So I'm cleaning out my place and turned up my old box of sports cards. Digging through, came across a 2005 Upper Deck SPX Aaron Rodgers Jersey Autographed Rookie Card. Only 250 in existence. Each one serial numbered. Mine is #227/250.

I bought it on ebay back in 2008 when Rodgers sucked, but I knew he would one day become the best QB in football. Purchase price in 2008: $127.

Checked online today and there's another on sale for $1200. Purchase history indicates that it's sold +$1K several times the past few years. 9-10x return in 12 years. Easily the best card purchase i've ever made.

I dare anyone to beat that. I will give you a blue star if you can.

This doesn't beat your story but when I was five or six years old a kid came up to me and for some unexplained reason gave me a Mickey Mantle baseball card. That was in 1962. I don't remember what year the card was. It was in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, years later, my folks threw away my cards and I wonder what that one would be worth. I've heard of so many people whose parents have thrown out their cards.

79 Bear said:

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This doesn't beat your story but when I was five or six years old a kid came up to me and for some unexplained reason gave me a Mickey Mantle baseball card. That was in 1962. I don't remember what year the card was. It was in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, years later, my folks threw away my cards and I wonder what that one would be worth. I've heard of so many people whose parents have thrown out their cards.

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And that's exactly why the old ones are worth so much! That Mantle could easily have been worth more than the Aaron card, depending on its condition.

79 Bear said:

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This doesn't beat your story but when I was five or six years old a kid came up to me and for some unexplained reason gave me a Mickey Mantle baseball card. That was in 1962. I don't remember what year the card was. It was in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, years later, my folks threw away my cards and I wonder what that one would be worth. I've heard of so many people whose parents have thrown out their cards.

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I still have a nearly complete set of 1959 baseball cards, including Mantle, Koufax, Mays, Aaron, Clemente, etc. that somehow escaped all attempts by my parents to toss them away. I have no idea of the value because I have no interest in selling them. I do know they cost a nickel a pack. Someday, I'll give them to my grandson.

I have a 1969 Hank Aaron card that I am sure I acquired for less than $.001 in my younger days. Not procured as a collectible but for daily use as it regularly made the rounds in my pants pockets in case a wiffle ball game broke out. The frayed edges no doubt has effected its value but probably not as much as it getting in the washer and being washed and dried. Fortunately, it was protected between other cards but lets just say hot water, soap, agitation and hot air is not the best thing for a baseball card, exposed directly to the elements or not.

Still on a percentage basis...not a bad investment as I bet I could get at least $.05 out of it if I chose to sell - and could find it.

PS, the card below is not my card, mine has a more weathered look .

I don't have a good story. I have a terrible one. In the late 80's I paid $100 for a signed Jose Canseco rookie card. Sad

PalyBear said:

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I don't have a good story. I have a terrible one. In the late 80's I paid $100 for a signed Jose Canseco rookie card. Sad

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LOL - ok you win

In middle school in the early 90s, I traded a 1987 Topps set for a 1934 partially burnt Lou Gehrig card that was encased in glass.

It totally looked legit. I still think it looks legit. But a baseball card shop in Beverly Hills told me it's fake. Maybe I should get a second opinion? (I still have it. I found it in my parents' garage not long ago.)

Anyways, I was looking to see how valuable my 1987 Topps set would be in 2020. Apparently, it's really valuable.

When I played Little League in the late 50's early 60's I'd usually get a pack or two of baseball cards after the games at the concession stand. Five cents, and I usually chewed the bubble gum which was stale most of the time. Definitely should not have as my mouth is filled with dental work. Anyway, as a Giants fan they were the most coveted cards and we were all convinced that the Willie Mays cards were only produced in limited numbers as I never got one in all the hundreds of cards I bought. Those of you old enough will remember that some cereals had baseball cards on the backs of the boxes. When I went with my mother to the store I would look at all the boxes and plead with her to buy the one(s) with the best players. Of course, the cereals all had "Sugar" in their names and also contributed to my cavities. I had all my cards organized by team, and it was easy to keep them together as there was no free agency and players tended to stay put. Yes, I did put cards in the spokes of my bike. There was no collecting market then and all the cards disappeared at some point in time, as well as all my comic books of the era. Who would have thought then that these would be of any worth? I've also had guitars and amps go through my hands over the last 55 years but fortunately (or unfortunately) there are only two or three that I regret letting go.

My baseball cards went into the spokes of my bicycle... ;-P

I have only bought one or two cards for "investment" purposes, thinking that someday they may be worth something. One of those cards was an off-brand Michael Jordan minor league card. I looked it up some months ago since I happened to come across it. It's worth more than I paid for it but it has not appreciated as much as I blindly hoped when I bought it.

