Baseball Card Market Report for September 29-October 5, 2022 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Are old commons undervalued?

Oct 07, 2022

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No Asterisks

As I write this, the baseball world is still savoring (or maybe lamenting, depending on who you are) two fresh new developments …

First, the Atlanta Braves took all season to do it, but they tracked down the New York Mets to cop their fifth straight division title. Mets fans and deriders might cry “choke” but the Amazin’s still have a 100-win season to hang their hats on, and the chance at some postseason glory.

And, speaking of amazing, Aaron Judge smacked his 62nd home run of the season in the Yankees’ 161st game. That gives him sole possession of the American League record that Roger Maris had owned since 1961.

Heck, some outspoken critics of the so-called “steroid era” say that historic swat gave Judge the overall MLB record.

And the market?

It says, “We dig the long ball and we love Aaron Judge baseball cards!”.

Just check out All Rise’s dominance in our list of the top-selling cards on eBay from the last week (bottom of post) for proof.

Mere cardboard mortals don’t stand a chance.

Say … speaking of cardboard mortals, I have a question (surprise!) …

Are Old Commons Undervalued Post-Pandemic?

We all know that the prices of baseball cards — particularly “old” graded cards — just exploded during The Pandemic Era.

But if you take a stroll through any gaudy list of recent sales, like the one at the bottom of this post, you’ll see that it’s dominated by big names: stars, rookies, maybe an iconic error card here or there.

What about commons, though? And, in particular, what about “old” commons?

How did they fare during the Pandemic Era?

Now, for the sake of setting boundaries and for giving some structure to what’s about to unfold below, I’m going to define “The Pandemic Era” as lasting from February of 2020 through June of 2022. The endpoints are arguable, and the mere existence of the ending endpoint can (and no doubt will) be debated ‘til the Kals come home (I’m thinking Daniels rookie cards).

But that’s what I’m going with here, and it gives us two handy vantage points for examining “normal” card prices: January 2020 (before the pandemic) and July 2022 (“after” the pandemic).

And by “old” commons, I’m thinking cards that were issued before the Junk Wax Era (JWE) proper but that aren’t so old as to necessarily attract a premium just based on their antiquity (like T206s, for example).

For this exercise, then, I settled in on a run of 1976 through 1980 Topps to capture the end of the First Monopoly Kingdom, plus 1971 Topps to reach back in history a bit for an earlier checkpoint, plus 1985 Topps to get us close to the JWE, plus 1984 Donruss to pull in one of the great landmark non-Topps sets of all time.

For each set, I found the most common graded condition as listed in the PSA Population Report and then sought out a common that sold in that condition both in or near January of 2020 and in or near July of 2022.

There wasn’t always a straightforward choice, and some of the later issues offered scant few examples. Sometimes, I couldn’t get a card that hit those months exactly, so I took close-enough examples.

And, as you read through the entries below, keep in mind that “common” from a baseball card standpoint does not always equate to average or replacement-level players on the actual diamond.

You’ll find plenty of Don Baylor and Don Money baseball cards in commons bins, depending on the year of issue, for example, even though both were stars of varying degrees during their playing careers.

Alright, then — here are the results …

(Note: The following section contains affiliate links to eBay listings for the cards in question.)

1971 Topps Gerry Moses (#205) - PSA 8

Pre-Pandemic Value: $14.50
Post-Pandemic Value: $14.46
Gain/Loss: -$0.04 (0%)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1976 Topps Rich Folkers (#611) - PSA 8

Pre-Pandemic Value: $7.00
Post-Pandemic Value: $3.25
Gain/Loss: -$3.75 (-54%)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1977 Topps Tom Murphy (#396) - PSA 8

Pre-Pandemic Value: $6.99
Post-Pandemic Value: $11.36
Gain/Loss: $4.37 (63%)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1978 Topps Jerry Martin (#225) - PSA 8

Pre-Pandemic Value: $5.00
Post-Pandemic Value: $1.25
Gain/Loss: -$3.75 (-75%)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1979 Topps Jim Barr (#461) - PSA 9

Pre-Pandemic Value: $6.00
Post-Pandemic Value: $5.55
Gain/Loss: -$0.45 (-8%)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1980 Topps Tom Hutton (#427) - PSA 9

Pre-Pandemic Value: $5.00
Post-Pandemic Value: $1.25
Gain/Loss: -$3.75 (-75%)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1981 Topps Larry Christenson (#346) - PSA 9

Pre-Pandemic Value: $5.59
Post-Pandemic Value: $4.25
Gain/Loss: -$1.34 (-24%)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1984 Donruss Joe LeFebvre (#82) - PSA 10

Pre-Pandemic Value: $4.25
Post-Pandemic Value: $16
Gain/Loss: $11.75 (276%)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link

1985 Topps Rich Gale (#606) - PSA 8

Pre-Pandemic Value: $0.99
Post-Pandemic Value: $2.25
Gain/Loss: $126 (127%)

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—

So, what do we see here?

Well, the core of our run, 1976 through 1980 Topps, features just one “winner” against four losers, a record that drops to 1-5 if you tack on the 1981 Topps Larry Christenson.

The one winner? The 1977 Topps Tom Murphy, hailing from a set that the PSA Price Guide shows with sort of abnormally high prices for commons across the board (might be another question to answer there, huh?).

The 1971 Topps Gerry Moses held its own, while 1985 Topps Rich Gale jumped forward, though on the strength of a tiny sample size and one that doesn’t neatly fit into our time box.

The other big outlier here is 1984 Donruss Joe LeFebvre which has about quadrupled in value over the last four years, by measure of selling price. Funny thing there, though, is that the most common graded condition for 1984 Donruss cards is PSA 10 — that’s a standard that still commands some attention, no matter how common a card may be.

Especially for an iconic set like 1984 Donruss.

If there’s one overall takeaway here, then, it’s probably that common commons, especially ones that sell at a decent volume (thanks, set-builders), don’t seem to have kept pace with the superstars of the hobby during the pandemic years.

That’s about what you’d expect, since this hobby is driven by big names for the most part.

But it *might* also represent a market correction waiting to happen. We saw the same sort of thing in the 1980s and 1990s, when the hobby skyrocketed on the backs of Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, Rickey Henderson, Nolan Ryan, and the likes.

For years, older commons sort of languished but, eventually, many of the folks who had ponied up for the top-dollar cards decided they wanted to fill in the sets around those pricey pasteboards.

Then guess what happened?

Yeah, there was at least a mild surge in demand — and prices — for those “fillers.”

Could history repeat itself?

Well, it DOES have a way of doing that.

For now, let’s take a look at some mini history-makers … the cards of the moment … the …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for September 29-October 5, 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 …

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