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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We’ve written extensively about sports card grading and many of the controversies that have surrounded the space.

With the explosion in demand for card grading, collectors have faced long wait times and higher prices.

I felt like it was a good time to get a pulse of the collector community to get opinions on the best grading companies.

Let’s face it, a lot has changed, and new competitors have come into the market.

In what follows, I provide the results of our 2021 Sports Grading Collectors survey while also providing some of my experiences with the different grading companies. 

‘Deal or No Deal’ groups have become quite popular on Facebook. One of my collector friends sent me his thoughts on the format, which I’ve published here.  Note, if you’re a collector and would like to see your thoughts on our website, shoot me a line at chris@allvintagecards.com. 

Deal or No Deal Facebook groups annoy me. 

They wouldn’t if I didn’t belong to them, but I am a glutton for punishment.

Simply put, DOND listings are generally sucker bets.

Let me explain why.

Bobby Orr is one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to witness much of his dominance in the league.

However, as a Bostonian, I’m forever reminded of the legacy of Bobby Orr. 

Orr is not only a Boston sports icon, but one of the most important figures in the history of hockey. 

Orr’s hockey cards have been hot in recent years, as all the GOATs have been bid up by vintage collectors. I still think despite the big increases, Orr’s cards are a great investment.

This is of course dependent on the card and the overall scarcity, so use your best judgment in evaluating any of these cards as an investment for your personal collection.

Let’s take a look at the ten most valuable cards of one Bobby Orr.

While the bulk of my card collecting and writing on All Vintage Cards is focused on older cards, I admittedly have had the urge to buy some modern cards while shopping at Target or Walmart in the past.

However, when I went to Target recently to pick up some household items, I was disappointed to find the shelves that used to hold sports cards galore completely barren.  So I set out to find the truth.  

Can you still buy sports cards at Walmart or Target?

Unfortunately, it’s much harder today to find sports cards at Walmart or Target, as they both have suspended the selling of many sports and trading cards. They still sell some sports cards in-store and online, however, there is a huge variation in availability based on your specific location. 

The surge in modern card pricing and the resultant ‘rise of the flippers’ has led to some not so pretty situations in these stores.  And while there are rare cases where you might find some cards, the odds are quite slim.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons for the supply disruptions and if you still might be able to score a find at your local Walmart or Target. 

Do you know of a location that is still selling cards?  Drop a note in the comments below to let us know!

For those that have been in the hobby for a while, this might seem like a strange question.  It’s sort of just an accepted fact that a player’s rookie card is worth more than any later issued card. 

But why is this true?  There has to be a reason, right?  I wanted to get to the bottom of this.  And my findings were kind of along with what I expected. 

The excessive demand for rookie cards leads to the cards having more value than any other later-year issues for a player. 

A rookie card is a player’s first official entry into the card collecting world, and these issues are in high demand by collectors hoping for the next big thing.

Plus, the first card issued for a player is their oldest card, which collectors tend to associate as being ‘more valuable’. 

In addition, there has always been a mystique that has developed over time with player ‘rookie cards’ being more sought after by collectors.   

Let’s dive into these a bit further.

The All Vintage Cards Large Cap Hockey Portfolio is a collection of ten Large-Cap (or “higher-priced’) vintage hockey cards that we think have strong long-term investment potential. 

As we discussed in our introduction piece, we are launching three portfolios for each major sport–Large Cap, Mid Cap, and Small Cap.

For those not familiar with the lexicon, this corresponds to mutual fund portfolios in the investment world.  Large-Cap within the investment space equates to an equity portfolio of the largest companies.

For this All Vintage Cards Large Cap Value Hockey Portfolio we have selected ten cards, each with a value of $3000 or greater.

Note that these selections are based on what we perceive as ‘relative’ value in the marketplace, meaning that we think these cards offer a good value versus other comparative cards. 

I will also note that this information is not investment advice, nor are we making any promises in relation to future performance.  Please use your own judgment and budget when accounting for any acquisitions of cards in this portfolio. 

Please also see our All-Vintage Cards Small-Cap Hockey Value and All-Vintage Cards Mid-Cap Hockey portfolios. 

The All Vintage Cards Mid Cap Hockey Portfolio is a collection of ten Mid-Cap (or “mid-priced’) vintage hockey cards that we think have strong long-term investment potential. 

As we discussed in our introduction piece, we are launching three portfolios for each major sport–Large Cap, Mid Cap, and Small Cap.

For those not familiar with the lexicon, this corresponds to mutual fund portfolios in the investment world.  Mid-Cap within the investment space equates to an equity portfolio of mid-sized companies.

For this All Vintage Cards Mid Cap Value Hockey Portfolio we have selected ten cards, each with a value of $1000 to $3000.

Note that these selections are based on what we perceive as ‘relative’ value in the marketplace, meaning that we think these cards offer a good value versus other comparative cards. 

I will also note that this information is not investment advice, nor are we making any promises in relation to future performance.  Please use your own judgment and budget when accounting for any acquisitions of cards in this portfolio. 

Please also see our All-Vintage Cards Small-Cap Hockey Value and All-Vintage Cards Large-Cap Hockey portfolios. 

The All Vintage Cards Small Cap Hockey Portfolio is a collection of ten Small-Cap (or ‘lower priced’) vintage hockey cards that we think have strong long-term investment potential. 

As we discussed in our introduction piece, we are launching three portfolios for each major sport–Large Cap, Mid Cap, and Small Cap.

For those not familiar with the lexicon, this corresponds to mutual fund portfolios in the investment world.  Small-Cap within the investment space equates to a portfolio of the equity market’s smallest companies.

For this All Vintage Cards Small Cap Value Hockey Portfolio we have selected ten cards, each with a value of $1000 or less.

Note that these selections are based on what we perceive as ‘relative’ value in the marketplace, meaning that we think these cards offer a good value versus other comparative cards. 

I will also note that this information is not investment advice, nor are we making any promises in relation to future performance.  Please use your own judgment and budget when accounting for any acquisitions of cards in this portfolio. 

Please also see our All-Vintage Cards Mid-Cap Hockey Value and All-Vintage Cards Large-Cap Hockey portfolios. 

In January of last year, we launched an ‘All Vintage Cards Value portfolio that was well received. The portfolio was designed as a diversified portfolio of vintage cards for collectors and investors that we thought had good long-term potential.  The collection of cards (listed below) has performed quite well.