Cal_79 said:

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My baseball cards went into the spokes of my bicycle... ;-P

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A "Schwinn Stingray" I am guessing.

I don't think my story quite beats hanky1's story, but it's fairly close. I had collected baseball cards as a kid but when I went off to Cal, my mother gave my cards away to a kid down the street without asking me. I probably had about 1500 cards though they were well loved and their condition wasn't the best.

Fast forward to 1991 and my parents had died in the previous year. My sisters and I were slowly going through their things. The back bedroom had a weird L shaped closet under the stairs to the second floor. That had been my bedroom as a teenager. Our dog had several litters of puppies over the years and she favored having them in the back of that closet. So, as I'm cleaning out the back part of that closet, I found about 20 baseball cards. Most were in poor shape and - umm - stained. A few were OK but weren't star players. Except for one. I found what was the holy grail back then, a Nolan Ryan/Jerry Koosman rookie card. Even more miraculously, the puppies hadn't peed on it and I hadn't marked it up or bent it.

At the time, my research showed that the best versions of this card were going for $1500 - $2000. There was a card show that weekend in San Francisco and I hit up every vendor at the show. My card wasn't well centered (the cut was a little off) and the best offer I got was $800, which I happily took. I desperately needed the money at the time or I might have held on to it. I had gone back to San Jose State for a second degree and through no fault of my own, the financial aid staff messed up the handling of my student loan and I had no money for the fall semester. I stretched that $800 for almost 2 months. I'm not sure how I would have gotten through that period without that money. The spring semester was nice because I had loan money from both the fall and spring semester. Also, I started doing some small jobs for one of my professors.

I had read some years back that the card had dropped to about half the value I mentioned above but when I checked just now, it sounds like the card is worth $3500 -$4000 these days. I have no regrets about selling the card. Getting that second degree was one of the best things I've ever done. At the time, I was commuting from Oakland (no rent in my parents house) to San Jose each day on public transit. I don't know how I would have managed a part time job with that commute and being a full time student. The next year I realized that 4 hours commuting each day was insane and moved to San Jose.

okaydo said:

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In middle school in the early 90s, I traded a 1987 Topps set for a 1934 partially burnt Lou Gehrig card that was encased in glass.

It totally looked legit. I still think it looks legit. But a baseball card shop in Beverly Hills told me it's fake. Maybe I should get a second opinion? (I still have it. I found it in my parents' garage not long ago.)

Anyways, I was looking to see how valuable my 1987 Topps set would be in 2020. Apparently, it's really valuable.

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Ha! I have a box of unopened 1987 Topps Rac Pacs in my mom's house somewhere. Should've put that money in the bank instead.

philbert said:

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okaydo said:

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In middle school in the early 90s, I traded a 1987 Topps set for a 1934 partially burnt Lou Gehrig card that was encased in glass.

It totally looked legit. I still think it looks legit. But a baseball card shop in Beverly Hills told me it's fake. Maybe I should get a second opinion? (I still have it. I found it in my parents' garage not long ago.)

Anyways, I was looking to see how valuable my 1987 Topps set would be in 2020. Apparently, it's really valuable.

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Ha! I have a box of unopened 1987 Topps Rac Pacs in my mom's house somewhere. Should've put that money in the bank instead.

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$20 invested in Apple in 1987 would be worth $6,500 today, not including dividends received (and potentially reinvested).

calumnus said:

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philbert said:

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okaydo said:

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In middle school in the early 90s, I traded a 1987 Topps set for a 1934 partially burnt Lou Gehrig card that was encased in glass.

It totally looked legit. I still think it looks legit. But a baseball card shop in Beverly Hills told me it's fake. Maybe I should get a second opinion? (I still have it. I found it in my parents' garage not long ago.)

Anyways, I was looking to see how valuable my 1987 Topps set would be in 2020. Apparently, it's really valuable.

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Ha! I have a box of unopened 1987 Topps Rac Pacs in my mom's house somewhere. Should've put that money in the bank instead.

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$20 invested in Apple in 1987 would be worth $6,500 today, not including dividends received (and potentially reinvested).

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I know where my baseball cards are but I can't remember what I did with those darn stock certificates...

Didn't have a Stingray, but it was a Schwinn.

calumnus said:

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philbert said:

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okaydo said:

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In middle school in the early 90s, I traded a 1987 Topps set for a 1934 partially burnt Lou Gehrig card that was encased in glass.

It totally looked legit. I still think it looks legit. But a baseball card shop in Beverly Hills told me it's fake. Maybe I should get a second opinion? (I still have it. I found it in my parents' garage not long ago.)

Anyways, I was looking to see how valuable my 1987 Topps set would be in 2020. Apparently, it's really valuable.

