a pace of increase nearly twice what we saw for Kirby Puckett rookie cards when we looked at them last month.

That makes some sense, as we saw a sort of stratification of price increases among Hall of Famers and other star players when we studied them a bit back in August.

Based on that piece (which you can read here), Schmidt’s 106.8 WAR slots him between Carl Yastrzemski and Rickey Henderson, territory where we might have expected about a 150% increase in prices.

Schmidt’s actual bump, as shown above, was “only” about 130%.

Ah, but in that earlier piece, we used card values through January 2023 — I’m using more recent values for Schmidt above, roughly September or October of 2023, depending on the card.

And we’ve seen a general and continued softening of the market and prices this year.

All in all, then, Schmidt’s price performance seems about right for the pandemic years and might give us a bit more evidence about what to expect in relative price movement among various “levels” of players over the long run.

In the short run, we can let our mouths hang open as we gape at the…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for November 9-15, 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

Discussion about this post