Hosted by Mike Schopp, The Hobby is WGR's new show for sports card and memorabilia collectors. Listen every Saturday from 8am-9am for in-depth information, interviews, tips, and tricks. Whether you have an appreciation for sports memorabilia, you're just starting a collection, or you're a serious collector, this is the show for you!
Got a favorite design? Let me know. The value of a card, both monetary and sentimental, comes down to more than just the picture on it. Certain sets are known for their daring designs, like 1975 Topps Baseball. (Pink and purple? Yellow and lime green? Hurts my eyes, but many collectors love them.) How about 1978, or 1985? Some say boring, I say classic.
"Cobb Steals Third" for $700 A friend of mine collected these 1912 Hassan Triple Folders for a while in PSA VG-EX 4. This one is called "Ty Cobb Steals Third". The December issue of Sports Market Report books this card at $700. They're bigger than cards now, about the size of a letter envelope. The first known baseball cards go back to the late 1880s -- good luck finding those in your attic!
Cards aren't all about the money
Just because a card has no "book value" doesn't mean it can't have sentimental value. A listener named Kathleen recalled how much she loved this 1991 Pro Set Bill Barilko commemorative Bill Barilko card. Barilko scored this goal in overtime to win the 1951 Stanley Cup for Toronto against Montreal. He disappeared on a fishing trip that summer, and his body wasn't recovered for 11 years.
You won't find this card in a price guide, but it has a special place in Kathleen's heart. Thanks for sending us your story!
If you have a favorite card, send me a picture, a brief explanation of why it is special to you, and of course, your name. Maybe you'll see it featured on Card of the Week!
Patrick Roy: mid-80s and still strong
Not all the cards from 1986-1992 are worthless! This Patrick Roy Topps rookie, from the 1986-87 set, books at $100. (The O-Pee-Chee version, as usual, books even higher.)
By 1986, baseball cards had become famous for being a gateway to wealth. Problem is, so many were made and so many people had jumped on board that almost none of them is worth anything. Hockey and basketball cards, however, appealed to a much smaller group of collectors, and in turn, those sports' cards held on for about two more years. By 1988 or so the same thing happened to them as what happened to baseball: Everything was mass-produced, everybody bought everything, and today nothing from that era is valuable.
Send a picture of your favorite cards to thehobby@wgr550.com.
-- Mike Schopp
Card of the Week: the Bruce rookie
Bills greats Bruce Smith and Andre Reed both have their rookie cards in the green-bordered 1986 Topps set. By the mid-1980s, collectors and society at large had become pretty savvy about the potential value in sports cards. Scientists estimate that, in turn, "zillions" of these cards were produced. Both Smith and Reed should run you in the $10 range -- not bad for one and maybe two Hall of Famers-to-be.
While raw copies of these cards are downright cheap, a windfall is possible for collectors who have either or both of the set's two biggest cards, Jerry Rice and Steve Young, in perfect condition. (Let me emphasize again that perfect means perfect. Centering is a major factor.) A PSA 9 Rice or Young will fetch into the hundreds of dollars, and a next-to-impossible PSA 10 copy of either card into the thousands. Both cards are very tough to find well-centered.
Happy hunting!
Card of the Week: Lindy Ruff, autographed Dave in Syracuse submits this card for "Card of the Week", and we oblige. Dave has gotten back into collecting and especially likes the position of the personally obtained autograph on this card. ... Send us a picture of your favorite card, your name and hometown, and also why that particular card is special to you at thehobby@wgr550.com.
Card of the Week: Mike Schmidt rookie Thanks to Jack, the listener who sent in a picture of his 1973 Topps Baseball card #615, Rookie Third Basemen. There's long-time Dodgers 3B Ron Cey on the left, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt on the right, and the relatively unknown John Hilton in the center.
The Phillies are in the World Series, so it seems like a nice choice to me.
10/14/08 Card of the Week: 1955 Topps Baseball Here's this week's card, from my personal collection. We talked about the 1955 Topps baseball set last Saturday on "The Hobby", and this card is not only from that set but also a Hall of Fame rookie card, which I like to collect.
1955 Topps Baseball, card #124, Harmon Killebrew. PSA 5 EX. Check out the picture.
Card of the Week, Buffalo Braves-style Thanks to Dave Fell of Getzville for sending this picture of his favorite card, as well as an explanation of why this 1977 Randy Smith card is his favorite. Smith was a Buffalo State star and then joined his hometown NBA team, the Braves.
Got a favorite card? Send a picture to thehobby@wgr550.com.
Dmitri Young headlines "Hobby" lineup This week on "The Hobby" we had three guests: Beckett Football editor David Lee, baseball player and collector Dmitri Young and Dave & Adam's Card World head buyer Reed Kasaoka. Here are the links, come check us out!
1/3/09: The Hobby, Episode 17 Joe Orlando, president of Professional Sports Authenticators, returns to "The Hobby" to talk in detail about a few of the hobby's all-time great cards. Brad Lohr from Dave & Adam's Card World visits to talk NFL playoffs and NHL hockey, from the collector's perspective.
12/27/08: The Hobby, Episode 16 Greg Bauch, Mike's regular afternoon-show producer, comes by to ask questions about what it's like to collect cards nowadays and whether or not it's cool. Also we discuss card shows, redemption cards, and the impact the NFL playoffs could have on some of football's top rookies of 2008.
12/20/08: The Hobby, Episode 15 We reflect on the 20th anniversary of the infamous Billy Ripken profanity card. Just how expensive did it get? Dave Silver of Dave & Adam's Card World fills us in. Also, what you can expect to pay for autographed baseballs of league MVPs, whether a card marked 100/100 is really the equivalent of a 1/1, and more.
12/13/08: The Hobby, Episode 14 We visit with Jon Isaacson, holder of PSA's highest-rated Pro Football Hall of Fame Rookie card collection. My brief description here doesn't do it justice. Also, find out which product you'll want to avoid this holiday season, and which product gets the job done for football set builders. And Reed Kasaoka from Dave & Adam's wonders with me, how come Dale Murphy's cards don't book higher? Another fun, informative episode of "The Hobby".
Come meet Mario Alejandro, whose collecting blog "Wax Heaven" averages nearly 70,000 hits a month. Also, we talk about whether investing in Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens cards is a good idea, and how beckett.com is making me insane. And, Reed Kasaoka from Dave & Adam's offers some thoughts on passing your collection along to a family member.
