Baseball Card Market Report for September 19-25, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on 1979 Topps baseball cards

Sep 27, 2024

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A 50/50 Split?

In the aftermath of Shohei Ohtani’s amazing run to baseball’s first 50-50 season (50+ home runs, 50+ stolen bases), a lot of comparisons and hyperbole were thrown around.

And the most frequent comp, at least that I’ve heard, has been Ohtani v. Babe Ruth. The conversations and takes are endless: who’s better, who would do better in the other one’s era, who’s the better hitter, who’s the better pitcher, is one (or are both) of them the greatest of all time, etc., etc., etc.

One thing we don’t have to argue about, though, thanks to the facts of the matter, is that both Ohtani and the Babe have generated plenty of interest (and cash exchange) on eBay recently. Just take a look at the list of the most expensive baseball cards sold on the platform last week (bottom of post) for proof.

And once you’re done with that, come back up here, where we’ll be…

Checking in on 1979 Topps Baseball Cards

Earlier this month on YouTube, we ran down the most expensive recent sales on eBay for 1979 Topps baseball cards:

Like the 1974 Topps set before it, the 1979 issue has spent most of its life toiling in the shadow of its more showy neighbors — 1977, 1978, and 1980 Topps certainly have more and/or bigger marquee rookie cards.

Indeed, for a lot of years, Bump Wills and Bob Horner were the big cards in this set, and the Wills errors and variations still garner a decent amount of collector interest. But of course, these days, the Ozzie Smith rookie card is the big draw here, and the second-year Paul Molitor — his first solo card — has taken on a royal hobby sheen, too.

Throw in the notorious condition problems with this set, especially when it comes to centering, and you have the recipe for some expensive top-grade cards.

What follows is a rundown of the dozen most valuable 1979 Topps cards in PSA 9 condition (the most common graded condition according to the PSA Population Report) based on recent actual selling prices reported in the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool.

I’ve also included the population of each card in PSA 9 condition to help explain why some lesser names appear in this list.

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

1979 Topps Ozzie Smith (#116) - PSA 9

Value: $2250
PSA Population: 412

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1979 Topps Dave Winfield (#30) - PSA 9

Value: $900
PSA Population: 50

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1979 Topps Dennis Eckersley (#40) - PSA 9

Value: $450
PSA Population: 30

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1979 Topps Pete Rose (#650) - PSA 9

Value: $450
PSA Population: 251

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1979 Topps Nolan Ryan (#115) - PSA 9

Value: $400
PSA Population: 838

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1979 Topps George Brett (#330) - PSA 9

Value: $300
PSA Population: 368

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1979 Topps Paul Molitor (#24) - PSA 9

Value: $260
PSA Population: 133

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1979 Topps Willie Stargell (#55) - PSA 9

Value: $200
PSA Population: 66

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1979 Topps Dale Murphy (#39) - PSA 9

Value: $150
PSA Population: 164

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1979 Topps Rod Carew (#300) - PSA 9

Value: $100
PSA Population: 424

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1979 Topps Carl Yastrzemski (#320) - PSA 9

Value: $100
PSA Population: 243

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1979 Topps Jim Palmer (#340) - PSA 9

Value: $100
PSA Population: 166

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You can see the scarcity factor at play in the numbers above, since you wouldn’t necessarily expect a mid-career Dave Winfield to be able to stand toe-to-toe with the other names on this list. But, like the Ozzie, it’s super tough in top grades, so a really sharp copy can pull in big bucks.

Ditto for the Willie Stargell card, which also gets a boost from hailing from Pops’ MVP season, when he led the “We Are Family” Pirates to a World Series championship.

This is a pretty fun set, with bright photos and several subsets that make it good fodder for superstar collectors. And, while the prices for PSA 9 copies are sky high, the good news is that you can usually find good-looking raw copies at reasonable prices if you’re just looking to add to your old-card collection.

On the other hand, you won’t find many reasonable prices among the…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for September 19-25, 2024

(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

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