10 Comments

That’s a really good question. The ’70s Topps sets have some great design and the crazy ABA uniforms and balls make for some very memorable photos.

Also don’t forget Wilt Chamberlin, he rivaled anyone in his day in any sport and his rookie just barely touches 4 figures.

In order for cards to rise in price there needs to be demand.
The fact that there are a number of gaps in the years that the cards were produced shows that
demand has often been somewhat tepid.

Demand, and price, grow when kids grow older and can suddenly afford the nice things they once
could not. Plus you have things like an older family member passing on a collection, and so forth.
Give a kid a reason to care now and he will become a collector in the future.

I love vintage basketball, I just think it doesn’t get as much press as other vintage cards.

As a big basketball collector I’m glad to see this pointed out in an article. Of all the card shows in the northeast I rarely run into vintage basketball at shows. The last time I did was at the Harrisburg show in at Capital City Mall in PA. A guy had a few 86-87 fleer on the table ( Magic and Dr J singles) I asked if he had anything older. He did…and what a shame…A whole bunch of Tall boy 70′s topps cards all bunched together some in the dreaded rubber bands. I only could pick 2 that were in very good shape, 2Jabbar and Dr. J 76-77 Topps singles. It doesnt even seem like dealers care about them a lot of times. I collect basketball for the exact reason mentioned in this article..Because of the lower production numbers and because of my love for the sport. Take a look at the prices for current basketball in Auction results sections of SCM …….BASKETBALL almost always tops the other 3 major sports in winning bids, granted it is usally a game used auto of MJ but still, you cant argue with the prices of Exquisite basketball either, which is rarely mentioned anywhere in magazines unless its a monster card that went for big bucks. I guess my point here is basketball as a whole in collecting terms is not as popular as the others, which makes the competition stiff when pursuing big cards and maybe causing less popularity among collectors as a whole.

Shhhhh be quiet I have been buying the vintage basketball cards for years now and want to keep buying more before they go up in price. I agree that they are definitely undervalued and are well overdue for price increases.

I agree with the difficulty in finding vintage basketball. I think baseball wins in vintage collecting because it was the dominant sport in the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s. I wasn’t around then, but I have to imagine that baseball and football were on TV regularly, while basketball was not (there is no footage of Wilt’s 100 point game and I am old enough to remember tape delayed PLAYOFF basketball games as recently as the 80′s). Since it wasn’t a popular TV sport it was likely not a widely collected sport for young collectors then. As another poster mentioned without that childhood collecting connection there is no nostalgic need for those growing up in that era to collect basketball as adults now. Hence, the lower prices relative to baseball (the king of collecting nostalgia presently–with the boomer generation). Perhaps with the popularity of basketball in the 80′s and 90′s we will see a bump in vintage basketball when kids of that generation become adults–of course they may be more likely to collect players of their generation (MJ, Shaq, Kobe, Lebron, etc.) than the pre-Stern stars of the past.

I love basketball and am concentrating my collecting efforts on two basketball sets: 1986 Fleer and 1961 Fleer. It is hard to find 1961 Fleer cards especially in good condition. Forget about card shops or shows it is pretty much only online auctions like Ebay where you can find these cards. The smaller set size makes basketball sets relatively (to baseball or football) easier sest to build–especially if you are trying to get them all graded.

One of the major issues is that they just aren’t THAT rare. The lack of major releases pre-1970 means that those who collect have few choices. The vintage cards also just don’t have that “classic” look like a lot of the vintage baseball sets (1952, 1953, 1956, and 1965 topps) or football sets (1962 topps) do either. Looking at 1958 topps basketball, many of the photos are blurry and the cards just don’t pass most people’s eye test.

Also, because there are very few MEGA STARS from 1948 Bowman-1969-1970 Topps (Mikan, Chamberlain, West, Russell, Baylor, Cousy, Roberston, Havlicek, Alcindor) with very few cards to collect, you are able to whet your appetite quite easily in just a few cards, in any condition. It’s tough when your hobby’s most iconic card is from 1986, or even 1980-81, and not something like a 52 Mantle, or 1909 Wagner, or even a 1958 Jim Brown.

I think a big reason for the overall lack of popularity in 70s basketball cards is the relative lack of popularity of the sport itself at the time. It really wasn’t until the late 70s-early 80s that the NBA surpassed both the NHL and NCAA in popularity. Baseball and football go back generations, while the NBA has only been “big” for 25-30 years. If there’s no mystique to any of the players, there’s not going to be that big a demand.

This is the exact reason that I am focusing on collecting vintage NBA cards. I love basketball and it’s unbelievably cheap compared to baseball. I just bought a PSA/DNA 1969-70 John Havlicek RC auto for $130! What’s not to like?!