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The Most Popular Rookie Cards To Collect
Ever since sports cards were first produced back in the 1930's, 40's, and 50's, rookie cards have been the most coveted cards in the industry. In 1952, the Topps company produced it's first baseball card set. That set is the holy grail and it features some of the greatest rookie cards of all time. Card #311 from that famous '52 Topps set is the rookie card of the great Mickey Mantle. This card generally sells for about $25,000-$30,000 in high PSA grades. Another great rookie card from the '52 Topps baseball set is card #261, which is the Willie Mays Topps rookie card. Mays had a card produced in 1951 by Bowman.
Other famous cards from the 1952 Topps set are Eddie Matthews, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Bobby Thompson, Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Richie Ashburn, Yogi Berra, Billy Martin, Red Schoendienst, Bob Feller, Enos Slaughter, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Warren Spahn, Dom Dimaggio, Phil Rizzuto, and the popular Any Pafko #1 card.
To see the complete checklist of the 1952 Topps baseball card set, click here!
Back in 1998, the Indianapolis Colts had the #1 pick in the NFL draft. They were looking for a quarterback. They had to choose between Washington State QB Ryan Leaf or Tennessee QB Peyton Manning. They went with Peyton Manning. I think it's fair to say that they made the right choice..lol.
Ryan Leaf was drafted by the San Diego Chargers and turned out to be one of the biggest "BUSTS" in NFL history. He is now out of football because he was so god awful.
Meanwhile, Peyton has gone to have a super star NFL career and is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play pro football.
Let's look at Peyton Manning's career numbers shall we? As I type this article (10/21/09), He has 47,273 passing yards, 345 touchdowns, 3,972 pass completions out of 6,141 attempts. And these numbers keep rising every week as Peyton is having another MVP season in 2009.
And Peyton Manning's rookie cards are doing well, obviously. His best rookie card is his 1998 Playoff Contenders Ticket issue, and it has sold at some incredible prices. It is listed here on Modern Card Guide at $9,000!
You can pick up some of Peyton Manning's other rookie cards that aren't quite as expensive. Like his Topps Chrome, Bowman Chrome, etc. But either way, Manning rookies are a good investment and should hold their value for years to come. Remember, Peyton Manning is a long way from retiring and if he continues to play at this level, he will most likely crush Dan Marino's all-time passing records.
Back in 2001 Bowman Chrome Auto produced it's baseball card set. And they chose card #340 to be some skinny kid from the St. Louis Cardinals named Albert Pujols. In March of 2001, you probably could have bought this card for around $1.00. Today this 2001 Bowman Chrome AUTO Albert Pujols rookie card fetches thousands of dollars, depending on it's grade from PSA and BGS.
Look for this card to keep climbing and climbing in value as Pujols keeps putting huge hall-of-fame type numbers every year. The 2009 baseball season just ended two days ago. Let's take a look at Albert Pujols' numbers from the just ended baseball season.
Albert had 47 home runs, 135 RBI, a batting average of .327 and 124 runs scored. Simply amazing! So, you might want to pick up a few of Albert Pujols' rookie cards. You can't go wrong.
Back in 1986, the Fleer company decided to produce a basketball card set. Back then the NBA was not as popular as it is today. In fact a lot of the NBA playoff games were tape delayed and aired late at night. Can you imagine that? Today the NBA is huge!
Anyways, back to the 1986-87 Fleer basketball set. Fleer decided to produce a very limited number of these sets due to the fact that really no one followed the NBA like they did the NFL and Major League baseball.
Well, having done that, Fleer has produced the most popular basketball card set of all time. That set is absolutely loaded with rookie cards of now hall-of-fame players. And we all know what card #57 is. It is the Michael Jordan rookie card!
Other famous rookie cards from that 86-87 Fleer basketball set are Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, Hakeem Olajuwan, Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, Isiah Thomas, Clyde Drexler and Chris Mullin. Also some great early cards of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
If you can't afford Michael Jordan's rookie card, check out picking up his second and third year Fleer cards. They are very collectable and are nice copies of a young Michael. 1987-88 Fleer Michael Jordan and 1988-89 Fleer MJ.
