Baseball Card Market Report for October 6-12, 2022 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- October heroes in The Investment Corner

Oct 14, 2022

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Pariahs? You Be the ahem Judge

So, no surprise that new American League home run champ Aaron Judge continued to light up the hobby market last week, scoring 17 slots on our list of the top-selling baseball cards on eBay. over that span (see bottom of post).

That included top-billing with a $70K hammer-down on his 2013 Bowman Chrome Red Refractor rookie card.

But you know who’s right there in the Top 5 with Judge (who has two cards there)?

Babe Ruth, for one.

But also Alex Rodriguez.

And Pete Rose.

Later on, we get some Shoeless Joe Jackson love, and a Barry Bonds sighting.

Throw four Ty Cobbs into the mix, and this week’s lineup is hardly warm and cuddly.

But what does it all mean? Does the market suddenly love the “bad guys” of the sport.

Nah. Not suddenly.

The market has always loved these guys to an extent, because they’re among the best to ever play the game. And, every once in awhile, they pop up near the top-sellers list, especially when a guy like Judge brings to mind the achievements of a guy like Barry.

And then … well, our bad guys get to be hobby heroes again, if ever so fleetingly.

Speaking of heroes, it’s time to scope out some …

October Heroes in The Investment Corner

This time of year, the next baseball hero is just a swing, catch, or lockdown save away. And, some of those moments (or series) are so big, that they live on in baseball lore forever.

In baseball cards, too.

So, in honor of those big moments, let’s use our fake Investment Corner dollars this month to (not) buy a few cards featuring some of those big chilly-weather names.

We’ll follow the usual drill: we have $1000 of faux money to “spend” on cards, and they all have to have been sold in real life on eBay over the last month or so. We “pay” the actual selling price.

Alright, let’s jump in and find some cardboard magic!

(The following section contains affiliate links to original eBay listings for the cards discussed. All player statistics culled from Baseball-Reference.com.)

1950 Bowman Bobby Thomson (#28) - PSA 8 - $522

Yeah, this one card eats up over half our budget, and Thomson’s famous “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” barely happened in October (the 3rd). But that 1951 walk-off home run that lifted the New York Giants over the Brooklyn Dodgers and into the World Series is The Natural-level legend … only real!

This is also a beautiful card in blazing condition, and there’s almost no way it can lose value over time relative to the rest of the set and the market at large.

This is a long-term, blue-chip play.

See listing (affiliate link)

1961 Topps Bill Mazeroski Home Run (#312) - $78

Maz hit the first walk-off to win a World Series, and it’s still the most dramatic and only Game 7 one-swinger.

This card celebrates the moment and does a great job of capturing the gritty, chaotic, jubilant feel of the moment that we’ve seen in the old grainy clips so many times.

See listing (affiliate link)

1973 Topps Carlton Fisk (#193) - PSA 8 - $147.50

Fisk was the hero of heroes after he willed his home run fair to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series for the Boston Red Sox. It’s not really his fault that the Cincinnati Reds took Game 7 (4-3), even though he struck out three times. The BoSox wouldn’t have been there at all without his historic shot.

This is Pudge’s first solo card and another blue-chipper that’s not likely to either explode in value or crash anytime soon.

See listing (affiliate link)

1974 Topps Dwight Evans (#351) - PSA 8 - $49.99

Aside from the Mets epic comeback in Game 6 at the hands (or wickets) of Bill Buckner, Dave Henderson’s ongoing heroics are one of the most vivid memories of the 1986 postseason.

In the World Series, though Dwight Evans nearly matched Hendu’s production, hitting .308 with two home runs and nine RBI (four more than Henderson had).

As with Fisk, this is Dewey’s first solo card, and he remains one of the Hall of Fame snubs who may someday get the call. If he does, you can expect a price bump for his early issues.

See listing (affiliate link)

1964 Topps Bob Gibson (#460) - PSA 7 - $146

Gibson wasn’t just heroic in the postseason — he was legendary. Ask old-time fans who they’d put on the mound to win one game, and I’ll lay dollars to donuts that Hoot gets the call.

Gibson won is first World Series MVP award in 1964, which makes this card a snapshot of greatness right as the legend was born. (He’d win another WS MVP in 1967 and likely would have copped a third in 1968 if the Tigers hadn’t beat the Cards in an epic seven-gamer.)

