This is no consolation prize to the T Wagner. Despite a career shortened by injuries, Koufax was inducted into the Hall of Fame in At age 36, he was the youngest player ever elected. That's how dominant the left-handed pitcher was at his peak. How much would they go for today? Originally meant for clothing store window display, there are thought to be about a half-dozen Boston Garter Jackson cards in existence. High-grade vintage Mantles always will be in vogue. While far from Ruth's scarcest card, the Goudey Ruth is considered perhaps his most aesthetically pleasing that was issued during his playing career.
Perhaps better known today for his quirky Yogisms — for example, "baseball is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical" — Yogi Berra was also a time All-Star and time world champion. After them? A newspaper editor coined the phrase, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain. Spahn would pour it on over a long and illustrious career, winning games. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in John McGraw attained rarified company himself.
The second-winningest manager in major league history with 2, wins, "Little Napoleon" was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in While the biggest bucks usually have been forked over for vintage cards, Mike Trout is a special case. The year-old has comparable numbers to Mays, Mantle, Williams, DiMaggio, Aaron, you name it, up to this point in their respective careers. It's no stretch to say that the Los Angeles Angels superstar is already an all-time great.
A BGS 9. Ernie Banks was the star attraction of consistently underwhelming Chicago Cubs squads through the s and '60s. Despite smacking home runs over an illustrious year career in Chicago, Banks still holds the major league record for most games played 2, without a playoff appearance. Regardless, the love for "Mr. Cub" hasn't waned. It would fetch much more than that today. Cobb said Johnson's fastball "looked about the size of a watermelon seed and it hissed at you as it passed.
Two-time All-Star Dmitri Young once boasted what was widely considered to be the finest collection of PSA 10 baseball rookie cards in the hobby. Jackson slugged home runs over the course of his Hall of Fame career, winning over Young and countless millions of kids with his charisma and booming bat.
Young broke up his collection in May , and Mr. PSA estimates the same Mays would run about a half-million today. Other high-quality versions of his World Wide Gum and Goudey cards may command even more than this card.
He is the all-time leader in stolen bases and runs 2, Henderson's 1, career steals are nearly more than the No. From the s through the early s, Topps made cards that often deteriorated quickly and thus lost their value to card collectors. As a result, a mint-condition Henderson rookie card by Topps became nearly impossible to find. According to Professional Sports Authenticator, the grading service for sports memorabilia, more than 23, copies of the card have been graded.
Only 25, 0. Star power: "The Kid" combined a rare blend of skill and athleticism to become a fan favorite, especially with his first team, the Seattle Mariners. A first-ballot Hall-of-Famer with He finished his career with home runs. Griffey's Upper Deck rookie card was an instant sensation. Griffey went on to justify that lofty price by becoming perhaps the best player of the s.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The Andy Pafko card is so expensive simply because it resided at the 1 position of the most important set of the postwar era. Because of its position on the print sheet and the fact that many kids wrapped rubber bands around their stacks of cards this one on the top , finding Pafko centered and in good shape is very tough.
In one of the great stories about this card, a collector once purchased an unopened five-card pack of Topps baseball cards and pulled the only Pafko to ever be graded PSA Gem Mint The Wilson Franks Ted Williams baseball card is one of if not the most important regional card ever produced.
Those that have been found in high grade are thought to have never been packaged and instead left the factory by hand. Not many baseball cards possess as much elaborate and ornate decoration as those of the Ramly Cigarette T set. Johnson is considered by many to be the best pitcher of all time after turning in an amazing 12 seasons of 20 or more victories, including two with more than He also posted what many believe to be the greatest single season for a pitcher in after going with a 1.
While both are classics, there is no doubt that 37 is the more popular and difficult of the two. On it, Gehrig is shown with a huge bright smile atop a yellow background giving the card tremendous eye appeal. One of his most important, the card shows some beautiful artwork of a young Mays fielding a baseball in his New York Giants uniform. Bowman did not include him in their set so that makes his Topps card of that year even more sought after.
Cobb turned in an absolute monster of a season in as he set career highs in batting. As with pretty much any pre-war set that features Cobb, his card is the heart and soul of this legendary set. Only 7 of the Ty Cobb cards have ever been submitted to PSA for grading which speaks to the rarity of them.
