best fine I ever had wasn't even mine....back in the day I babysat for a neighbor. I was into collecting baseball cards, this was the mid 80's when topps was king and Fleer, Donrus and Upper Deck tried hard to get into the game...one day when I bought a pack from the ice cream man, I bought one for the kid, this remind the father that he used to collect cards and that he should go look in his moms house... he came home one day with a bag threw it to me and said hey take a look... found 2 mint Tom Seaver rookie cards...the idiot, trust worthy guy in me....told him about that...there were a few other good cards like a late Mickey smh...oh well
...^^^Matts, do you still have them all?...if so, I'll give ya $500 for 'em. (since the price for them seems to keep dropping) ...lol.
when they retired Jackson's #, they made a joke of tradtion. agree, it is out of hand. I remember the good old days when the fans could leave on the field and exit through the centerfield exits and we could see the HOF plaques of the true immortal Yankees.
Yep, and I still have not yet traded one since 68 either.....Your offer is tooo generous, perhaps a deal I cannot refuse...Your right too, I cannot for the life of me, give any PED user card away, while their rookie cards can't even be sold at the Card shop for $1 buck...no shit....! I hired a couple of guys to help us move all our belongings from one house to the other. Both were 29 years old, and when I pulled out a 69 Lew Alcindor, they both said "who the hell is that". I said you mean to tell me he doesn't e3ven look familiar, with his big Afro and Fu-Manchu? 1 of the two said, didn't he play for the bulls, so I pointed out, geezus christ he's wearing a Milwaukee Bucs Uniform, and here's your 1st tip, he won a NBA Championship with the great Oscar Robertson in his rookie career. (That flew right over there heads), so a 2nd hint, he played for Milwaukee for a very short time, with the last 2/3rd of his career with a shaved head. I could not fkng believe these supposed NBA fans. One guy said Willis Reed, the other Bill Russell. 3rd hint, he won 4 consecutive NCAA titles at UCLA, during John Wooden's era of 10 constitutive championships. They finally guess right, and I said, I thought you guys new your Basketball, hello Lew Alcindor....! Anyways, sure your offer of $500 is too hefty, so I'll drop the entire collection to $250....LMAO....and they still smell of old bubblegum....!
The issue with cards is if you want to do anything with them you have to get them graded and it's not cheap to do so. Unless it's something ultra rare if it's not a 8, 9 or 10 you might as well use it to get something out of your teeth.
Outstanding. As of 86 Topps, Donruss and Fleer were all mass producing cards, so much you can't give away an 86 or latter. An 85, non PED player was worth a hefty price at one time, until the PED issue came along. McGwire's Olympics card maxed out at $500, with Clemens right behind him. The 2 most valued cards in the 85 set. So 86 was a bust, with Multi-Millions of un-limited Topps runs, while Donruss and Fleer tho' mass produced, were printed in much shorter runs, and are still worth something, tho' the Canseco Fleer 86 was worth quit a bit, as well as as the 86 Dwight Gooden. Now the 82-84 Donruss and Fleer were made of very cheap card stock, so bad, with pixels obvious, not many square framed pics either, were a horrid mess. However the 82-84 Topps sets, even the 85 had some damn good Rookie cards worthy of collecting, aka, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn, Cal Ripken Jr., Donnie BB, Puckett, and quit a few others. Obviously most 86s thru 89s of either of the Big 3 brands, had little to no value, due to Multi-mass production runs.
My sister in Wichita KS, has for the last couple of years, sent me shitloads of what appears like Brand New Yankee garb, Official Jersey's both home and away, to Work out Jerseys, as well as official Yanx T-shirts, 1 T-shirt for every W.S. Championship in the 90s. As well as the great 3 peat. I recently relieved a brand new Polo shirt, with its original tags on it. She gets these shirts for less than 5 bucks, and has sent me over 15 shirts, jerseys in the last 2 years. 5 months ago, she sent me a Rodriguez work out Jersey with of course #13 and the Frauds last name on it. I got the pkg, opened it, and said to a hysterical laughing Kim: "Jeezus fkng Christ, now who in the Hell, am I going to give this too, cuz I wont' wear it if you paid me, its a bulls eye on my back, fkk A-Roid" I carried this #13 Jersey in the trunk of my car, for over 5 months, looking for any Yanx fan who may be dumb enough to want it. Finally after those long months of talking to any and everyone, who might WANT The shirt for Free, I got one no to Hell no, time and time again. Not long ago, I was standing in Costco, behind a young 19 year old kid, who was wearing a #2 Jeter Warm up Jersey, and we began talking about the Yanx, the year Derek was having, and how I got this damned A-Roid shirt in the mail. I said to him, point blank, how I could NOT give this Jersey away, let alone sale it. So I said, would you like it, he paused, after my tirade about How Alex broke alot of Yank Fan's hearts. Finally he said yes, I'll take it, so I went out to the parking lot to bring it in. As I handed it to him, he said, my last name is Rodriguez, which about made me shit my pants. Funny how synchronicity or Karma works at times. The kid was happy as a pig in a poke.....!