The 2003 NBA draft could go down as one of the best drafts in NBA history. I can remember back in late 2002 everyone was talking about this high school kid in Ohio that was going to be the next big NBA superstar. I thought to myself "Yeaaahh, right!". Because I had heard that phrase "Next big NBA Superstar" so many times and it never pans out. Remember Harold Miner was supposed to be the "Next" Michael Jordan?! How did that pan out?
Well, anyway, this kid in Ohio was so hyped that I was intrigue. I mean, ESPN was showing his high school games on TV! Well, that skinny kid from Ohio turned out to be LeBron James.
And here we are nearly 7 years later and I have egg all over my face. Why? Because LeBron James was and is the "Next big NBA Superstar".
Here are LeBron's career numbers after the completion of the 2008-09 NBA season. He has 12,993 points, 3,159 assists, 830 steals, 405 blocks, and a whopping 27.5 points per game average!
Like I said above, the 2003 NBA draft could be the best. The reason being is there are a few other great players from that draft.
Dwyane Wade has become a superstar with the Miami Heat and he has something that LeBron doesn't. An NBA Championship from the 2005-06 NBA season.
Then there's Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Chris Kaman, Kirk Hinrich, T.J. Ford, Mickael Pietrus, David West, Kyle Korver, and Josh Howard. About the only "BUST" of the 2003-04 NBA draft has been Darko Milicic. He has been awful and has not lived up to his hype.
The 2003-04 NBA basketball card sets are loaded with rookies and they are lead, of course, by LeBron James. Take your pick! Whether it's 2003-04 Topps Chrome, 2003-04 Topps Pristine, 2003-04 Topps Finest, 2003-04 SP Authentic, 2003-04 Upper Deck SPX and more, you can't go wrong because all of LeBron's rookie cards are highly collectable and should be for a long time!
If you are rich or have recently won the lottery, you should look into picking up a few of LeBron James's 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection rookie cards. These are his premium, high end rookies and they will set you back a few thousand bucks!
The New York Yankees Derek Jeter is already considered to be the best shortstop in Major League history. With the 2009 baseball season just ending and the playoffs going on, Jeter just finished up another solid year as the Yankee captain.
Derek batted .334 with 18 home runs and 66 RBI. He also pounded out 212 hits. Jeter also passed Yankee legend Lou Gehrig for the most hits by a New York Yankees' player. Gehrig had 2,721 career hits for the Yanks. Jeter finished the 2009 season with 2,747 career hits. A true model of consitency for Derek. He will no doubt head straight to the hall-of-fame when his career is over.
As you can imagine, Jeter's rookie cards are big sellers. His rookie cards can be found in 1993 baseball card sets. Like his 1993 Topps #98 rookie card, and his 1993 Pinnacle #457 RC.
But the cream of the crop is the 1993 Upper Deck SP Derek Jeter rookie card #279. I can remember this card exploding in value back in 1996 when the New York Yankess won the World Series.
In that same 2001 Bowman Chrome baseball card set, there was another card produced that is very popular today. It is card #351. That card of course is the Ichiro Suzuki Bowman Chrome Rookie!
Ichiro just finished up another solid season for the Seattle Mariners. He had 225 hits and a .352 batting average, Ichiro set a Major League record this year as he collected 200 plus hits in a season for the 9th straight year.
He also collected his 2000th career hit during the 2009 baseball season. Ichiro now has 2,030 career hits since he came over to the states to play baseball.
Ichiro will no doubt be the first Japanese born player to be elected into baseball's hall-of-fame when his career is over. So, if you're thinking about picking up a few Ichiro rookie cards, go ahead, it will be a great investment.
The Minnesota Twins are playing a one game playoff against the Detroit Tigers right now as I type this. The winner goes on to play the New York Yankees in the 2009 baseball playoffs.
The Tigers and Twins ended the 2009 baseball season last sunday with identical records. That's why they are playing today.
