Which vintage basketball card would you pick if you had ~$1000 to spend?

mrburns443

All of these cards have recent sales of a bit under $1000. Which one would you choose if you had to pick.

jay0791

isn't the bird and magic the same card?

mrburns443

@jay0791 said:
isn't the bird and magic the same card?

That's the 1980 with Dr. J on it too

1948_Swell_Robinson

1980 Topps has the Bird/Magic together, then in that set they also have their card alone(without each other on the other end).
1980 Larry Bird instead of 1981. Much lower pop and is his rookie card.
1980 Magic Johnson instead of 1981. Much lower pop and is his rookie card.

Or, get their 1979 Sportscaster card, much, much rarer and is a year before their Topps card.

1951WheatiesPremium

@jay0791 said:
isn't the bird and magic the same card?

Nathaniel1960

Dr. J if centered and no fish eye. Otherwise the Wilt.

GroceryRackPack

I'd pick the 1981 Topps Larry Bird PSA 9...
Why you might ask? I would mail that Bird out to My Guy and say: "Thank you"

In4apenny

Wilt.

jay0791

Yes you guys are right.
Brain fart

DotStore

It is interesting that the PSA-9 1981 Topps Bird is selling for equal or more than a PSA-9 1980 Topps Bird/Cartwright/Drew.

craig44

I will usually go with the rookie card personally.

ScoobyDoo2

Wilt's exploits off the court tilted my selection......

1948_Swell_Robinson

@DotStore said:
It is interesting that the PSA-9 1981 Topps Bird is selling for equal or more than a PSA-9 1980 Topps Bird/Cartwright/Drew.

Especially since the 1981 is far more common in a 9. Makes zero sense. If the 1981 were a short print high number or a condition sensitive card, then it would make sense. The rookie is the best bet going forward.

Ahmanfan

I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

cgfalcone

@Ahmanfan said:
I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

I think this is the explanation, or at least a large part of it. I would add that I find the 81 set really visually appealing and I don't really care for the 80 set even apart from the multiplayer aspect. I do collect bird and magic and I have little interest in the 80 bird and magic rookie cards other than the one with Dr J. I will probably pick them up eventually but they are way down on the list for me.

baz518

The Bird and Magic solo RCs are short printed... or technically speaking, the combined Bird/Magic RC is double printed like half of that set. The solo rookies are definitely undervalued in higher grade. Crazy to think people are paying more for the 81 Magic and Birds.

1948_Swell_Robinson

@Ahmanfan said:
I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

Still doesn't make sense. Pete Rose shares his rookie card with three other players. Dale Murphy the same...etc. Yet that is not remotely the case with the prices of those rookie cards vs their second year full sized cards. The same is true of every multi player rookie unless the second year card is more rare or condition sensitive.

The second year 1981 bird is far more common.

The 1980 bird/magic card is also more common than their 1980 'solo' rookie cards.

Another thing that doesn't make sense, why would a Larry Bird collector pay $30,000 for a PSA 9 of the BIrd/Magic rookie instead of paying $900 for the Bird without the Magic, and vice versa? That should be driving demand toward those two solo cards.

Set collectors also should be driving demand to their solo rookie cards since they are needed to complete the set.

It is extremely odd.

1948_Swell_Robinson

Lets take an even bigger step into bizzaro world. Here are some examples of recent sales of PSA 8 Larry bird(without Magic Johnson), compared to the Larry Bird panel that was ripped off of the full card...so a 'super solo' lol.

In some extremely odd worm hole in the universe, a Larry Bird that was ripped off from the rest of the card is worth just as much as the Larry Bird on the full card, in comparable grades. To make it even worse, those ripped cards are Beckett graded and the full card is PSA...so in reality, the ripped 'super solo' card is actually selling for MORE than the full card because PSA slabs bring in more money than Beckett.

cgfalcone

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Ahmanfan said:
I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

Still doesn't make sense. Pete Rose shares his rookie card with three other players. Dale Murphy the same...etc. Yet that is not remotely the case with the prices of those rookie cards vs their second year full sized cards. The same is true of every multi player rookie unless the second year card is more rare or condition sensitive.

