The Sports Card Industrial Average Revealed

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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

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4 comments

  1. Benny T. 19 January, 2010 at 08:13

    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!!!

  2. T206 1 July, 2016 at 15:49

    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.

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