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Ha! I have a box of unopened 1987 Topps Rac Pacs in my mom's house somewhere. Should've put that money in the bank instead.

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$20 invested in Apple in 1987 would be worth $6,500 today, not including dividends received (and potentially reinvested).

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Ha! No stockbroker would've taken my $20 investment. That wouldn't have even covered the trading fee back then. But yeah, I wish I had invested money in stocks much earlier than I did...or at least some older cards.

calumnus said:

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$20 invested in Apple in 1987 would be worth $6,500 today, not including dividends received (and potentially reinvested).

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Dell computer in 1989. By 1999 it had gone up by a factor of over 800. Yes, that's right a 800x. Thanks Michael. That's one University of Texas dude I have good thoughts about. I try to keep it at a limit of one...

HOF just announced Tom Seaver died (COVID-19 and Lewy body dementia).

I sold cards for more, but my greatest sale was when I was like in 7th grade for a 1980 Topps rookie Rickey Henderson. I think I got like $75 for it on an auction board. Being in 7th grade back then that was like making $1,000. Turns out these rookie cards got overshadowed by refractors, special inserts and of course serial numbered autographed cards. Out of sentimentality I collect autographed cards of Cal football and players. Some have a lot of value like Keenan Allen, some are for just pure nostalgia like Dave Barr. I did pick up a couple of Andrew Vaughn USA Baseball autographed cards.

RIP to Tom Terrific.

Larno said:

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When I played Little League in the late 50's early 60's I'd usually get a pack or two of baseball cards after the games at the concession stand. Five cents, and I usually chewed the bubble gum which was stale most of the time. Definitely should not have as my mouth is filled with dental work. Anyway, as a Giants fan they were the most coveted cards and we were all convinced that the Willie Mays cards were only produced in limited numbers as I never got one in all the hundreds of cards I bought. Those of you old enough will remember that some cereals had baseball cards on the backs of the boxes. When I went with my mother to the store I would look at all the boxes and plead with her to buy the one(s) with the best players. Of course, the cereals all had "Sugar" in their names and also contributed to my cavities. I had all my cards organized by team, and it was easy to keep them together as there was no free agency and players tended to stay put. Yes, I did put cards in the spokes of my bike. There was no collecting market then and all the cards disappeared at some point in time, as well as all my comic books of the era. Who would have thought then that these would be of any worth? I've also had guitars and amps go through my hands over the last 55 years but fortunately (or unfortunately) there are only two or three that I regret letting go.

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That's me as well. Had all the team Giants cards, and 49ers, from 57-59. Favorites of course were Willie Mays (hard to get in those packs, you are right Larno!) and R.C. "Alley Oop" Owens, WR for the 49ers. The problem was, back then, that they WERE trading cards - we sat in our bedrooms and traded them over and over again - a Mickey Mantle for a Roberto Clemente?? So as a result, they never stayed even close to a "Good" condition today. And after they went on the bike spokes with the wooden clothes pin?

I don't know about value, but I have a 1990 Hoops Tim Hardaway rookie card that I had Tim sign when he was in his 2nd NBA season. The card is worth about $1 itself. There is a signed one on eBay right now for $18. I think I'll keep it.

My best trade was for an Eddie Murray 1978 Topps rookie card.

I got it in exchange in the early 80s for a 1981 Topps Art Monk rookie card.

What is crazy about the Eddie Murray card is that in perfect condition it sells for over $15K even now (with a soft market) but with condition VG it is $16. That's quite a spread.

The Art Monk card does still have value (which is saying something) but it is nowhere close.

I never had my card graded, but it's probably not a 10 so I don't worry about it too much.

79 Bear said:

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Cal_79 said:

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My baseball cards went into the spokes of my bicycle... ;-P

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A "Schwinn Stingray" I am guessing.

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A Schwinn Sting Ray can fetch over a thousand bucks!

Cheers!!
Go Bears!!!

My mom threw out all my baseball cards. That was the worst thing she did to me. She was a great mom. My only recollection of them is that they included about 100 Rocky Colovito cards. That damn guy was in every pack.

KoreAmBear said:

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I sold cards for more, but my greatest sale was when I was like in 7th grade for a 1980 Topps rookie Rickey Henderson. I think I got like $75 for it on an auction board. Being in 7th grade back then that was like making $1,000. Turns out these rookie cards got overshadowed by refractors, special inserts and of course serial numbered autographed cards. Out of sentimentality I collect autographed cards of Cal football and players. Some have a lot of value like Keenan Allen, some are for just pure nostalgia like Dave Barr. I did pick up a couple of Andrew Vaughn USA Baseball autographed cards.

RIP to Tom Terrific.

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funny. I was cleaning out my garage, and found this ...