I don’t think this is apples to apples since bird has several multiplayer rookie cards, one of which is much more desirable than the others for obvious reasons. That’s not the case with the other cards you mention. People who want a bird rookie want that one. I think it is basically just set collectors and bird completists that go for the other ones.

1948_Swell_Robinson

@cgfalcone said:

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Ahmanfan said:
I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

Still doesn't make sense. Pete Rose shares his rookie card with three other players. Dale Murphy the same...etc. Yet that is not remotely the case with the prices of those rookie cards vs their second year full sized cards. The same is true of every multi player rookie unless the second year card is more rare or condition sensitive.

I don’t think this is apples to apples since bird has several multiplayer rookie cards, one of which is much more desirable than the others for obvious reasons. That’s not the case with the other cards you mention. People who want a bird rookie want that one. I think it is basically just set collectors and bird completists that go for the other ones.

Only to a point, however, what negates that point is that the 1981 card is far more abundant....and extremely common and easy to find, even in a 9....and you are talking 30 times the price for the bird/magic compared to either of them by themselves. Regardless it is still his rookie card compared to his 1981.

That doesn't explain the biazarro world of where 1/3 of a card selling for the same as the full card.

Here are a couple more examples of bizzaro world: in a 7 grade, the bird panel ripped off the panel in a Beckett 7 selling for similar price as the bird full card in a PSA 7.

I know of a beckett 9 1/3 of a bird card sell for $1,500 last year. So these aren't blips on the radar. It is full scale biazarro world.

Ahmanfan

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Ahmanfan said:
I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

Still doesn't make sense. Pete Rose shares his rookie card with three other players. Dale Murphy the same...etc. Yet that is not remotely the case with the prices of those rookie cards vs their second year full sized cards. The same is true of every multi player rookie unless the second year card is more rare or condition sensitive.

The second year 1981 bird is far more common.

The 1980 bird/magic card is also more common than their 1980 'solo' rookie cards.

Another thing that doesn't make sense, why would a Larry Bird collector pay $30,000 for a PSA 9 of the BIrd/Magic rookie instead of paying $900 for the Bird without the Magic, and vice versa? That should be driving demand toward those two solo cards.

Set collectors also should be driving demand to their solo rookie cards since they are needed to complete the set.

It is extremely odd.

You can try to rationalize any way you want. The hobby is not rational. People want what is HOT and what other people want.

Why is the Mantle RC 3x more than the Mays RC? Because it is how it is, not because it’s 3x more rare or he was 3x the player. People, and card values, are irrational because it is emotion and desire, not logic.

1948_Swell_Robinson

@Ahmanfan said:

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Ahmanfan said:
I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

Still doesn't make sense. Pete Rose shares his rookie card with three other players. Dale Murphy the same...etc. Yet that is not remotely the case with the prices of those rookie cards vs their second year full sized cards. The same is true of every multi player rookie unless the second year card is more rare or condition sensitive.

The second year 1981 bird is far more common.

The 1980 bird/magic card is also more common than their 1980 'solo' rookie cards.

Another thing that doesn't make sense, why would a Larry Bird collector pay $30,000 for a PSA 9 of the BIrd/Magic rookie instead of paying $900 for the Bird without the Magic, and vice versa? That should be driving demand toward those two solo cards.

Set collectors also should be driving demand to their solo rookie cards since they are needed to complete the set.

It is extremely odd.

You can try to rationalize any way you want. The hobby is not rational. People want what is HOT and what other people want.

Why is the Mantle RC 3x more than the Mays RC? Because it is how it is, not because it’s 3x more rare or he was 3x the player. People, and card values, are irrational because it is emotion and desire, not logic.

Yes, I know that public sentiment is typically irrational. I will never argue against that. I'm just saying it is indeed completely "irrational".

I will add that people typically do what was always been done, and that doesn't mean it will always be that way. At some point a light bulb turns on....and as pointed out above, seems like a lot of light bulbs are turned off.

Mantle RC isn't 3x Mays RC rookie though. They are getting closer and closer(1951 Bowman)....so things do change.

Ahmanfan

I haven't followed those 2 RC's, but glad to hear Willie is getting his due!

Nathaniel1960

Those 1980 Bird/Cartwright prices are crazy.

