[nolan5000]

I would agree that the reprinting of cards has gotten way out of hand, and quite frankly the number of new cards of retired players is downright ridiculous, but neither have anything to do with the prices of graded cards. For older and really popular cards, grading secures both the card's authenticity and the fact that it hasn't been trimmed or altered in any way (anyone else put a black Sharpie on their dinged 1987 Donruss Mark McGwire when they were a kid?). For other cards it comes down to scarcity. There might be 10,000, 100,000, or a million 1982 Topps Cal Ripken rookies but only a handful of them are graded BGS 9.5 or PSA 10 or whatever. And people are willing to pay higher prices for cleaner versions of these cards.

+1