Sports cards vs Comics 4 4

[valiantman]

Just now, shadroch said:

They are different products, not variations.  An example of a variation would be the infamous Billy Ripken card that had the original version pulled mid run.

They're different products, yes, but they are variations on the same concept... Someguy McDude's rookie card.  Three or 300 different ways to own the exact same guy's rookie card, brands, chase cards, signature jersey cards, holograms, purple-prism-prissy-pants-premium 1/1, etc., all of these are variations on one underlying concept... "the" rookie card.

[Dark Knight]

NBA suspended for rest of the season

[Mercury Man]

I remember Griffey Jr.   He had Topps, Fleer, Donrus and Upper Deck.   the Upper Deck was the one that people wanted.  

Fact is, much like comics, older-nice condition-popular player/character =  the better. 

The above mentioned Griffey cards, much like Spawn #1, are everywhere.

The ones running around, buying refractor, blue prism, tobacco juice DNA cards, are the same ones chasing 1:100 variant comics, thumping their chests, praying there is another buyer down the road. 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Mercury Man

[Brian48]

Retirement fund!  Well, they've certainly appreciated a lot more than my 401k that's currently tanking thanks to COVID-19.  

[SkintDoctor]

6 hours ago, Brian48 said:

Retirement fund!  Well, they've certainly appreciated a lot more than my 401k that's currently tanking thanks to COVID-19.  

You could get 30 Brian Urlacher's for the price of one Tom Brady. Collecting confuses me.

[PopKulture]

On 3/10/2020 at 1:29 AM, MGsimba77 said:

What would you think about a topps Lou Brock rookie card decent shape (maybe equivalent of a 9.2 CGC) and a somewhere mint '69 Rod Carew topps possibly equivalent of CGC 9.6? I've seen the high prices of getting something graded by PSA. I wouldn't think those are worth the cost of grading? I'd appreciate a much better informed opinion than mine 

I follow some auction results and dabble a little in raw cards prior to 1930, but I don't have any direct knowledge of slabbing cards. Just like in comics, I tend to traffic in the raw. Someone else would better be able to address the specifics of your question.  

[valiantman]

10 hours ago, Mercury Man said:

The ones running around, buying refractor, blue prism, tobacco juice DNA cards, are the same ones chasing 1:100 variant comics, thumping their chests, praying there is another buyer down the road. 

If they're not the same people, they should meet up and see if they can sell to each other. 

[MGsimba77]

On 3/11/2020 at 3:07 PM, valiantman said:

Sportscards have basically had "variants" since 1981.  The player is the same, but beginning in 1981, there was a Topps, Donruss, and Fleer variant for every baseball player. 

You could have a superstar's rookie card for 30+ years, but then you realize it's not "the good one" so you're disappointed. 

It gets worse as you move to the current time, since Topps became both Topps and Topps Tiffany (1984), and your 1984 Topps rookie card is not as good as the 1984 Topps Tiffany (glossy) rookie card.  1984 Fleer Update is better than 1984 Fleer, etc.  By 1988, you throw Score into the mix, 1989 brings in Upper Deck, 1990+ and everything has "premium" lines of the same brand.  There are literally 40 different cards that are Tom Brady rookie cards in 2000.  https://www.cardboardconnection.com/player/tom-brady-football-cards

In the past 20 years (since those 40 different Tom Brady rookie cards), it has gotten much, much, much worse. 

You could say that Zion Williamson has a rookie card called 2019/2020 Donruss, but then you'd need to specify whether it was:

....

On 3/11/2020 at 3:07 PM, valiantman said:

I didn't mention Panini, but there are similar Zion cards from Panini. 

There are also bootlegs/counterfeits.

So... yeah.  Comics have only just started to play the variant new comic game.

Hear Hear!

I don't know if the middle part I omitted from your post was for real or just an exaggeration to make a point? I mean I wouldn't be surprised in the least if you were being serious 

I flirted a little bit with baseball cards in early 90's and just found it frustrating attempting to sort through variations. It was a headache to have to keep track of and this was decades ago. Upper Deck was the big thing at the time if memory serves. Figuring out which was the best ARod rookie card to get was getting ridiculous! I just said screw it I'll stick to comics. 

You're right I can't imagine the endless assortment of bells & whistles presented to card collectors today 

Must be mind numbing 

[Mercury Man]

For fun go to ebay and look up 'Griffey Jr RC'.    Your head will explode.   All the different brands of RC's, (Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score, Upper Deck, Bowman, to name a few), all of the different companies that graded his rookie cards (PSA, Beckett, GEM Elite, SGC, GMA etc.), there is no rhyme or reason to the prices. GEM MT 10 UPPER DECKS go for less than a GEM MINT 10 FLEER, but some go for more (I am guessing it may have to do with the grading company, much like comics?! ).