See listing (affiliate link)

1984 Donruss Joe Carter Rated Rookie (#41) - PSA 9 - $57

If you weren’t alive or following baseball in 1960, then Joe Carter’s Game 6 blast to end the 1993 World Series serves as an epic proxy. Put in the historical context of the game, it’s even more significant than it might otherwise have been — thanks to the dastardly player’s strike that wiped out the end of the 1994 season and all of October, we wouldn’t see another World Series pitch for nearly two full years after Carter sent the Blue Jays home as champs (again).

Carter won’t make the Hall of Fame like it seemed he might during his playing career, but this 1984 Donruss Rated Rookie is a hobby classic that’s not going anywhere bad any time soon.

See listing (affiliate link)
—

There you have it — $1000.49 fake-spent on October heroes.

How do you think these picks will look this time next year? And in five years?

Will they be among the “most valuable” selections coming from this space?

Before you answer, just remember that …

“Most Valuable” Is Relative

Last October in this space, we ran through a similar, but even more focused exercise. In particular, we (didn’t) spend our cool grand on World Series MVPs.

How did we do?

Well, have a look …

1967 Topps Mickey Lolich (SGC 96)

Bought (10/2021): $55.00
Sold (10/2022): $55.00
Profit/Loss: $0.00 (0%)

1957 Topps Brooks Robinson (PSA 3)

Bought (10/2021): $449.99
Sold (10/2022): $501.50
Profit/Loss: $51.51 (11%)

1984 Topps Traded Pete Rose (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $64.00
Sold (10/2022): $64.00
Profit/Loss: $0.00 (0%)

1970 Topps Gene Tenace and Vida Blue (PSA 7)

Bought (10/2021): $89.99
Sold (10/2022): $63.00
Profit/Loss: -$26.99 (-30%)

1989 Donruss Curt Schilling (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $74.99
Sold (10/2022): $51.00
Profit/Loss: -$23.99 (-32%)

1985 Topps Orel Hershiser (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $140.50
Sold (10/2022): $159.90
Profit/Loss: $19.40 (14.%)

1984 Fleer Update Bret Saberhagen (PSA 9)

Bought (10/2021): $39.95
Sold (10/2022): $44.00
Profit/Loss: $4.05 (10%)

2010 Topps Madison Bumgarner (PSA 10)

Bought (10/2021): $75.00
Sold (10/2022): $41.00
Profit/Loss: -$34.00 (-45%)

1984 O-Pee-Chee Ron Cey (PSA 9)

Bought (10/2021): $9.50
Sold (10/2022): $9.50
Profit/Loss: $0.00 (0%)
—

(The price we’d have to pay now - “sold” — is culled from the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool, generally taking the most recent sale of the given card in the given condition as our barometer and leaning on recent eBay sales in some cases.)

A few of the cards listed above didn’t sell at all in the same graded condition that we “bought” them in over the last year, so I hedged and just carried the same value over for this year’s “selling” price.

As for the rest, we got a nice bump from our one true blue-chipper, the Brooks Robinson rookie card, even though it only grades out at PSA 3.

Curt Schilling is no one’s idea of popular these days, so his cardboard crash is no real surprise, though Gene Tenace’s and Vida Blue’s is.

Meanwhile, the 1985(ish) guys — Orel Hershiser and Bret Saberhagen, that is — showed there’s some life in their cards yet, at least for high-end stuff.

And MadBum? It’s been eight years since his last World Series appearance, and his Cooperstown cred seems to slide by the week.

All in all, we “sold” our booty from last October for $988.90. Since we “paid” $998.92 a year ago, that’s a loss of $10.02, or about 1%.

Stagnant.

Considering a couple of cards took big hits here, B. Robby may yet save this lot in the long run.

Hey, speaking of blue-chippers, how’s about we look for some among our list of …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for October 6-12, 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

Discussion about this post

Baseball Card Market Report for October 6-12, 2022 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- October heroes in The Investment Corner

Pariahs? You Be the *ahem* Judge

October Heroes in The Investment Corner

“Most Valuable” Is Relative

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for October 6-12, 2022

Discussion about this post

Pariahs? You Be the ahem Judge