Sports Cards

[big dog cowboy]

I have a cool baseball card story for y’all.

My dad was stationed in Bahrain during the Gulf War. At that time companies were sending tons a free goodies to the troops in support be it shampoo, tooth brushes, snacks, et cetera.

Topps ended up sending tons of 1991 baseball cards packs. However, what made these cards unique was that they were specially embossed with a gold stamp on each card that said “Operation Desert Shield.”

My dad told me there were storage sheds full of them. Guys and gals would just open up the packs for the gum and toss the cards, use them as fire tinder, et cetera. So, if the limited amount of cards that were sent there, many ended up destroyed or trashed.

I was 13-14 years old and living in Arlington, Texas, at this time. My dad knew I was a big sports fan and collected cards so he sent me a couple of shoe boxes full of these cards. On whim during the summer I went to my local card shop and brought a Juan Gonzalez card with the stamp on it to simply find out what it was worth because it wasn’t listed in the Beckett’s Guide. I remember the shop just looking in disbelief and telling me the card was worth $300-$400.

Obviously, the next time I was able to talk to my dad I let him know what I had been told. The next thing I know I’m getting big boxes (24” X 24”) sent from overseas to our house filled with these cards. We ended up being able to make like 8-9 complete sets and thousands of single cards.

When my dad finally got back he and my mom started setting up at card conventions selling these cards and making a killing. The culminating event led them to a big convention at the Houston Astrodome. A card dealer came to our table and offered to buy us completely out, which my folks took up. They ended up getting something in the order of $22,000+ which factoring in for inflation would be apx. $43,000 today.

We ended up buying a new car directly from that money. I still have a complete set to this day that I’m saving for my son. I haven’t had any of the cards graded but to give you an idea of the potential value see the following:

 

[Creeper]

From an investment standpoint, I think the biggest problem with many sports trading card series printed since the 1990s is that they have been printing too many of them each year combined with much broader access to buy the cards since the beginning of the internet.

It is the same with other collectibles as most have become more saturated in numbers to ever mature into great investments except in a few situations.

There are exceptions though such as limited printed card sets or groups of cards within larger and more common sets, but since those tend to be the most sought after so the manufacturers are incentivized to print more of them than they should.

I collected back in the late 80s and early 90s with my son when he was about 8. I have about 50,000 cards in my basement, including a bunch of full sets. Prices initially skyrocketed but so many people were collecting back then that no cards were rare enough to be worth anything and the prices tanked. I have a bunch of Barry Sanders rookie cards but they are pretty much worthless now. Plus, the implemented some kind of rating system through a 3rd party. Cards are only valuable after they have been assessed to be mint by this third party. Of course they charge a fee to assess any card.

Anyway, anything from about 1984 - 1994 is pretty worthless with the exception of a few limited edition cards.

But if anyone wants to buy some Barry Sanders rookie cards, or Don Mattingly, Ken Griffey Jr, or just about any other athlete who began his career from 1985 to 1995, let me know.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Hmmm... I thought the sports card industry crashed a long time ago. Reading this thread is tempting me to pull out some of my old cards. I was just going to pass them on to someone else in the family one day. Only have daughters and they're not sports fans. Have a lot of late 80's early 90's NFL, NBA and MLB, but I thought the Upper Deck and all craziness that happened at that time crashed the values.

Haven't gotten around to it yet, or the stomach to invest in it, but my dream project was always to build a 53 card protective frame of All-Time Dallas Cowboys, and get rookie cards of my own picks for All-Time Team. So for example, have 3 slots at QB like a normal NFL roster - Staubach rookie card, Aikman rookie card, etc.... (I purposefully didn't finish that thought, I really want to put Dak at #3 already!)

 

[big dog cowboy]

Hmmm... I thought the sports card industry crashed a long time ago.

Yeah those days have been over for quite a while.

 

[The Ominous]

I have a 10/10 graded mint condition Emmitt Smith Florida Gator rookie. What is the freaking deal with Pokémon cards though. I dont get it haha. I have so many amazing sports cards though. It was super fun collecting them back in the day.