Baseball Card Market Report for November 3-9, 2022 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Do cards of Veterans command a premium?

Nov 11, 2022

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Fall Classics

With the World Series taking center stage last week, it’s hardly surprising that names of Fall Classic heroes past and present checked in with a bang on our list of the top eBay sales (bottom of post).

Leading the way were Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays, with seven and four appearances each — hardly an earth-shaking occurrence regardless of the month, considering how huge each of those gents looms in the hobby.

Breaking through with a couple of appearances of his own is Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena, the 2022 World Series MVP. Rookie Pena has some work to do if he wants to be considered in Mantle’s and Mays’ class when he’s a veteran, but he’s off to a great start.

Speaking of Mays and veterans …

Are Cards of Veterans Worth More?

It’s not every day that our scheduled meeting time here in the Market Report falls exactly on Veterans Day. But it is today that that happens.

So, there’s really no other question we could possibly ask, or seek to answer, this time around than …

Are the baseball cards of military veterans worth more than the cards of guys without military service under their belts?

To find out — or at least to dig up some clues and get us thinking — I pulled out five players from the modern(ish) era who served in the military.

Then, for each one, I …

Found one of his top historical comps (who did not served in the military), based on Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores
Found the top rookie card for each of those two players, by measure of number of graded card sales
Found the Card Value Multiplier for each of those cards
Found the Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM) for the two cards, with the veteran in the numerator and his comp in the denominator

It’s a familiar formula if you’ve been around these parts long.

Here’s are how this week’s matchups played out …

(The following section contains affiliate links to eBay listings for the cards being discussed.)

Eddie Mathews v. Mike Schmidt

Arguably the two greatest third basemen of all-time square off. Yes, I know — fans of Brooks Robinson (greatest glove) and George Brett (played fewer than 2/3 of his games at third) will disagree.

Oh well.

1952 Topps Eddie Mathews (#407) - PSA 4

WAR: 96.1
Value: $5000
Common Value: $65
Multiplier: 77

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1973 Topps Mike Schmidt (#615) - PSA 7

WAR: 106.8
Value: $450
Common Value: $5
Multiplier: 90

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.85

Ernie Banks v. Robin Yount

Two great multiple MVP winners who rose to fame at shortstop before excelling at other positions …

1954 Topps Ernie Banks (#94) - PSA 4

WAR: 67.7
Value: $1400
Common Value: $20
Multiplier: 70

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1975 Topps Robin Yount (#223) - PSA 7

WAR: 77.4
Value: $150
Common Value: $3
Multiplier: 50

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 1.4

Whitey Ford v. Sandy Koufax

Two great hurlers from one of baseball’s golden ages …

1951 Bowman Whitey Ford (#1) - PSA 4

WAR: 57.1
Value: $1000
Common Value: $25
Multiplier: 40

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1955 Topps Sandy Koufax (#123) - PSA 5

WAR: 48.9
Value: $1900
Common Value: $35
Multiplier: 54

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.74

Garry Maddox v. Darin Erstad

Two great defensive centerfielders who could hold their own in the batter’s box and on the base paths …

1973 Topps Garry Maddox (#322) - PSA 8

WAR: 36.8
Value: $75
Common Value: $10
Multiplier: 8

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1996 SP Darin Erstad (#4) - PSA 8

WAR: 32.3
Value: $11
Common Value: $1
Multiplier: 11

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 0.68

Hoyt Wilhelm v. Goose Gossage

Two workhorse relievers who ended up in the Hall of Fame …

1952 Topps Hoyt Wilhelm (#392) - PSA 4

WAR: 46.8
Value: $2500
Common Value: $65
Multiplier: 38

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1973 Topps Goose Gossage (#174) - PSA 8

WAR: 41.1
Value: $160
Common Value: $10
Multiplier: 16

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Multiplier of Multipliers (MoM): 2.4

—

So, what’s the verdict here?

Well, it’s two “wins” for the veterans against three “losses,” but almost all of these matchups were close. The closest to a route came from Wilhelm, who doubled up (and then some) Gossage’s multiplier.

One possible trend is that both wins for the vets featured a 1950s rookie card against something more recent.

But then, so did the Mathews-Schmidt fray, and Schmitty won that one.

But then then, that matchup was the most direct of all of them, and Schmidt was the more accomplished of the two.

In the end, as is often the case with these quick little studies, there’s nothing very conclusive to draw from our efforts here.

You know, other than having some fun with baseball cards and numbers.

And, speaking of fun with baseball cards — and (big) numbers — check out the list of …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for November 3-9, 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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