So I used to collect avidly as a kid, and my Facebook algorithm has evidently figured that out and is regularly feeding me baseball card related videos. Although I have no desire to collect again, it did get me to look at my old cards…
I know the crown jewel of the ‘89 Upper Deck set is that iconic Ken Griffey Jr. card, but honestly that ain’t got nothing on my Brandon Backe autographed rookie!
I used to collect a little. These were some of my prized cards. After McGwire hit 70 home runs in 98, I just knew my McGwire rookie cards would be worth something.
As a non-collector in 1984/5/6…there was only Fleer/Topps/Donruss iirc
What’s worth anything?
84: Mattingly, and Clemens from the update sets
85: McGuire U.S.A. card, Clemens, Gooden, Hershiser
86: Bonds, Canseco, Bo Jackson
I’m sure there are more but those are the ones that stick out to me. Seems collectors don’t care about the steroids.
Someone dropped a bunch of early 90’s tops off at an agency I used to work at thinking these unfortunate boys would love to have them. The unfortunate boys had not interest in baseball cards, they were playing Magic The Gathering and Pokemon. They were about to throw them out when I rescued them. My son and I had many good days sorting them by teams trying to put a set together. We got very very close if I remember correctly. They are still in a closet somewhere or attic somewhere.
We also would buy a set of Greeneville Astros cards every year and he would get them signed. Those guys were as eager to sign those cards as he was to get them signed.
I also went to an Astros game in the Dome in 1993 because I was going through Houston. The promo that night was a pack of trading cards. My wife and I each got a set. I will try to find them tonight and post a pic of them.
Someone who follows this stuff, give me a ballpark on:
Topps 1984 full series
Donruss 1985 full series
I no longer have either (for multiple reasons), but they’re the only 2 full sets my dad gave me as a kid
I’m faaaaar from an expert… but I think eBay can give you a rough idea what stuff goes for. I do know prices vary by condition and if it’s factory sealed or not. Then there’s a whole wormhole folks go down with graded cards. You can find for instance a complete 84 Topps set but the Mattingly rookie has been graded and has an 8+/10 rating will drive that price up considerably.
I have shitloads from collecting 80~90 with a little before and after. Football too. I haven’t looked at them in years. Topps, Donruss and Fleer. Some other specialty stuff. I never imagined them worth much to anyone but me. My dad told me stories of how many Mickey Mantle’s he had amongst others, only to talk to my grandmother confirming that she threw them out when he left the house. VOMIT
That was just a wildass question, my younger brother became a much more intense card collector, I’ll have to ask what he still has in his binder. All I ever personally had were those 2 sets (opened but never really out of the rectangular cardboard box) and all the rando packs of cards (with gum!) that got played with and destroyed.
I had a pretty nice card collection from the late 60s to the mid 70s, then it was destroyed, along with my more valuable comic book collection, when the basement of the house I was renting in OKC flooded sometime in the early 80s.
My dad had a wooden trunk at his old house here, as a kid when I came up to visit his Mom it was so fun to read the random 50’s +/- comics and play with the green army men he had in it.
And Pop-Tarts, I got grandmother poptarts for ?breakfast?
I never got them, or sugary cereal, at home in Houston.
“Flood” and “OKC” are not things I expected to see in the same sentence.
I didn’t mention the retaining wall a next-door neighbor had recently built that diverted heavy rain right into the outside entry into the basement that was actually a finished out cellar under the house.
I used to collect. Mainly Fred McGriff cards. He was my favorite player. I’d carefully file every Crime Dog card I could into my “Freddy Folder.” Page after page of identical Crime Dogs. Mrs Banedoodle found this binder once, many years into our marriage, and became concerned for my mental health.
Maybe I’m childish or immature but I still collect.
I have tens of thousands of random common cards from the late 70s to the early 2000s and 2018-2024.
Raising kids ended my first run and finances ended the second.
I have binders that I work on.
Every basic run Topps Astros card 1962-current ( about 80% complete)
Random card of every Astro that has ever played in appearance order starting with Bobby Shantz - Ethan Pecko ( about 70% complete)
Every Jeff Bagwell card ( about 40%)
All Hall of Famers in election order.
Random card of every Mariner in appearance order (about 85% complete) as a birthday gift to a good friend who is a fan.
I’d probably collect if the hobby weren’t so expensive these days. I’ll buy a single pack almost every year just to see what cards look like, but I could see myself starting to buy the cards I coveted as a kid at some point though. Stuff from the 50’s-early 80’s.
How much is a pack of cards now? Do they still have that congealed powdery stick of gum?
Too much and no more gum!
Might could help you
