The two cards above arrived this week. The Ryan base card on the left represents a huge "X" on my 1970 need list, which suddenly looks very managable and within reach. Even in the shape it's in, it set me back a good bit of coin. I think it was ultimately a steal at the price I paid, as I've been regularly tracking this card for nearly a year and picked it up for about half of what I was resigned to believing it was going to cost (even in shape like this one, or I assumed, worse). The one on the right wasn't cheap either, especially given the type of card it is.
I'm not a Nolan Ryan fan. I don't have any huge issues with him (and might reluctantly admit to kind of liking him in a Mets uniform), but I am by no means a fan. And not being a fan, I never really understood the premeium his cards demand. A lot of players see a spike in the price of their cards when they're in the midst of major accomplishments during their careers, but eventually come back down to earth. Ryan seems to have a Mantle-esq demand around all his cards. Which got me thinking, who are the most in demand players in the history of Topps cards?
I decided to take a very non-scientific and arbitrary approach to answering this question. Using my most recent price guide (a 2013 becket I bought at an airport), I looked at every Topps base set from 1952 to 2005. Looking only at base cards, I gave points for the Top 10 most expensive players. Ten (10) points for the most expensive, nine for 2nd most, on down to one (1) for tenth. I used traded/update cards only when the player wasn't in a base set. I didn't include errors or subset cards. Just the standard "base card." I'm sure I made some errors, but here's what I came up with:
Most Collectable Players
Points - (Top 10's) (#1's)
46. Stan Musial ......................... 10.5 (4)
45. Mariano Rivera .................. 11 (2) (1)
45. Greg Maddux ..................... 11 (2) (1)
45. Dwight Gooden .................. 11 (2)
42. Ryne Sandberg ................... 11.5 (2)
41. Dave Winfield ..................... 11.8 (3)
40. Nomar Garciparra .............. 12 (2)
40. Bob Gibson ........................... 12 (3)
38. Willie McCovey .................... 13 (5)
37. Paul Konerko ........................ 13.5 (2) (1)
37. Tony Gwynn .......................... 13.5 (2) (1)
35. Darryl Strawberry ............... 14.5 (2)
34. Brooks Robinson .................. 15 (3)
33. Carl Yastrzemski .................. 15.8 (7)
32. Bo Jackson ............................. 16 (2)
32. Rod Carew ............................. 16 (3)
30. Thurman, Munson ................ 17 (2)
29. Robin Yount ........................... 17.5 (5)
28. Paul Molitor ........................... 18 (3)
27. Ernie Banks ............................ 18.8 (8)
26. Tom Seaver ............................. 21.8 (6) (1)
25. Don Mattingly ........................ 22 (7) (1)
25. Ken Griffey Jr. ....................... 22 (4) (1)
23. Eddie Murray ......................... 22.5 (3) (1)
22. Yogi Berra ............................... 22.8 (10)
21. Roger Clemens ........................ 23.8 (6)
20. Ozzie Smith .............................. 24.5 (4) (1)
19. Rickey Henderson ................... 26.5 (3) (2)
18. Jackie Robinson ...................... 27.5 (5)
17. Reggie Jackson ........................ 33.5 (12)
16. Johnny Bench .......................... 36 (10)
15. Derek Jeter ............................... 36.5 (8) (1)
14. Roger Maris ............................. 39 (7)
13. Mark McGwire ........................ 41.3 (12) (1)
12. Ted Williams ............................. 43 (5)
11. Mike Schmidt ............................ 43.5 (11) (1)
10. George Brett .............................. 53.8 (12) (1)
9. Barry Bonds ................................ 65.3 (13) (1)
8. Sandy Koufax .............................. 66 (13)
7. Cal Ripken Jr. .............................. 87.5 (15) (1)
6. Hank Aaron .................................. 123.3 (22) (1.5)
5. Pete Rose ....................................... 133.8 (23) (1)
4. Roberto Clemente ......................... 134 (18) (1.5)
3. Willie Mays ................................... 139.5 (22)
2. Mickey Mantle ............................. 157 (15) (12)
1. Nolan Ryan .................................. 186.3 (27) (4.5)
Cool list. I'm surprised Mantle isn't No. 1. (Also surprised Jeter and Griffey aren't higher, given all the noise about them).
ReplyDeleteMantle only appeared in about half as many sets. From about '97 on, the sets were dominated by rookies. Guys like Sean Casey would fill the Top 10 and never show up again.
DeleteNice job....interesting way to look at it.
ReplyDeletethis is absolutely fascinating, really gives some insight into the psychology of who people seem to really like, vs. say hof worthiness, war totals, or some other more objective measure of ability. seriously, and sincerely, thank you for taking the time to do this.
ReplyDelete