Yep, your right Vic, once the card is graded, then the value blows thru the roof, part in due to the expensive cost of a numismatic grading the card. For instance, a Rookie Topps Tony Gwynn, was pricing at $300 just before his passing, without being graded. Once Tony passed, the card balloned in price to $500 and still climbing. To get it graded, would of cost me a good $260, yet it doesn't take a pro to know a card is Mint or Near Mint, Very Good, Good, Fair, or Poor. With a graded Mint Card the costs goes so high thru the roof, that eliminates 99% of potential buyers, who no longer can afford it. My entire goal with the cards, and sets I've been collecting for 55 years now, I refuse to have graded, to hopefully trade, or sale at a decent affordable price to the kids who emulate the same heroes we did, When my original intent all these years, was to collect all the old HOF'rs, so I could simply hand them over to my Grandson's, well, I have NO grandsons, only 4 grand daughters, who do not even know what Baseball is. Thus, one year soon, after spending the year it will take to go thru them all, including tons of boxes of un-opened material, rack packs, wax packs, cello packs, all with rookies or HOF'rs showing on the Front or Back of each pack....perhaps then I will hit up a National Memorabilia and Card show.
Anything is still only worth what somebody will give you for it. I got lucky on Ebay years ago getting cards for a steal. For example I got a 1983 Gem Mint 10 Wade Boggs Topps rookie for $2.50. PSA lists the value at $355.00 which is great but it's still only really worth what somebody wants to pay.
Your right on the mark Vic, and I've said that as long as I've been an adult, "any collectible is ONLY what someone is willing to pay for it, never what a price guides says its worth"....Your right on the bullseye....!! Years ago, I refused to believe a damn price Becketts had for price guides, I subscribed to a weekly 300 page Sports Collectors Digest-of all sports cards, all game used Memorabilia also, as well as autographs, albeit cards, pics, balls or bats. Price guides are only worth, a reference point, and not even that most times. Yet, I found SCD to be a much better guide, not just for price guides, but what Major Dealers were selling their cards for. Like the old AL MVP Al Rosen, who became the Million $$$ Card Buying King. That fker paid a guy in NYC, 1 Million bucks for a Case of 52 boxes, of 1952 Topps, with the pricy Mantle rookie card. The sellers Dad was a Candy Vendor, and put a full case of those 52 Topps in his attic, for safekeeping, to give to his son one day. the old man forgot he even put the case up in the attic. When the old man died, his Son found the Case, and quickly saw half the boxes and cards in the Case, had been destroyed by Silverfish. However, Al Rosen flew in, looked the case over, offered him 1 million, and the man took the money. Needless to say, Rosen found 28 of the best purist "Snow White bordered" quality cards of The Mick's rookie card, and we all know he made damn near a Million per Mantle card, not to mention the other many Rookie and Star cards, in the utmost of pristine conditions. Or as Al said, I have yet in my life to of seen as good of quality of cards found in an attic 40 years later, as if they just were opened, or printed a year ago.
That's really the case with any collectible. Paintings, old guns and any other stuff you might see on the antique road show. An expert can tell you $10,000 but unless he's pulling out a check book appraisals are useless. It still has to go to auction where you can put a reserve otherwise you're at the mercy of the bid minus the auction house's hardy commission.
Yes, indeed, all memorabilia or collectibles, only worth the price one is willing to pay for.... In the heyday's of my collecting, my best friend was a Gun Smith, and avid collector of 1920s - 1950 Model UN-fired rifles. IN his possession were two stunning barely used if at all, original Union Army issued Colt .45s, from the Mexican American War. As well as numerous other pre-WWII unfired guns. Materials were so superior before WWII, as was the craftsmanship, made by a man with a lathe, and precision eye. Tho' their was a dude a few years ago, who was making .50 caliber sniper rifles, in his workshop in Arizona, made a very superior Sniper rifle. I was just asking about this guy, who I have not heard a word about, since he was on 60 minutes a few years ago. Back when the Feds, were taking him to court to cease his operations. I never did hear the final verdict of his court cases, yet believe he won in some ways, by selling his .50 Cal Rifles in kits, in lieu of completed Camel Jockey killers. Does anyone know the details of that court case or outcome? Another collectible that blows my mind, for its lack of consistence pricing are the Mecum Antique/Classic Cars. It seems prices vary tremendously from say Pebble Beach, Sonoma, to KC, or Iowa, and other major cities, seems these days one can tell where the serious collector buyers money is from, simply by seeing a very similar car go for double, even triple in the better off financial districts/cities in this Country....
Sorry about that Rick, I obviously hi-jacked the post, my bad......! I promise boy scout honor to stay back in line....! Let's get back to the OP......and I won't make a left hand turn, on a red arrow again....and will yield the right away, as soon as I figure out which of my arms is the RH, vs the LH....or does red mean run son....instead of stop? Green means go balls out, yellow means look before you go balls out, and red means go balls out and hope to hell no one is looking? again my bad Rick, my apologies, to a damn good Post....let us resume.
I swear for some reason I am seeing double today. I went in last night for a LH Epidural, and I haven't seen out of one eye all day. The Surgeon could not get a needle past all the fkng scar tissue from the MRSA abcess scars. He was cussing like a sailor asking me, who the fk did this too you. So no LH Epidural which is needed badly, instead I got a Caudle, (Tail Bone) shot, which the fkr literally loaded up with a double dose of Oxycaine, and Cortisone, then bent the fkng needle around my T-5, once he got up inside the 1/8th inch entry hole in the bottom of the Sacrum/tailbone, now that hurt like well ...... hell then some. This surgeon is the only one out of 9 surgeons to give me epidurals and Cortisone injections, in 5 states, whose shots DO NOT hurt at all, less last nights bender.... I guess what I'm trying to say, is I am not right today, at all....If I were a RP, I'd of been pulled after throwing the 1st pitch over the 3rd Mezz behind home plate....
