The Post War Cards Newsletter #26

Mar 16, 2023

👋 Welcome to the latest issue of The Post War Cards Newsletter, the newsletter that celebrates #TheHobby.

🗓️ Every other week, I share unique content about vintage sports cards, hobby & sports history, and industry activity with collectors.

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🍖 1979 Rax Roast Beef

If you want to learn more about wrestling cards, David Peck is a must-follow on Twitter. Just the other week, he shared the following photo and wrote that the 1979 Rax Roast Beef cards are by far the rarest wrestling cards.

Only three complete sets appear to exist and less than ten copies of each card are known in the hobby. A complete shrink-wrapped set of 22 cards was given to the first 1200 fans who attended the Gulas Pro Wrestling match in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday, November 21, 1979. David shared the following photo of a sealed set he acquired in July 2016.

He also shared a promotion for the Pre-Thanksgiving Wrestling Spectacular!

PSA then highlighted the set in a September 2018 article titled Collecting the 1979 Gulas/Rax Roast Beef Championship Wrestling Card Set: Wrestling with Rarity.

My interest in wrestling cards has only just begun, and I’m excited to explore the vast world of these collectibles further. So far, I’ve only highlighted a few wrestling sets on the Unopened Archive, but expect to see more wrestling material on the blog in the future.

🗞️ In The News

Andscape: The story behind the private sale of the rarest Air Jordan collection ever
KTLA: 4 arrested in sports card store burglary; 2 at large
TN Online: Some valuable baseball cards from past days
CBS Colorado: Colorado man accused of sports trading card fraud scheme
Forbes: How Fanatics Collectibles New CMO Ken Turner Plans To Expand Its Reach Into A Younger And Diverse Market
Sports Collectors Daily: Bullpen Burbank Burglarized
Sports Collectors Digest: Wisconsin card show becomes big hit thanks to Salvation Army
CNBC: Michael Jordan’s ‘Last Dance’ sneakers are going up for auction
The Sydney Morning Herald: From Lego to Chanel: Prices for collectibles are surging on eBay
ESPN: One Orioles prospect's dad's hunt for a unique baseball card
Rochester First: Rochester man scores football card valued at $125,000+ from local shop
Sports Collectors Digest: New Sports Card Hall of Fame a fun project for collectors, voters
PSA: PSA Partners with Dave & Adam’s to Open PSA Submission Center in Europe

🤼‍♂️ A 1982 Cal Ripken Jr. RC Showdown

Cal Ripken Jr. is one of the most popular baseball players of the last forty years and one the baseball’s all-time great shortstops. He was a 19-time All-Star, a two-time AL MVP, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner, and a first-ballot Hall of Famer (95.53% of the vote). So it’s no surprise that his rookie cards are highly sought after. In this comparison, I’ll take a closer look at their aesthetics, rarity, and value so that you might have a better understanding of these classic early 80s cards and maybe add one to your collection.

Donruss: The 1982 Donruss #404 Cal Ripken Jr. rookie card is generally the least desirable by reputation, so it’s the most affordable in PSA 10 condition. PSA’s APR “Prices by Grade Average” for 10s is $556. Despite the hobby’s belief that Donruss had the lowest print run of the three base released, the card wasn’t condition sensitive out of the pack, so there are 683 PSA 10s in the Pop Report. But to me, the card has the nicest, clearest photo of Cal and displays the best.

Fleer: Let’s be honest, the 1982 Fleer #176 Cal Ripken Jr. rookie card looks out of focus. However, it’s the scarcest Ripken rookie in PSA 10 condition (306 PSA 10s), as it’s often found off-center, so it’s the priciest Gem Mint 10 base Ripken rookie with an APR Prices by Grade Average of $2282.

Topps: Many hobby “purists” prefer the 1982 Topps #21 Cal Ripken Jr. rookie because, well, it’s Topps - the hobby standard. However, it’s a three-person card, and some folks don’t like the multi-player look. It’s also pretty pricey, at $1740, on average, to get your hands on one of the 544 Gem Mint 10 examples.

Topps Traded: The 1982 Topps Traded #98T Cal Ripken Jr. card is a Top 200 card in the hobby, despite many saying it doesn’t really count as a rookie since you couldn’t pull it from a pack. But it is the Topps “rookie” that solely features Ripken. It’s pretty pricey and will, on average, cost you $4520 to get one of the 404 Gem Mint 10 examples.

I collect signed Cal Ripken Jr. cards from his playing days, and I’ve always liked the look of the Donruss card the most, but the traded card is a hobby classic. Ultimately, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these; Ripken’s an all-time great.

And ok, you might say that I neglected to talk about the backs of any cards, but frankly, no card back can compete with the 1954 Topps Hockey set, so I rarely talk about card backs anymore.

⌨️ On The PostWarCards Blog

March 6th, 2023: From Fleer to Hoops to SkyBox: The Rise Of Basketball Cards And Their Marketing In The Early 90s
March 7th, 2023: The Rookie Cards of Joe Posnanski’s Most Underrated Baseball Players Ever
March 13th, 2023: A Closer Look At The Two 1968 Topps Plaks Checklists
March 14th, 2023: The Elusive 1959 Yoo-Hoo Mickey Mantle Card: A Closer Look at One of Baseball’s Most Sought-After Oddball Collectibles

🎬 Baseball Cards in Movies and TV

Check out Baseball Card Breakdown’s list of Baseball Cards in Movies and TV, it’s phenomenal.