You’ll see in our most recent video that my friend and Vintage Card Voyage co-host Ken and I are trying to build a 1958 Topps football set. We’re currently a little less than halfway there (the set has 132 cards total), so we’re asking members of our various card collecting communities for their assistance.

This idea was inspired by Stephen, aka The Phillies Guy (you should subscribe to his channel; he does a great job), who we recently interviewed and who did an amazing thing by building a 1958 Topps baseball set with the help of his community in order to have the set auctioned and give the proceeds to a local charity that means a lot to him.

I recently learned that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I’m a two-time cancer survivor and Ken’s life has also been touched by cancer, so we’ll find a charity local to us that helps children with cancer and/or their families in a meaningful way. Once we determine which charity and are able to complete the set, we plan to auction it off and give all the proceeds to that organization.

The list of cards we currently need is:

If you happen to have one of these cards that you’re willing to send us, or money you’d like to donate toward the bigger-ticket items we need to complete the set, let us know at [email protected].

Thank you so much.

In this issue you'll find:

Auction highlights
News in the hobby
Are vintage card GOAT prices keeping up with newer ones?
Drew Pearson’s rookie card and player profile
ICYMI
Recent Vintage Card Voyage videos

Let’s get into it.

Auction Highlights

In order of closing date:

Sirius Sports Cards Auction (ending on September 3)

Fanatics Weekly Auction (ending on September 6)

The Collector Connection Post War Sports Cards & Memorabilia (ending on September 6)

Other active auctions:

Clean Sweep Auctions (ends on September 10)

Huggins & Scott Summer Auction (ends on September 10)

Collector Investor Auctions (ends on September 13)

Hunt Auctions (ends on September 16)

Heritage Auctions Fall Sports Card Catalog Auction (ends on September 18-19)

News Briefs

💰 Million-Dollar Sales Headline Explosive Week in Sports Cards

🐐 Collecting the GOATs: 175 Legends and Their Rookie Cards

⚾ Same-Grade Mickey Mantle Cards Sell $2 Million Apart

🐐 Collector Builds Impressive Collection of Iconic Cards of GOATs Across All Sports

⚾ Eddie Waitkus and the Strangest “Thrill” in Baseball Card History

💰 High-Grade Complete Sets Span Decades in Heritage Fall Sports Card Auction

⚾ Cap Anson’s 1887-1890 Old Judge Card Reflects Baseball’s Victorian Origins

🏀 Two Variations Needed to Make a 1948 Bowman Basketball Master Set

Hobby Thoughts: “Recent” GOAT vs. Vintage GOAT Card Value Trends This Year

Takeaway: Current GOAT cards are doing very well, while vintage ones are a bit more slow and steady with their gains.

You may have noticed that sports card prices have been on an upward trend this year. Well, to be specific, certain cards have trended upward much more than others, and those would be the GOATs.

I recently watched this video that discussed whether or not the sports card bubble was popping right now, and the creator referenced a few cards that had trended upward a lot this year but seemed to be pulling back. Whether that’s a post-National/Fanatics Fest reaction or an actual pull-back is hard to say, but what it made me wonder about is vintage GOAT cards.

The players he referenced (Griffey Jr., Jordan, Brady, LeBron) were the “recent” GOATs (if you can call Jordan recent, thus the scare quotes) that all came after the vintage era — although some might argue that 1986 Fleer could be the last set of basketball’s vintage era. So, I naturally wondered, what about the vintage GOATs and their card values? Are they on the same trajectory?

The initial challenge was whom to focus on in the vintage era. The first three cards that came to mind, across MLB, NFL and NBA, were the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, the 1976 Topps Walter Payton, and the 1969 Topps Lew Alcindor. There wasn’t an obvious fourth card in my mind, so I’ll instead look at another three, one from each league: the 1954 Topps Hank Aaron, the 1958 Topps Jim Brown, and the 1961 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain.

The next challenge is what grade to choose. While my sense is that the highest grades are the cards most sought-after, very few people play in that rarified air. Therefore, I’ll default to collector grade, which should also ideally mean enough sales to show a meaningful trend line (even if the Mantle isn’t exactly affordable). And, until grading momentum makes a noticeable shift, I’ll continue to default to PSA-graded cards.

Recent Cards	Starting Price	Current Price	Pct. Gain (or Loss)
1986 Fleer Michael Jordan #57 PSA 8	$11,350	$17,400	53.3
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. #1 PSA 8	$114	$199.99	75.4
2000 Bowman Chrome Tom Brady #236 PSA 10	$13,420	$24,100	73.37
2003 Topps Chrome LeBron James #111 PSA 10	$7,320	$14,550	98.77
Vintage Cards
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 PSA 2	$98,630	$91,500	-7.23
1954 Topps Hank Aaron #128 PSA 5	$9,950	$11,000	10.55
1976 Topps Walter Payton #148 PSA 7	$775	$874.95	12.9
1958 Topps Jim Brown #62 PSA 5	$1,390	$1,753	26.12
1969 Topps Lew Alcindor #25 PSA 6	$2,200	$3,250	47.73
1961 Fleer Wilt Chamberlain #8 PSA 6	$6,787.5	$7,500	10.5

Methodology:

The starting price came from the beginning of the year, and the current price came from this past Saturday, or the most recent sale date, per Card Ladder data
Every card except the Ken Griffey Jr. card qualified as a “Ladder Card,” where Card Ladder provides a profile page that includes the starting price, the current price, the percentage change, and a graph of all the sales during the selected time period (and I assume the only reason the Griffey Jr. wasn’t on the list is because there were WAY too many sales to properly graph)

One note is that I ended up going with a PSA 2 for the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle because I wanted at least five sales to show something resembling a trend line and it was the first grade with that many sales so far this year.

The vintage GOAT results were a bit surprising in that 1) two of the cards increased by more than 25% and 2) the only one that actually dropped in value was the Mantle. Otherwise, the gains in the 10-15% range seemed about right.

While the “recent” GOAT results still shock me, I suppose they shouldn’t in this current environment. Those cards are likely seen as a “safe” buy by both longtime collectors and the people newly entering the hobby (and the new entrants are the likely drivers of these price bumps). My guess is that many of the buyers are in their 30s and 40s, ones whose formative years were spent watching those players. Additionally, as someone who bought quite a few 1987 Topps Devon Whites nearly 40 years ago, you learn that very few rookies are a sure thing and instead steer toward the true legends (and, hey, if you’re in the market for 100 or so Devon Whites, I’m just an email away).

What’s your take on the current sports card market?

Comment

Vintage HOF Rookie Card: Drew Pearson

I was today years old when I learned that Drew Pearson was high school teammates with Joe Theismann. He began his career as one of Theismann’s wide receivers, then when Theismann left for Notre Dame, Pearson actually succeeded him as starting quarterback.

Drew Pearson - WR

HOF Induction in 2021

Standout Stats: