Little did I realize as a youth that a great hobby could also be something much more.
In terms of baseball cards, 1965 was an excellent year for me. I was in sixth grade and spent a total of about 50 cents on the Topps bubble gum cards. At five cents a pack, that was ten packs, each containing five cards.
Topps baseball card collection, 1965 (photo courtesy The Cardboard Collection)
But I took those 50 cards and engaged in a form of legalized gambling for kids that spring and summer, and multiplied my final total to about 650 cards. One method was a baseball version of the card game War, slightly revised. The cards of 1965 had different-colored backgrounds for the player’s name and position. Two kids would place their cards down one at a time, alternating turns until a card matched the previous card’s color. The winner took the whole pile, which was sometimes quite large.
Another way to win cards was to throw them down on the sidewalk literally. If your card landed on your opponent’s card, you picked up both. If your card didn’t touch your opponent’s card, he (I knew no girls in 1965 who collected baseball cards) would get a chance to throw down a card and touch one of the two cards, and this could continue for a while if you both had bad aim. Whoever finally touched one of the other cards with their card would win the whole pile.
Unfortunately, none of those 1965 cards were rare, and they certainly weren’t in mint condition after we got through flipping them on the sidewalk or plunking them down in a pile. But if you’ve got some shoeboxes full of old baseball cards in your attic and basement, get them out. For one thing, they are fun to look at for nostalgia’s sake. For another, you may find one that’ll be a real winner, financially speaking.
Hopefully, they’re in great shape, as a card’s condition is crucial to its value. Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) is the world’s most trusted third-party sports card grading and authentication company. They grade on a 1-10 scale; “1” denotes a card in “Poor” condition, while “10,” the most sought-after grade, is considered “Gem Mint.”
Here are the ten most expensive baseball cards ever sold, courtesy of blogger Sheng Peng.
1909 T206 Honus Wagner, Price: $3.12 million: There are only about 50 known copies of the T206 Wagner, the undisputed “Mona Lisa” of baseball cards. Wagner himself is the reason for the card’s rarity. The Pittsburgh Pirates star barred the American Tobacco Company from continuing production of the card, either because he didn’t want children to buy cigarettes to acquire his card or because he wanted to get paid more for his likeness.
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, Price: $2.88 million: Topps has dominated the baseball card scene for the past seven decades, issuing a set every year since 1951. And the 1952 Topps Mantle is the crown jewel of modern baseball cards.
1951 Mantle, greeting card format (courtesy Fine Art America)
1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle, Price: $750,000: The 1952 Topps Mantle may be the crown jewel of modern baseball cards, but it’s not the slugger’s rookie card. That distinction belongs to the 1951 Bowman Mantle.
1916 Sporting News Babe Ruth, Price: $717,000: There may be no rookie card more important than the 1916 Sporting News Ruth. Unlike the T-206 Wagner, which was strictly a promotional tool for the American Tobacco Company, the 1916 Ruth was “a collectible business card” with a blank back, which enabled businesses to add their advertising to the back.
There were as many as 16 businesses advertised, but The Sporting News reverse is the most coveted.
1963 Topps Pete Rose, Price: $717,000: Despite his lifetime ban from baseball for gambling, Rose cards remain as popular as ever. As of August 2018, there have been 3,711 rookie cards of “The Hit King” graded by PSA, and only this one has been graded as “Gem Mint.”
1909 T206 Eddie Plank, Price: $700,000: Like the T206 Wagner, the exact reason for the T206 Plank’s scarcity has been lost to time. Was it a broken printing plate? Did Plank, who was stridently anti-tobacco, object to being used to promote the American Tobacco Company? Or did the future Hall of Fame pitcher simply not like how much he was being paid for his likeness? Whatever the reason, there are only about 75 T206 Planks in existence.
Courtesy Dave’s Vintage Baseball Cards
1909 American Caramel E90-1 Joe Jackson, Price: $667,149: Like Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson is the symbol of the disgraced American sports hero, just as famous for a career-ending gambling scandal, the 1919 Black Sox World Series, as he was for his prodigious hitting exploits. Along with cigarettes, baseball cards were also included as premiums with candy in the early 20th century.
1909 T206 Sherry Magee (Error), Price: $660,000: Sherry Magee led the National League in RBIs four times, but that’s not why his PSA 8 T206 card sold for $660,000 in September 2018. It’s because Magee’s name was initially spelled “Magie” before being corrected. The card is considered the most celebrated “error” in baseball card history.
1968 Topps Nolan Ryan, Price: $612,359: While this Ryan rookie card is relatively plentiful (as of August 2018, PSA had graded 8,279 copies), only one of this fireballer’s debut issue has been graded a PSA 10. Ryan, who holds the all-time record for strikeouts, figures to hold his popularity in the baseball card world for years to come.
1910 T210 Old Mill Joe Jackson, Price: $600,000: It’s been over 100 years since the Black Sox scandal and more than 35 years since “Field of Dreams,” but the public continues to be fascinated by “Shoeless Joe.”
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This article first appeared in The Vacaville Reporter on May 19, 2020.
