The Sports Card Industrial Average Revealed
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday ran a story comparing the investment performance of 30 key trading cards during the last five years to the five-year performance of the 30 companies that currently comprise the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The 30 landmark cards, dubbed the “Sports Card Industrial Average” by the WSJ, was compiled in conjunction with Beckett Media and featured the most influential sports cards of all time (15 from baseball and five each from basketball, football and hockey). The story listed seven of the 30 cards individually, leaving many Beckett.com visitors wondering what the other 23 were.
Here is the list in its entirety . . .
Baseball Value in 2005 Value Now
1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner $500,000 $350,000
1933 Goudey Babe Ruth $6,000 $8,000
1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig $3,000 $3,000
1939 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio $1,400 $1,400
1939 Play Ball Ted Williams $1,500 $1,800
1949 Bowman Jackie Robinson $1,200 $1,500
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle $20,000 $30,000
1954 Topps Hank Aaron $1,800 $1,800
1963 Topps Pete Rose $1,000 $1,000
1968 Topps Nolan Ryan $500 $500
1982 Topps Cal Ripken $50 $40
1987 Fleer Barry Bonds $50 $15
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. $50 $40
1993 SP Derek Jeter $60 $100
2001 Bowman Chrome Albert Pujols $3,000 $4,000
Basketball
1948 Bowman George Mikan $2,500 $2,250
1957-58 Topps Bill Russell $1,000 $1,100
1986-87 Fleer Michael Jordan $800 $600
1996-97 Topps Chrome Kobe Bryant $225 $275
2003-04 Exquisite Collection LeBron James $10,000 $11,000
Football
1957 Topps Johnny Unitas $450 $450
1965 Topps Joe Namath $1,600 $1,800
1976 Topps Walter Payton $250 $250
1981 Topps Joe Montana $150 $150
1998 Playoff Contenders Peyton Manning $2,500 $3,000
Hockey
1951-52 Parkhurst Gordie Howe $3,000 $3,000
1966-67 Topps Bobby Orr $2,500 $3,000
1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky $900 $800
2005-06 The Cup Sidney Crosby $3,500 $10,000
2005-06 The Cup Alexander Ovechkin $3,000 $4,500
— Tracy Hackler
Why the 39 DiMaggio instead of the 38 Heads Up?
No Paige or Mays RC’s?
Why the low book on Pujols? (as opposed to the 4k high)
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Hey Chris, 1 card that has really gone up in value that almost gets no attention is the 1978 Trammell/Molitor RC. About 2-3 years ago, you could get this card (PSA 10/BGS 9.5) for under $2,000 and now, it’s going for $4,000+++. 1 just sold on ebay this weekend (item number 310195242748) and if you look at some of the recent auction history’s on vintagecardprices.com, you’ll see this is 1 card that might really be worth investing in (if you can even find one, it rarely goes up for sale). Anyway, keep up the great work!!!
Is there any study like this but for a longer period of time? 5 years aren’t enough to reach any conclusion, variance is too relevant.