Here's my shortlist. I updated it to include recent eBay sales prices:
eBay Sale $ | Sold/Unsold? | |||
1 | 1952 | Willie Mays | $2,500.00 | Unsold |
2 | 1952 | Mickey Mantle | ||
3 | 1952 | Ed Mathews | ||
4 | 1954 | Al Kaline | ||
5 | 1954 | Ernie Banks | ||
6 | 1954 | Henry Aaron | ||
7 | 1955 | Sandy Koufax | ||
8 | 1955 | Roberto Clemente | ||
9 | 1955 | Harmon Killebrew | ||
10 | 1956 | Luis Aparicio | ||
11 | 1957 | Jim Bunning | ||
12 | 1957 | Brooks Robinson | ||
13 | 1957 | Frank Robinson | ||
14 | 1957 | Don Drysdale | ||
15 | 1958 | Orlando Cepeda | ||
16 | 1958 | Roger Maris | ||
17 | 1959 | Bob Gibson | ||
18 | 1960 | Carl Yastrzemski | ||
19 | 1960 | Willie McCovey | ||
20 | 1961 | Billy Williams | ||
21 | 1961 | Juan Marichal | ||
22 | 1962 | Lou Brock | ||
23 | 1962 | Gaylord Perry | ||
24 | 1963 | Willie Stargell | ||
25 | 1963 | Pete Rose | ||
26 | 1964 | Phil Niekro | ||
27 | 1965 | Steve Carlton | ||
28 | 1965 | Joe Morgan | ||
29 | 1965 | Tony Perez | ||
30 | 1965 | Jim Hunter | ||
31 | 1966 | Ferguson Jenkins | ||
32 | 1966 | Jim Palmer | ||
33 | 1967 | Rod Carew | ||
34 | 1967 | Tom Seaver | ||
35 | 1968 | Johnny Bench | ||
36 | 1968 | Nolan Ryan | $899.00 | Unsold |
37 | 1969 | Reggie Jackson | ||
38 | 1972 | Carlton Fisk | ||
39 | 1973 | Mike Schmidt | $127.50 | Sold |
40 | 1974 | Dave Winfield | ||
41 | 1975 | Jim Rice | $46.98 | Sold |
42 | 1975 | Gary Carter | ||
43 | 1975 | Robin Yount | ||
44 | 1975 | George Brett | ||
45 | 1976 | Dennis Eckersley | ||
46 | 1978 | Eddie Murray | $22.49 | Sold |
47 | 1979 | Ozzie Smith | ||
48 | 1980 | Rickey Henderson | ||
49 | 1982 | Cal Ripken Jr. | ||
50 | 1983 | Tony Gwynn | ||
1984 | Darryl Strawberry | $7.50 | Sold | |
1984 | Dwight Gooden | $36.01 | Sold | |
1990 | Frank Thomas | $51.00 | Sold |
Update 5/9/14 - Am I missing something here? Why is a Frank Thomas rookie card—usually $4 max—selling for $51?!? Seriously, what is wrong with this picture? The thing about all of these newer cards being included in this buyback program is that it means a more hallowed card from the Fifties (or Sixties or Seventies) is not included. Thomas I understand. Darryl Strawberry I do not.
Update 3/12/14 - Not only is it interesting that Dwight Gooden is considered a top-50 rookie, but that it sold for $36.01! If this is his card from 1984 Topps, we're talking about a $3 card, at best. Why would you pay 12 times that much for the same card? So with Gooden and Strawberry in the top 50, my thinking now is that a couple from the 1960s didn't make the cut.
Update 2/19/14 - It looks like Darryl Strawberry's 1984 Topps rookie made the cut. A redemption card recently sold for $7.50 on eBay (2/17/14). This means that (at least) one of the cards listed above is not included as a buyback.
Bolded entries are cards that have been offered for sale on eBay, confirming they're being offered as part of this buyback insert.
