Like most collectors now, I think, the only thing I consult when I want to know the price of a card is ebay.
Sure, I'll look in the back of the Beckett magazine if it's in my possession, just out of curiosity. It's more habit for what I once did. Back then, I bought the yearly price guide and eagerly looked for the prices of the cards that I owned (I had so few of them).
I wish I still had those soft-cover books from the early '80s. It's a nice look at the history of collecting. Thank goodness I still own the first version of those price guides, the 1979 Sport Americana price guide, the only one of the Beckett guides that I know of that doesn't have "Beckett" plastered in big letters.
I still own a price guide here and there, either stuff I've purchased in the past, that is part of my subscription to a magazine, or as a collectible that a fellow collector sent me. That's what these things are good for now, a collectible and sometimes as reference material.
I thought it would be fun if I looked through each of those "guides" and see what notable cards have gone for over the years.
I'll also include the price guide at the top of the post, from 1992. It's not complete as at one point I ripped a bunch of pages out of it -- not sure why, I was in a very "what's it worth?" state of mind at the time, so it probably made sense at the time. But if the card I'm mentioning is in that guide, I'll list it, too.
OK, let's start big.
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle
1979 Sport Americana Price Guide: $500.00 (NM), $375.00 (VG-EX)
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $1,910.00 (NM-Mt)
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $14,500.00 (NM)
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $18,000 (Hi), $12,000 (Lo) (Beckett magazine still uses "Hi" and "Lo," which I don't really understand how they arrive at that stuff. Rating by condition makes more sense).
2008 Beckett price guide: $30,000 (Hi), $18,000 (Lo) (I think we're still doing Hi-Lo here. There is no title above the prices and nothing in the introduction about what the prices mean that I found).
Aug.-Sept. 2021 Beckett Vintage Collector: $120,000 (Hi), $80,000 (Lo).
That's a $90,000 jump in 13 years.
1975 Topps Robin Yount
1979 Sport Americana Price Guide: 8 cents/6 cents (lololololol!!!!!)
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $18.25
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $40.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $50.00/$25.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $50.00/$25.00
Aug.-Sept. 2021 Beckett Vintage Collector: $100.00/$40.00
1983 Topps Tony Gwynn
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $3.50
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $60.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $25.00/$10.00 (quite a difference compared with TS)
2008 Beckett price guide: $25.00/$10.00
March 2021 Beckett Baseball: $25.00/$10.00
1980 Topps Rickey Henderson
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $6.50
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $30.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $70.00/$40.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $50.00/$20.00
March 2021 Beckett Baseball: $60.00/$25.00
I can't consult my 1992 price guide, which is a shame because it was the height of comical prices, but I know the Henderson was listed at $200.00 because it was my most valuable card at the time ... according to the only source we had then.
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr.
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $160.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $60.00/$30.00 (wild swing between TS and Beckett, TS sure did love their young superstars!)
2008 Beckett price guide: $40.00/$15.00
March 2021 Beckett Baseball: $80.00/$30.00
1955 Topps Roberto Clemente
1979 Sport Americana Price Guide: $15.00/$10.00
1985 Current Card Prices: $108.50 (you can see the jump already)
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $1750.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $2000.00/$1400.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $2200.00/$1400.00
Aug.-Sept. 2021 Beckett Vintage Collector: $5000.00/$2500.00
1989 Fleer Billy Ripken "fuck face" (or "rick face" as all the price guides say)
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $8.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $40.00/$15.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $15.00/$6.00
March 2021 Beckett Baseball: $20.00/$8.00
The 2002 price stands out, not sure what was happening there. This particular card isn't the most valuable version as that's the white scribble.
2001 Topps Ichiro Suzuki
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $15.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $15.00/$7.50
2008 Beckett price guide: $12.00/$5.00
March 2021 Beckett Baseball: $30.00/$12.00
I was under the impression it was a lot more than that. Probably got it confused with one of the 77 other Ichiro rookies from 2001.
