I’ve written quite extensively about the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan Rookie Card.

Covering everything from authentication (here and here), to fake Jordan’s in fake flips, to different PSA grades, investment potential, even scandals involving the Jordan rookie card.

To me, especially since I grew up opening packs of 86 Fleer basketball cards, it’s one of the most polarizing cards in the hobby.

But, over the last year or so, prices on the Jordan rookie card have fallen off a cliff. 

It wasn’t all that surprising. After all, Jordan’s PSA 8 Fleer Rookie card went from $3,000 to $25,000 in a little more than a year.

Plus, we are seeing many similar excesses wrung out in other speculative areas of the capital market (high growth stocks, bitcoin). 

Card prices can’t go up forever, and sometimes a correction is warranted. Helping to restore sanity to a market, where rational thinking can take over. 

In this piece, I dive deeper into the rise and fall of the Jordan rookie card, trying to determine what the future holds.

Has the Jordan Rookie Card reached rock bottom?

Not one but three women have played Major League Baseball.

I was a baseball fanatic as a kid. I obsessed over my favorite team, the Boston Red Sox.

I attended countless games at Fenway, collected baseball cards, and sought their autographs.

The Ken Burns Baseball VHS box set provided my baseball history lessons.

And yet I was unaware of the three women who integrated a professional sports league.

Three amazing women who would later compete with their male counterparts on an equal playing field.

So, how could this enormous accomplishment not be a more recognized part of baseball history?

In this article, I seek to explore answers to these questions. I also discuss the limited number of baseball cards representing these amazing women.
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Major League Baseball was in the throes of integration during the 1948 season. Throughout the 1947 season, all eyes were on Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

After Robinson’s standout performance took the Dodgers to the World Series that year, many sportswriters and pundits predicted that there would be a flood of black players into the league.

This did not come to pass, as most white team owners and many white players continued to harbor racist beliefs and attitudes.

While not a flood, there was a trickle of black players entering the league. Although the vast majority of the attention in 1947 went to Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers, the Cleveland Indians also integrated their team that same year.

But while Robinson excelled in his first season with the Dodgers, Larry Doby struggled at the plate and didn’t get the playing time to prove himself adequately.

Despite being partially attributable to poor management, Doby’s disappointing performance provided fuel for racist detractors of baseball’s integration. 

If you were a hockey fan during the 1980s, you were lucky enough to witness some of the best hockey players ever to play the game.

Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and of course the great Mario Lemieux, three players that often are discussed among the ten best hockey players of all time. 

In terms of hockey cards, the Mario Lemieux rookie card is right up there with the most valuable hockey cards in the hobby. 

Of course, Lemieux’s rookie card was released in the midst of the Junk era; thus, between his two major rookie cards (1985 Topps and O-Pee-Cee), there’s plenty of supply to go around for everyone.

In this piece, I’ll look at the two key rookie cards for Lemieux, examining the scarcity, current values, and long-term investment potential.
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Christopher “Christy” Mathewson was one of the premier pitchers during the ‘deadball” era, posting stats that to this day are among the tops in baseball’s record books.

Throughout his career, “Matty” was considered not only one of the best pitchers in the game but someone that epitomized what a star baseball player should be.

Christy Mathewson’s baseball cards, even over 100 years after his retirement, remain red hot. 

Here, I take a look at the top baseball cards of Christy Mathewson, providing collectors with more information on the cards, along with overall investment potential and scarcity. 

The 1959 World Series was one of the most historic matchups in the history of baseball.

And not only for the competitive matchup but for the significance from a cultural perspective. 

The 1959 series featured the first Jewish World Series MVP, the first Jewish battery, and a key turning point for one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

In this piece, I dive into the cards issued throughout the years that commemorate the 1959 World Series. 

There aren’t many players that had the same sort of impact on the game of basketball as one Lew Alcindor.

Alcindor’s dominance on the court was evident early on, as he won three NCAA championships with the UCLA Bruins and then six NBA championships with the Bucks and LA Lakers. 

Not only was Alcindor a great basketball player, but a prominent cultural figure for the African American community.

Alcindor boycotted the 1968 Summer Olympics due to the unequal treatment of black players. He also changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabaar in 1971 as a testament of his faith and to stand up for black Americans. 

The Lew Alcindor rookie card has taken on a renewed identity of its own in recent years, skyrocketing to among the hobby’s most valuable basketball cards, even despite a somewhat abundant supply.

As follows, we’ll examine the 1969 Topps Alcindor rookie card in detail, taking a closer look at overall value, scarcity, along with our take on future investment potential. 

Napoleon “Nap” Lajoie isn’t always thought of in the same light as some of the more recognized names in baseball history – with players such as Ruth, Mantle, Mays, Cobb, and Wagner grabbing all the attention.

However, when it comes down to great ballplayers, Lajoie most certainly fits the bill, and I think that vintage baseball card collectors sometimes overlook Lajoie’s baseball cards. 

Lajoie was one of the best second basemen ever to play the game, even garnering more HOF votes in 1937 than fellow ballplayers Cy Young and Tris Speaker. 

Here, I take a look at the top baseball cards of Nap Lajoie, providing collectors with more information on the cards, along with overall investment potential and scarcity. 

When we talk about dominant pitchers of the 1960s, Sandy Koufax’s name immediately comes to mind. 
 
His career ended early due to injury problems, but from 1961 to 1966, Koufax was lights out. 
 
Some baseball fans wonder what might have been if he hadn’t retired at the age of 30.
 
Despite his short career, card collectors continue to drool over his early Topps baseball cards.
 
And the 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax Rookie Card, to this day, remains one of the hottest vintage cards in the hobby. 
 
As follows, we’ll examine the Koufax rookie card in detail, taking a closer look at value, scarcity, and future investment potential.  Read More...

If you’re a baseball fan, you probably have memories of watching your favorite team battling to make the playoffs, or if you’re lucky, seeing them win the World Series. 

I’m a Red Sox fan who grew up in the ‘90s watching the team disappoint in the playoffs year after year.

I was steeped in the Red Sox folklore associated with the Curse of the Bambino, and as frustrated as I would get watching the team fail in the playoffs year after year, I reveled in the rich history of the franchise. 

I pored over books and documentaries detailing the handful of World Series appearances made by the Red Sox after trading the Babe in 1918 and loved the drama behind each near miss.

So when I pulled out my old baseball card collection this past year, I found all those players from the ‘67, ‘75, and ‘86 teams that came so close to winning it all – Carl Yastremski, Rico Petrocelli, Jim Longborg, George Scott, Tony Conigliaro, Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Louis Tiant, Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Dwight Evans. 

As I uncovered these treasures, I envisioned displaying some of my favorite cards.  But first, I had to fill in the gaps.