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Sports cards vs Comics
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Started by Hollywood1892,

174 posts in this topic

MGsimba77

MGsimba77

Posted
Posted
On 3/6/2020 at 11:19 AM, PopKulture said:

The high end sports card market has been strong for years. The great cards from the 60's and earlier in PSA 8 and better routinely set records. As mentioned, however, if you bought cases of unopened sets of NBA Hoops and Score or Upper Deck baseball cards in the 1990's, you'll be waiting for a while yet to see those big gains everyone was hoping for.... :shy:

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 

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ADAMANTIUM

ADAMANTIUM

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Posted

I discovered, due to this thread, that the highest basketball card in $$ I have is a couple of Dirk Nowitzki upper deck rookie's. Baseball growing up in the 80's, I have ton's of junk in binders (: 

with the usual, Mark Mcgwire rookie's, Greg Jefferries, and a few Don Mattingly's, Ken Griffey Jr's thrown in.

Mickey Mantle 1958 All Star is probably my oldest card. I had Nolan Ryan's card in BVG 5.5, but I sold it several Christmases ago to fund presents. I think I paid $300 for it and got $300 back after holding on to it for a couple of years..... 

I'm in the dark on cards :sorry: 

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Keys_Collector

Keys_Collector

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 3/10/2020 at 5:25 AM, PunisherPunisherPunisher said:

Watched a good doco on baseball cards called "Jack Of All Trades".

I found this documentary to be awful and go into this tangent with bad acting about his father as opposed to the actual state of the market.  I took the chance of watching it as I did love the hobby and grew up collecting both cards and comics with a larger focus in the 80's on trading cards.  I sold a majority of my card collection at the same time as I sold my large comic collection in the early 90's once I left for the boot camp.  Found a few hundred decent rookie cards in my fathers attic a few years back and sold them on Craigslist for $500.  I'm pretty sure I could have gotten some graded and made out pretty well but didn't want to go through the trouble and didn't care any more for the hobby.  

Players can and will have historical values for some time to come and so will the superheroes we love.  The difference is that superheroes are mythical with no real world attachment to players who are people at the end of the day.  For that reason, I've found myself being more attached to comics as I've gotten older where I can appreciate the stories and artwork as opposed to players that are just human beings.  I don't care to idolize human beings with real human faults where as I can still get nostalgic flashbacks of looking at a comic cover or flipping through pages of a book I read when I was a kid.  That's my own person reasoning but I see the reasoning behind people collecting either and the wild market of grading will continue to keep prices strong for either "key" cards or comics.

Edited by Keys_Collector
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comicwiz

comicwiz

Posted
Posted (edited)

One trend that I have to say I find concerning (and to be honest, I just discovered) is seeing/hearing Gary Vaynerchuck recommending people speculate and invest in sportscards. Before I even attempt to expand on this, is there anyone here who has listened to his videos/podcasts on this, and/or listens to him enough to trust what he is telling people and would consider investing in sportscards themselves?

Not asking to target anyone, just curious to see what kind of reach he may/may not have here in this community.

Edited by comicwiz
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Robot Man

Robot Man

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Posted
22 hours ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

I discovered, due to this thread, that the highest basketball card in $$ I have is a couple of Dirk Nowitzki upper deck rookie's. Baseball growing up in the 80's, I have ton's of junk in binders (: 

with the usual, Mark Mcgwire rookie's, Greg Jefferries, and a few Don Mattingly's, Ken Griffey Jr's thrown in.

Mickey Mantle 1958 All Star is probably my oldest card. I had Nolan Ryan's card in BVG 5.5, but I sold it several Christmases ago to fund presents. I think I paid $300 for it and got $300 back after holding on to it for a couple of years..... 

I'm in the dark on cards :sorry: 

My oldest daughter is probably around your age. Being into sports as a kid, she also collected sports cards. Her large collection is still stored in a closet. Mostly baseball and basketball. I know she has 3 or 4 each Jordan and Kobe rookie cards. At the time I encouraged her to get all the “odd” cards like ones you got in cereal and food packages as well as any giveaway or mail away cards. I’m pretty sure some of them are pretty rare. She has a fair amount of older cards that she got while trailing me around at flea markets as a kid. Unlike people like us, she has simply NO interest in them. 

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Junkdrawer

Junkdrawer

Posted
Posted
On 3/10/2020 at 7:27 AM, Hollywood1892 said:

Sports cards are such a risque investment 

My failures

Stephen Francis RC

Patrik Stefans RCs

Stephan Marbury RC

I can't think of anymore at the moment but it's a long and distinguished list of epic failures

Stick with legendary players, stars, HOFers

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Junkdrawer

Junkdrawer

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1 hour ago, D84 said:

Do sports cards have tons of variants?

Like Detective Comics 1000.

Yes and they structure it like this:

Luca Doncic

1:1

1:5

1:10

1:25

1:100

and on and on. Of course once the particular card is graded, that 1:5 could now be a 1:1

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D84

D84

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Junkdrawer said:

Yes and they structure it like this:

Luca Doncic

1:1

1:5

1:10

1:25

1:100

and on and on. Of course once the particular card is graded, that 1:5 could now be a 1:1

That's depressing. 

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valiantman

valiantman

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, D84 said:

Do sports cards have tons of variants?

Like Detective Comics 1000.

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: 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.:ohnoez:

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shadroch

shadroch

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, D84 said:

Do sports cards have tons of variants?

Like Detective Comics 1000.

Some old cards have variant issues. One of the more popular is the 1969 Mickey Mantle. There is a card with his name in white and another with the name in yellow.

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shadroch

shadroch

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, 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: 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.:ohnoez:

 No one would call a 1988 Donruss card a variant of a 1988 Topps card. Topps used to put out a Tiffany Set, which was the same cards as their regular set but glossier, and Fleer put out Glossy sets but they were separate products, not variants as comics refer to them. Topps and its competition put out Canadian cards, under different brands. The fronts are the same, with the backs being different.

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valiantman

valiantman

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Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, shadroch said:

 No one would call a 1988 Donruss card a variant of a 1988 Topps card. Topps used to put out a Tiffany Set, which was the same cards as their regular set but glossier, and Fleer put out Glossy sets but they were separate products, not variants as comics refer to them. Topps and its competition put out Canadian cards, under different brands. The fronts are the same, with the backs being different.

Someone says "I have a 1984 Don Mattingly rookie card" but you don't know which one.  The brands are the variations/variants of the same thing... a Don Mattingly rookie card.

Edited by valiantman
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