Meh...glad I ditched sports cards decades ago.

[fishbone]

On 3/6/2020 at 12:15 PM, Black_Adam said:

This may make me sound old (and Canadian) but I liked it best when there was only one company releasing cards each year (i.e. O-Pee-Chee hockey, Topps baseball, etc). I was swept up in the 90s craze but the only cards I have kept are my hockey cards from when I was a kid in the 1970s and we used to *trade* them by leaning a hot card against a wall (called the set up) and having other kids shoot common cards at it from about five feet away with the first kid to knock the set-up card down getting to keep it, while the kid who put the card up against the wall got to keep all the shooters. This game reached such a fever peak at my elementary school in North Vancouver during the late 1970s that the school finally had to ban it before a fourth-grade brawl broke out due to the constant disputes between players. And, yes, I still have a Gretzky rookie card found in my pile of shooters from those days (I can't even imagine how many I would have fired against a wall - we thought Montreal Canadien and team cards were the only keepers, no one wanted any Oilers). We also used to play topsies - you would take turns flicking cards abut five feet forward with the first player to land a card on top of another getting all the cards that had been shot. Now that's card collecting!

YES  !!!   and also remember "scrambles" when you'd stand out in the playground at recess and basically throw away all of your triples and quadruples and watch everyone lose their mind fighting each other to grab everything they could !!?? Was so fun in Canada  (i'm from Toronto) being 10-12 in the late 70's and in love with hockey and hockey cards

That 90's craze started by Upper Deck - what a scam that was. I have everything still, and it's worth about a penny a card, if even that. Still love my collection though.

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by fishbone

[Black_Adam]

14 minutes ago, fishbone said:

YES  !!!   and also remember "scrambles" when you'd stand out in the playground at recess and basically throw away all of your triples and quadruples and watch everyone lose their mind fighting each other to grab everything they could !!?? Was so fun in Canada  (i'm from Toronto) being 10-12 in the late 70's and in love with hockey and hockey cards

That 90's craze started by Upper Deck - what a scam that was. I have everything still, and it's worth about a penny a card, if even that. Still love my collection though.

 

Ah yes, scrambles. 

My school in North Vancouver had a grassy hill right beside it and kids would stand at the top with a bag of beat-up cards, announce a scramble and hordes of schoolmates would flood that grassy slope, wild-eyed with anticipation. And when those cards started flying...I am sure there are WWII battles that were less violent. 

[Mr. Spider-Woman]

On 3/11/2020 at 3:07 PM, valiantman said:

You could say that Zion Williamson has a rookie card called 2019/2020 Donruss, but then you'd need to specify whether it was: Green Flood, Holo Green and Yellow Laser, Holo Orange Laser, Infinite, Silver Press Proof (/349), Purple Press Proof (/199), Holo Green Laser (/99), Red Infinite (/99), Red Laser Press Proof (/99), Holo Pink Laser (/50), Blue Laser Press Proof (/49), Blue Infinite (/35), Holo Yellow Laser (/25), Holo Purple Laser (/15), Holo Red and Blue Laser (/15), Gold Infinite (/10), Gold Laser Press Proof (/10), Holo Purple and Green Laser Holo (/10), Black Laser Press Proof (1/1), Black Infinite (1/1), Donruss Optic Blue, Checkerboard, Choice, Choice Dragon, Choice Red and Green, Fanatics Box Set, Fast Break Holo, Gold Wave, Green Wave, Holo, Hyper Pink, Purple, Purple Shock, Red Wave, White Sparkle, Premium Box Set (/249), Orange (/199), Lime Green (/149), Red (/99), Fast Break Purple (/95), Choice Red (/88), Fast Break Red (/85), Pink Velocity (/79), Blue Velocity (/59), Fast Break Blue (/50), Black Velocity (/39), Purple Stars (/29), Pink (/25), Fast Break Pink (/20), Fast Break Gold (/10), Gold (/10), Choice Black Gold (/8), Lucky Envelopes (/8), Green (/5), Black (1/1), Choice Nebula (1/1), Fast Break Black (1/1), Gold Vinyl (1/1)... and that would be Donruss. 

I didn't mention Panini, but there are similar Zion cards from Panini. 

There are also bootlegs/counterfeits.

So... yeah.  Comics have only just started to play the variant new comic game.

I recently dipped my toe into the sports cards waters just deep enough to know I want to stay as far away as possible from anything other than sealed product. There are too many versions of any given card. It's mind-boggling.

Bots are also a huge problem. It's impossible to buy anything online unless you can pre-order or you're lucky enough to stumble upon a listing immediately after it goes live and before it sells out.