1993 SP Derek Jeter
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $120.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $100.00/$50.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $80.00/$40.00
March 2021 Beckett Baseball: $500.00/$200.00
Big 'ol jump.
1985 Topps Mark McGwire
1985 Current Card Prices: not listed (!)
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $175.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Card Monthly: $60.00/$30.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $30.00/$12.50
March 2021 Beckett Baseball: $25.00/$10.00 (oof).
1952 Topps Andy Pafko
1979 Sport Americana Price Guide: $5.00/$2.00
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $93.00
1992 Beckett price guide: $1300.00 (wow)
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $3500.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $4000.00/$2000.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $5000.00/$3000.00
March 2001 Beckett Baseball: $5000.00/$3000.00
The prices on this card are the most interesting to me. Back in '79 the card was valued slightly under cards featuring Robin Roberts, Phil Rizzuto and Billy Martin. Then in the late '80s, the legend of the rubber bands began.
1956 Topps set (just because I completed this four months ago 😊)
1979 Sport Americana Price Guide: $185.00/$140.00
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $602.00
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $5750.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Monthly: $7000.00/$4000.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $8000.00/$5000.00
Aug.-Sept. 2021 Beckett Vintage Collector: $15000.00/$8000.00
I have no idea what it cost me total to complete that set (which is not mint by the way).
So, maybe that was interesting to someone.
If anyone is curious about the price path of a particular card according to these guides, let me know in the comments and I'll either post it in the comments or write a follow-up post.
And, remember, "completed listings" on ebay is your friend in these matters.
Comments
As for requests, how about the 72T Garman, Cooper, and Fisk rookie card? Or maybe the 71T Garvey rookie? I feel like both of these cards were treasured back in the 80's, but are undervalued these days.
I had a subscription to Beckett for a long time when I was a kid, and I enjoy perusing those issues from time to time for the novelty of it. Also good for a laugh out of people paying $50 for Grady Sizemore rookies.
1958 Topps Ted Williams:
1979 Sports Americana price guide: $10.00/$7.00
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $42.00
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $400.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Card Monthly: $500.00/$200.00
2008 Beckett Price Guide: $600.00/$350.00
Aug-Sept. 2021 Beckett Vintage Collector: $400.00/$250.00
1971 Topps Steve Garvey
1979 Sports Americana price guide: 75 cents/60 cents
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $28.00
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $25.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Card Monthly: $35.00/$18.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $40.00/$20.00
Aug-Sept. 2021 Beckett Vintage Collector: $100.00/$40.00
1972 Topps Garman-Cooper-Fisk
1979 Sports Americana price guide: 40 cents/30 cents
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $10.00
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $40.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Card Monthly: $50.00/$25.00
2008 Beckett price guide: $50.00/$30.00
Aug.-Sept. 2021 Beckett Vintage Collector: $80.00/$30.00
1955 Topps Sandy Koufax
1979 Sports Americana price guide: $10.00/$8.00
May 1985 Current Card Prices: $58.50
July 2001 Tuff Stuff: $675.00
Oct. 2002 Beckett Baseball Card Monthly: $800.00/$500.00
Aug.-Sept. 2021 Beckett Vintage Collector: $6000.00/$2500.00
The Koufax is interesting because I was under the impression that it was valued more than the Clemente until the last 25 years or so, but actually the Clemente has been valued more than the Koufax all along until now (at least according to the 2021 Beckett) and now the Koufax has a $1000 lead.
To be honest, I haven't really looked at the prices of cards for a long time. I know I've gotten lucky over the years getting high-ticket (but lesser-grade) cards.
Also, neat to see how some cards were bringing stupid money at the turn of the century. But 1992 was the high mark for insane pricing. I can remember going to card shows during that time and seeing Scott Erickson and Kevin Maas cards going for $25-30 apiece!!!
Good point on the confusion surrounding Beckett's "hi v. low" column. I don't know anyone who understood that as a kid and the data seems dubious at best. I'm sure it was based on something, but Beckett back in the day could have published anything and people would have believed it. They wielded quite a bit of unproportionate power for a time.