Anyway, enough about that. The Twins have this kid catcher who is pretty good..lol! Of course I am talking about Joe Mauer. He is simply a hitting machine. Here are his numbers so far, not counting today's one game playoff game against the Tigers.
In the 2009 baseball season, Mauer is batting .364 with 28 home runs and 96 RBI. He also has 189 hits. Ooops, my bad, Mauer just got a hit in his first at bat against the Tigers so he now has 190.
Mauer's rookie cards can be found in 2002 baseball card sets. His cards will continue to climb in value so pick some up in the off season. You can't go wrong collecting this kid!
Brett Favre turns 40 years old in about 3 days! But you would never know it the way he is playing. Favre signed with the 2009 Minnesota Vikings in the off season and he has played phenomenal as he has the Vikings at 4-0.
Favre is coming off a huge 30-23 win a few days ago on Monday Night Football against his former team the Green Bay Packers.
Of course this has sparked a ton of interest in his rookie cards. Favre's rookie cards have always been good sellers but they are hot, hot, hot! Take a look at how many eBay auctions that are up for his rookie cards right now as I type this on October 7, 2009!
Brett Favre's most popular rookie card is his 1991 Topps Stadium Club #94 issue.
With the Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre playing so well, look for the Favre rookie card to continue to sell well. Especially if the Vikings can go deep in the playoffs or even win the Super Bowl.
Hard to believe that it's now been 20 years since Pete Rose was banned from baseball for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds. Pete Rose has the most hits in baseball history with 4,256 and a career batting average of .303. And yet Rose is not in the hall-of-fame.
I wasn't alive in 1963, but I sure wish I was because the 1963 Topps baseball card set is one of the best looking sets ever, in my opinion. And I'm sure I would have been buying a lot of packs if I were around then. And the rookie cards are really cool! They feature "MUG" shots of the players and the color combinations of the cards just jump out at you.
Of course, the Pete Rose rookie card #537 leads the way. I can remember when Rose broke the all-time hits record back on September 11, 1985. This card was the hottest rookie card to collect at that time. It's still a very sought after card. Hopefully, Bud Selig or the next baseball commissioner will lift Pete Rose's life time ban from baseball and put him in the hall-of-fame. He certainly deserves it. Pete once said "just think, if I was a drug addict, I would be in the hall-of-fame".
Back in 1981 i was a 14 year old kid collecting football cards. I remember the 1981 Topps football set very well and I remember buying tons of packs. I also remember that I probably had at least 10 1981 Topps Joe Montana #216 rookie cards. I lived in Fairfield, Ca at the time and I was a huge 49ers' fan. So I collected a lot of Niners players.
Now here is the part that I don't like to remember. I no longer have those Montana rookie cards . They got lost and thrown away threw the years (Sound familiar?).
The Joe Montana rookie card is now one of the most recognized cards in the sports card industry. It represents the 1980's and the domination of the NFL by the San Francisco 49ers. Montana and the Niners won four Super Bowl titles and this card went through the roof as football cards started becoming more popular in the late 80's.
If only I could go back in time I would hoard those Montana rookies that I had. It could be worse though. Imagine the older guys of today that collected baseball cards back in 1952. Some of them most likely threw away or lost a few Mickey Mantle rookie cards. Ouch!
Ahhhh the 1982 Topps Cal Ripken, Jr rookie card. Brings back tons of great memories for me. Let me take you back in time, if you don't mind.
It was the summer of 1982 and I was a 15 year old kid living in Northern California. I am at the Solano mall in Fairfield, California. Most of my friends were at the "Mine Shaft" arcade. But I wasn't. I was on the second level of the mall at Kay-Bee Toys looking through tons of cello packs of 1982 Topps baseball cards.
I remember how excited I got when I would see the three player rookie cards that I was looking for. Kent Hrbek, Steve Sax and of course Cal Ripken rookie cards. This is what is so special about collecting sports cards. They bring back so many memories. You remember where you were at and what you were doing when you see a card from the past. In my case, the 1982 Topps Cal Ripken, Jr rookie card is definately one of those cards.
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