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As mentioned in the previous newsletter, my friend Ken and I had a Whatnot show last Tuesday. After getting off to something of a slow start, we hit our stride and actually stayed on for nearly three hours. And, bonus, it was a lot of fun, and we sold nearly 100 cards. Follow us at our Whatnot channel so you can be aware of future shows.

In other news, PSA is planning to invest a LOT of money into their infrastructure, to the tune of $200 million over the next 18 months. That may just be because the amount of cards submitted for grading has swelled from 2 million in 2020 to what could be 27 million (!!) by the end of this year.

While it’s good news that they’re making that investment, the not-good news is that wait times are going up again. Value Bulk submissions (the lowest price grading level) are slated to come in at 140-160 business days - and the minimum card submission requirement is ballooning from 20 to 50 cards (i.e., around $1,250 in grading cost, based on the $24.99/card cost, assuming no up-charges).

It will be interesting to see how the hobby responds to this. I don’t know the current state of group submissions, but for those who want to save money and only have a few cards to submit, it’s likely either that or upgrading to the Value level at $32.99/card and the 100-120 business-day wait.

What these prices and wait times could do is force people in the hobby to make some hard choices about what cards are actually worth submitting and/or how long they really want to wait. There’s always waiting for grading specials, considering other grading options, or (gasp) keeping cards raw. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

In this issue you'll find:

Auction highlights
News in the hobby
1969 Topps and 1959 Topps Mickey Mantles: A price trend comparison
Dave Casper’s rookie card and player profile
ICYMI
Recent Vintage Card Voyage videos

Let’s get into it.

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Auction Highlights

In order of closing date (as of Sunday evening PT):

Hunt Auctions (ending on May 19)

⚾ 1954 Topps Scoops Bob Feller #27 Auto Beckett Authentic - $41

⚾ 1971 Topps #68 Tom Seaver Auto PSA/DNA Authentic - $48

⚾ 1996 Topps Commemorative 1973 Topps Willie Mays Card Auto PSA 6 / PSA/DNA Cert - $50

Sirius Sports Cards Auction (ending on May 21)

⚾ 1964 Topps NL Home Run Leaders (Aaron/Mays/McCovey/Cepeda) #9 SGC 7 - $48

⚾ 1960 Topps Sandy Koufax #343 PSA 7 (OC) - $88

🏀 1970 Topps Oscar Robertson #100 PSA 7 - $97

Other active auctions:

Huggins & Scott (ends on May 26)

Goldin May Elite Sports Auction (ends on June 6)

Clean Sweep Auctions (ends on June 10)

News Briefs

💰 The Best Baseball Card Investment Under $10K? Experts Weigh In

⚾ Nolan Ryan: 1971-1975 Topps Cards Continue to Attract Vintage Collectors

💰 1940s Jimmie Foxx Jersey, Jordan Shoes, Vintage Cards All Part of Upcoming Auction

💰 Rare Honus Wagner Cards Lead Clean Sweep’s Champions Auction

🏀 One Last Flight for Dr. J and David Thompson

Hobby Thoughts: Is an “Affordable” Mickey Mantle Base Card Trending Up More?

For a lot of vintage collectors, Mickey Mantle cards are more aspirational than attainable, especially when graded. That’s especially true for his run of 1950s cards, but his 1960s cards aren’t exactly chopped liver.

Since his late-1960s cards are the closest to affordable, especially in collector-grade, it got me wondering: since so many vintage collectors likely want a Mantle in their collection, are these cards that much more desirable/liquid and therefore would they trend upwards more than other Mantle cards?

Using Card Ladder, I compared the 1969 Topps Mickey Mantle (w/ yellow lettering) with the 1959 Topps Mickey Mantle, to see how the two trended over the last year (since May 17, 2025) and see if there were any obvious differences. I compared similar grades, relatively speaking, so I went from a 1959 Topps PSA 1/1969 Topps PSA 2, to a 1959 Topps PSA 8/1969 Topps PSA 9 - since the last 1969 Topps PSA 10 sold in 2018.

Not what I expected. The findings:

The 1959 Topps increased in value more in six of the eight comparisons, but the biggest jump was a collector-grade 1969 Topps, which went up 86.5%. On average, 1959 Topps cards were up 41% and 1969 Topps up 27.4%.
1969 Topps cards had 10.8% more total sales, 542 to 489.
1969 Topps PSA 4 cards had the most sales, which could be because the current value is only 18.5% higher than a PSA 3, but it’s a 54.5% jump from a 4 to a 5, so buyers could be seeing an opportunity with the PSA 4.
While 1969 Topps cards are relatively more affordable in lower grades, that pattern flips at collector-grade and the true separation happens at the highest grade, and a nearly 5X difference in pop count there probably explains that.
There’s a 23.9% gap in the number of card sales leading up to collector-grade (1969 Topps leading the way, 384-310), but 1959 Topps had more sales from collector-grade on, 179-158, with the primary differentiator being the highest grade - which is understandable, with a current value separation of $9,660.

Click on the Comment button below and let me know if you have other comparisons you’d like me to dig into.

Comment

Vintage HOF Rookie Card: Dave Casper

I’ll admit my ignorance when It comes to Casper’s career, since his best years came before I paid close attention to pro football. That’s why, looking at his stats, I was a bit confused about why he’s in the Hall of Fame. Digging further, I assume it has more to do with his intangibles, like shining in big games (such as the “Ghost to the Post” play), as well as his superior blocking skills.

Dave Casper - TE

HOF Induction in 2002

Standout Stats: