Jeff Kent has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

I generally have a pretty good sense for how likely it is that a player will get into their respective Hall of Fame, at least for the MLB, NFL and NBA, and I don’t remember ever having that feeling while Kent was playing or when he retired.

When I looked at his stats for our Contemporary Era Ballot video, I was admittedly surprised/borderline impressed, especially that he had more career RBIs than Carlos Delgado. That said, his best years came when he was batting cleanup for the Giants, during a period when Barry Bonds (who hit third) was being walked 140 times per season and had an on-base percentage of .472 (as a comparison, the average slugging percentage this past year was about .414).

This isn’t to disparage Kent, who was an impressive baseball player, but he just never seemed like that guy when it came to his place in the game’s history. And maybe that’s because he was overshadowed by others during his career, including Bonds.

I have to also add that he’s a second baseman, which highlights the fact that fellow second baseman Lou Whitaker (Detroit Tigers bias warning!!), whose career WAR is nearly 20 points higher than Kent’s, still isn’t in the Hall of Fame. I’m looking at YOU, Hall of Fame voters.

And to bring this back to sports cards, don’t be surprised if Jeff Kent’s cards are being sold at a premium right now.

In this issue you'll find:

Auction highlights
News in the hobby
Will higher grades mean higher gains for football cards?
Recent Vintage Card Voyage videos

Let’s get into it.

Auction Highlights

In order of closing date, with prices as of Sunday evening PST:

Goldin (closing December 11)

⚾1960 Topps #148 Carl Yastrzemski Rookie Card SGC 8 - $1,225

🏀1980-81 Topps Scoring Leaders Bird/Erving/Magic PSA 5 - $300

🥊1960 Hemmets Journal Hand Cut #23 Cassius Clay Rookie Card PSA Authentic - $67

Collector Connection (closing December 14)

⚾1961 Topps #300 Mickey Mantle PSA 6 - $702

🏈1976 Topps #148 Walter Payton Rookie Card PSA 6 - $352

🏀1972 Topps #195 Julius Erving Rookie Card PSA 6 - $327

Collector Investor Auctions (closing December 14)

⚾1953 Topps #220 Satchel Paige PSA 4 - $705

🏈1958 Topps #62 Jim Brown Rookie Card PSA 3 - $506

🏀1969 Topps #25 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor) Rookie Card PSA 3 - $130

News Briefs

💰 Impressive Collection of Autographed Cards Up for Auction

⚾ Top 5 Iconic Multiplayer Vintage Baseball Cards

🏈 The Only Playing-Day Football Card of the NFL’s Winningest All-Time Coach

🏀 Michael Jordan Cards Continue to Get Graded a Lot

⚾ The Worst Baseball Cards Ever (Including Some Vintage)

Hobby Thoughts: Exploring Trends in the Football Graded Spectrum

For new subscribers, last week I looked at nine different baseball HOF rookie cards from three different decades (the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s), players from three different hobby “tiers,” to see if the higher-graded cards would increase more percentage-wise than those same cards in lower grades. I averaged sales from the beginning of the year and the most recent ones, using Card Ladder.

This week, I explore the same categories, but with football cards. Here are the nine players’ rookie cards:

Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3
1958 Topps Jim Brown	1950 Bowman Otto Graham	1950 Bowman Joe Perry
1965 Topps Joe Namath	1963 Fleer Len Dawson	1963 Topps Bob Lilly
1976 Topps Walter Payton	1973 Topps Ken Stabler	1977 Topps Steve Largent

And here are the percentage gains or losses for the three grading categories - low (1-3), mid- (4-6) and high (7-9).

The obvious surprise would be the Joe Perry numbers, but they aren’t as reliable because there were no PSA 1 or PSA 2 sales, and only three PSA 3 sales all year. This lack of sales happened more often with football cards than with the baseball cards in last week’s research.

Otherwise, seeing the second tier players move a bit more positively than the first tier players was a bit surprising.

The big movement of the Payton card makes me wonder if the resurgence of the Chicago Bears has anything to do with it - especially considering the movement you’ll see with his higher-graded cards below.

First-tier players shine here, which could certainly be seasonal as we’re deep into the NFL season and collectors have football on the brain. I personally hope it means that collectors are exploring vintage football a bit more and looking for value.

The 1970s cards going up as much as they have is certainly intriguing and could merit further exploration.

The Namath numbers are especially impressive when you consider that the recent PSA 4 average price comes at just above $3,000, while the PSA 6s land at almost $5,300. I continue to question why his rookie card is worth as much as it is, based on his career statistics (and relative to the prices of, for instance, Jim Brown’s rookie card), but it is a short print and his Broadway Joe persona persists, so the market has spoken.

The Largent numbers, meanwhile, aren’t necessarily as impressive as they might otherwise be, with the average price for the PSA 6 landing at just under $40.

The Payton numbers continue to impress, with the PSA 8s ending the year averaging nearly $1,400 and the 9s averaging nearly $5,300. “Sweetness” was the only player to have PSA 10 sales - five, in fact, and the average sale went up 12.6%, landing at $59,500.

The Perry numbers are, again, not as reliable, since he’s had no PSA 9 sales and only two PSA 8 sales.

Like the 1970s mid-grade cards, it’s interesting seeing all the cards from the 1960s dropping while every other card went up (albeit barely for both Brown and Stabler). Does that mean the high grades for these players have hit their ceiling? Something to track going forward, and to potentially investigate further with other rookie cards from that era.

From an overall standpoint, the approximate average growth for the PSA 1-3 group is 10.3%, PSA 4-6 cards are up 18.7%, and PSA 7-9 cards are up 10.1%. Interestingly, the same thing happened with the baseball results last week, with the middle grades seeing the highest gains.

And from a tiering perspective, here are the approximate average percentage results:

Grade Range	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3
PSA 1-3	6.4	12.4	12.2
PSA 4-6	21.1	12.6	22.4
PSA 7-9	10.4	0.2	19.8

While tier 3 has a nice showing, Perry’s numbers (as noted above) don’t make them as reliable. It is good, though, to see improved prices across the board.

What should be noted, though, is that specific football cards are more likely to lose value. As someone who appreciates all vintage sports cards, I hope that trend changes.

What are your takeaways?

Comment