Many baseball historians still consider Cobb the greatest all-around player that ever graced a baseball diamond. The George Close Candy E94 baseball card set may not be as popular as others of the pre-WWI era but it is still iconic in the hobby. Each of the 30 unnumbered cards in the set feature an artist rendering of players atop colored backgrounds. Produced in by the American Caramel Company of York, Pennsylvania, the E set consists of 48 different cards, including two varieties of the legendary Ty Cobb.
Cobb is pictured is his Detroit Tigers uniform leaning on his bat atop a multi-colored background. Nadja was a brand name of the Blake-Wenneker Candy Co.
Caramel cards are usually more scarce than tobacco cards since they were sold to children rather than adults. Unlike the other example that features cartoons in the background, DiMaggio is shown all by himself atop a blank background. Because Mantle was exclusively signed with Bowman in and , you won't find him on any of Topps' cards in either of those two sets. Like all Bowman cards, the eye appeal of this card is amazing as a the artwork of the young Mick is simply stunning.
The E issue is one of the scarcest prewar sets and had relatively been unknown until the s. It's so rare that no complete set has ever been assembled. Collectors who take on the challenge of completing this set are no doubt in for an extremely tough challenge.
Walter Johnson appears twice in the T set, one in a pitching pose and then again in this portrait layout. Five Hall of Famers made their rookie card debut in the T set and Walter Johnson is one of them, a fact that makes this card even more interesting.
The bright yellow background makes this card pop and the portrait of the young Big Train makes for an unforgettable baseball card. The glossy coatings of these cards present a bit of an issue with cracking at times but they are nonetheless some terrific cards. While Ty Cobb might be the most desired player in the entire set, there is no doubt that Honus Wagner is also an incredibly sought after player as well.
The card features a great close-up of the star pitcher surrounded by the famous T gold borders. Matty was on the backside of his career in but still managed to lead the league in ERA 1. The E American Caramel cards are some of the scarcest Honus Wagner cards in the hobby but obviously not his most expensive if you look at the top of this list.
Seldom seen at auction, the 48 card set distributed by the American Caramel Co. Their glossy obverse surface usually results in creasing and cracking issues making it tough to find these in high grade. The E cards feature identical artwork on their fronts as the E and E92 caramel issues but differ by the advertising on their backs. Again, the biggest condition issues with this card will arise from the glossy coating on the obverse that usually ends up cracking or creasing.
Anson was arguably the biggest star of his era but unfortunately, there are very few cards from those days that show him as a player. This is one of them. The black borders are susceptible to showing wear and chipping but finding any card from the 19th century in high grade will undoubtedly be difficult anyways. Considered by most to be the greatest lefty of all-time, Sandy Koufax has one rookie card to his name and this is it.
His career cut short by arthritis in his pitching arm, he went on to become the youngest player ever elected to the Hall of Fame in He was also clutch, maintaining a sub Centering issues, as well as dark print blotches in the yellow background, are usually the two key issues of this card. This is my favorite Sandy Koufax baseball card and one of the best-looking cards of the s in my opinion. Two great images of Banks are show atop a white border than can be notorious for showing print defects.
Several player variations exist, some with as many as 12, so the series boasts well over 3, different cards in total. The legendary Cap Anson appears on two different cards with the uniform version being the rarer of the two. Wagner, Ruth, Cobb, Mantle and Mays are just several of the baseball greats that reside on this list of cardboard rarities.
And their continued popularity and demand prove that baseball cards still do hold great value. That is a fact not likely to end any time soon. Only a finite number of them still exist and as likely as it is that baseball will remain a very popular sport, collectors will do anything to get their hands on them. The question is: where do you start on this list? With so many greats, how do you choose between them?
With that strategy, you can never go wrong! Ross is the founder of Old Sports Cards and has been collecting sports cards for over 30 years.
Need help buying or selling cards or have a general question about the hobby? This card featured Babe in his minor league Baltimore Orioles uniform two years before his first card in a Major League uniform.
In , many of the unsold cards from this set were returned by retailers to Topps and were then dumped in to the Hudson River. This card was once a part of the famous Dimitri Young Collection , but was sold in Paige had a few cards during his Negro Leagues career but this Leaf was one of just a few cards that were made during his time in the Major Leagues.
This card is considered to be Jackie Robinson's true rookie card. This sale took place in August of , but the sky is the limit the next time one of these in this grade or higher hit some lucky auction house! There are 4 Ruth cards in this set, but the yellow one is the most valuable and rare.
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