Taking into consideration that these cards are buybacks, that would lead me to believe that they'll all be vintage, and that Topps wouldn't go to great lengths to buy back a 1989 Topps Traded Ken Griffey Jr. card and release it as part of this set, even if you could make a legitimate case that Griffey's rookie is one of the company's top 50.
"Rookie" is a tricky word here, though, as Mays's and Mantle's 1952 cards are not technically rookies, as both players' rookies are in the 1951 Bowman set. That said, my list does not include Bowman cards; if we're including Bowman, then Albert Pujols's 2001 Bowman Chrome autographed rookie would definitely be included above.
Another point is whether Topps includes Pete Rose's rookie, or if it opts to go with someone safer, like Don Mattingly or Bert Blyleven. As a collector, you'd hope that they'd include Rose, as it's the right thing to do. But remember how Topps didn't mention Rose by name as the all-time hits leader on the backs of cards in 2013's flagship set? I distinctly remember the company line being that their action was the "right thing to do" (I'm paraphrasing here). So when it comes to Rose, the "right thing to do" has one meaning inside the walls of One Whitehall and a decidedly different meaning in the rest of the world.
It will be interesting to see whose rookies are included in the official checklist, and what sort of hoopla this set will generate.
Another update: What's also interesting about this buyback is how much these cards are reselling for. I think you can chalk the high Rice price up to a newness factor, and that the buyback redemption was pretty much unexplained at the time of the sale. I can't think of any other reason why someone would pay 5x the going rate for a Jim Rice rookie card. (In fact, the Schmidt went for about double the going rate for an ungraded version of this card.) The Ryan has been offered three times with no purchase: $1,499; $999; and $899, though all as a fixed-price "Buy it Now." The Murray, Rice, and Schmidt cards have been offered as straight auctions.
One final thing: It has not been advertised if the cards received will be raw or graded. I'm pretty sure Topps would announce the cards as graded if it were the case, so if the cards received are raw, what condition will they be in? Did someone just pay nearly $47 for a Jim Rice rookie card in very good condition?
Another update: What's also interesting about this buyback is how much these cards are reselling for. I think you can chalk the high Rice price up to a newness factor, and that the buyback redemption was pretty much unexplained at the time of the sale. I can't think of any other reason why someone would pay 5x the going rate for a Jim Rice rookie card. (In fact, the Schmidt went for about double the going rate for an ungraded version of this card.) The Ryan has been offered three times with no purchase: $1,499; $999; and $899, though all as a fixed-price "Buy it Now." The Murray, Rice, and Schmidt cards have been offered as straight auctions.
One final thing: It has not been advertised if the cards received will be raw or graded. I'm pretty sure Topps would announce the cards as graded if it were the case, so if the cards received are raw, what condition will they be in? Did someone just pay nearly $47 for a Jim Rice rookie card in very good condition?
8 comments:
Given Topps' previous behavior in these sorts of things, I'd say its almost a certainty that they would include Griffey Jr. Probably Ichiro as well. In fact, if Topps follows their usual pattern, at least half of the "set" will be fairly recent and of minimal value.
I'd bet the 93 Derek Jeter is going to be in there probably instead of the Bunning.
Here's something: The Jim Rice auction closed at nearly $49! What's the difference between his original $10 card and the card you'll get as part of this year's redemption?
I'd add Billy William's 1961 teammate Ron Santo.
Your list is surprisingly similar to those cards pictured in a jigsaw puzzle I received for Christmas.
Straw's original rookie card was in the 83 topps traded set, the 84 base card is junk.
I would hope any of the 80's rookies would be of the tiffany variety.
Just received my Dave Winfield buyback. No 1/1 stamp, just a 7 8 or 9 grade card.
How should I feel?
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-nXZLGjoGaJo/VMQQoDtbPpI/AAAAAAAAAPw/ET17leb06o0/s576/003.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i1M9qCrzmes/VMQQoDiaEnI/AAAAAAAAAPo/YttUs0sjtKo/s576/004.jpg
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