[tomi1]

On 3/13/2020 at 2:46 PM, fishbone said:

YES  !!!   and also remember "scrambles" when you'd stand out in the playground at recess and basically throw away all of your triples and quadruples and watch everyone lose their mind fighting each other to grab everything they could !!?? Was so fun in Canada  (i'm from Toronto) being 10-12 in the late 70's and in love with hockey and hockey cards

That 90's craze started by Upper Deck - what a scam that was. I have everything still, and it's worth about a penny a card, if even that. Still love my collection though.

 

The mass production era unfortunately. Comics in the 90's were also mass produced and worthless. As far as cards go I have collected bobby Orr stuff for over a decade and I can tell you his stuff is on a whole other level. I picked up his 1966 Topps rookie in a PSA 8 for $14,000 5 years ago and the last PSA 8 sold for about $45,000. Vintage is the best in my opinion. Just have to be very cautious with the card trimmers out there. The grading companies are unfortunately a joke but the holders just bring an insane $.

[zhamlau]

On 3/7/2020 at 9:31 AM, Mercury Man said:

Older stuff always does better.   Holds true for both comics and cards.   Lot less of them, and in good condition.  Plus it was great back in the 1950's and 1960's when there were at most only 2 sports card manufacturers (TOPPS and Bowman).  

The industry really did itself in, when they branched out to 5 sets in the 1990's, then multiple sets by multiple manufacturers, then chase cards, refractrors, cut signatures, cut jersey cards, QVC, Home Shopping Network etc etc.  

There used to be a 9 sports card shops within 5 miles of each other here.  Now....1

There were monthly sports card shows, usually with HOF signers, or current players (I live in a Spring Training hub), now.....maybe 1 per yer. 

There was also Parkhurst ,Philadelphia, Fleer, and some small brands filling in too.

[zhamlau]

On 3/12/2020 at 12:33 AM, Brian48 said:

Retirement fund!  Well, they've certainly appreciated a lot more than my 401k that's currently tanking thanks to COVID-19.  

No joke, I owned 5 of those contenders autos Including a gold /100. I worked at a card shop in Ann Arbor when he was still the back up. His first year in the league I opened a ton of contenders for Chad Pennington auto RC’s and Jamal Lewis, as well as Peter Warrick (all guaranteed HOFers don’t you know).

But all I ever pulled was this POS 6th round QB who I used to see around town. Every box he popped out. Talk about cursed!!

Over the years I managed to “unload” those worthless backup QB’s cards. The last sucker I totally ripped and got a whole 350 bucks!!!

....sigh....

[Hollywood1892]

11 hours ago, zhamlau said:

No joke, I owned 5 of those contenders autos Including a gold /100. I worked at a card shop in Ann Arbor when he was still the back up. His first year in the league I opened a ton of contenders for Chad Pennington auto RC’s and Jamal Lewis, as well as Peter Warrick (all guaranteed HOFers don’t you know).

But all I ever pulled was this POS 6th round QB who I used to see around town. Every box he popped out. Talk about cursed!!

Over the years I managed to “unload” those worthless backup QB’s cards. The last sucker I totally ripped and got a whole 350 bucks!!!

....sigh....

You just never know 

[Bronty]

14 hours ago, zhamlau said:

No joke, I owned 5 of those contenders autos Including a gold /100. I worked at a card shop in Ann Arbor when he was still the back up. His first year in the league I opened a ton of contenders for Chad Pennington auto RC’s and Jamal Lewis, as well as Peter Warrick (all guaranteed HOFers don’t you know).

But all I ever pulled was this POS 6th round QB who I used to see around town. Every box he popped out. Talk about cursed!!

Over the years I managed to “unload” those worthless backup QB’s cards. The last sucker I totally ripped and got a whole 350 bucks!!!

....sigh....

ouch

what would they be worth now?

 

 

[Dark Knight]

The /100 one probably 6 figs if graded in the 9 range (pre-coronavirus). Dunno about now, haven't been following lately.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Dark Knight

[Mike's Rack]

When I was in junior high, I was big into sports cards.  Unlike most kiddo's I bought vintage cards.  I hoarded every OJ Simpson card I could buy because I had seen him in The Naked Gun.  I sold them all around 1993 for less than I paid for them.

[valiantman]

On 3/12/2020 at 3:30 PM, MGsimba77 said:

....

I don't know if the middle part I omitted from your post was for real or just an exaggeration to make a point? I mean I wouldn't be surprised in the least if you were being serious 

Sadly, not an exaggeration.  It is an exact copy-and-paste:

https://www.beckett.com/news/zion-williamson-rookie-card-guide/

Imagine a situation where you're making sure you have as many "Holo Red and Blue Laser" variants for sportscards while shunning the ridiculous "Holo Green and Yellow Laser" variants as drek.