1948_Swell_Robinson

@Ahmanfan said:

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Ahmanfan said:
I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

Still doesn't make sense. Pete Rose shares his rookie card with three other players. Dale Murphy the same...etc. Yet that is not remotely the case with the prices of those rookie cards vs their second year full sized cards. The same is true of every multi player rookie unless the second year card is more rare or condition sensitive.

The second year 1981 bird is far more common.

The 1980 bird/magic card is also more common than their 1980 'solo' rookie cards.

Another thing that doesn't make sense, why would a Larry Bird collector pay $30,000 for a PSA 9 of the BIrd/Magic rookie instead of paying $900 for the Bird without the Magic, and vice versa? That should be driving demand toward those two solo cards.

Set collectors also should be driving demand to their solo rookie cards since they are needed to complete the set.

It is extremely odd.

You can try to rationalize any way you want. The hobby is not rational. People want what is HOT and what other people want.

Why is the Mantle RC 3x more than the Mays RC? Because it is how it is, not because it’s 3x more rare or he was 3x the player. People, and card values, are irrational because it is emotion and desire, not logic.

A lot of people are concerned that they are being priced out of the current market. Think differently.

You have to think away from the crowd, not with it. When they zig, you zag. I started zagging with basketball cards in the 1980's when I got tired of looking at 1,000 of the same 1970's/80's topps baseball cards(which I still love too though), so I went to something that I could complete at very cheap prices because everyone else thought they were garbage at the time...BASKETBALL CARDS.

NOW....
You can spend $35,000 on a PSA 9 Bird/Erving/Johnson rookie and hold it proudly in your hand.
Or
You can buy a PSA 9 bird rookie for $900(and it is the exact same card as the one on the $35,000 card above) and hold it proudly in your left hand.

Then buy a PSA 9 Magic rookie for $1,200(and it is the exact same card as the one on the $35,000 card above) and hold it proudly in your right hand.

Zag.

The people who bought up the high grade 70's OPC cards zagged while everyone else was zigging. Still a little time to zag on that one though.

At one time the 1921 Exhibit Ruth wasn't even considered a 'baseball card' by a large part of the community. Same for the Gehrig rookie exhibit. Same for the Ty Cobb rookie postcards. Those were zagging when they were zigging opportunities. Too late for those now.

There are still several cards that are priced much lower than similar counterparts that do not make any sense whatsoever. I'm not going to list anymore because I am still looking for some and I'm sure others might be too. I'm talking elite immortal Hall of Famers that have elite cards that are vastly underpriced compared to the cards that are zigging right now.

Time to zag.

baz518

@cgfalcone said:

@1948_Swell_Robinson said:

@Ahmanfan said:
I think people like the full player on the card VS the card split into 3, thus, the premium on '81.
I know I would want the bird/magic/DR J and then the 81 and onward if I collected magic or bird.

Still doesn't make sense. Pete Rose shares his rookie card with three other players. Dale Murphy the same...etc. Yet that is not remotely the case with the prices of those rookie cards vs their second year full sized cards. The same is true of every multi player rookie unless the second year card is more rare or condition sensitive.

I don’t think this is apples to apples since bird has several multiplayer rookie cards, one of which is much more desirable than the others for obvious reasons. That’s not the case with the other cards you mention. People who want a bird rookie want that one. I think it is basically just set collectors and bird completists that go for the other ones.

Bird technically has only two rookie cards, same for Magic... the combined and the solos. Any of the Leader and All-Star panels are not technically considered RCs.

dan89

Won’t spend the 35K to complete this. Have one on the back which I consider my rook😉

Agree solo card which is indeed the only other rook is vastly undervalued. Get the eye appeal, however the divide has to wane.

1948_Swell_Robinson

@dan89 said:
Won’t spend the 35K to complete this. Have one on the back which I consider my rook😉

Agree solo card which is indeed the only other rook is vastly undervalued. Get the eye appeal, however the divide has to wane.

That is a mighty fine grouping right there. Killer pack!

Cakes

It's Russell all the way! I hope he lives to 100 but similar to Hank Aaron his cards will bump when he passes.

1951WheatiesPremium

hyperchipper09

None of the above. If it were me w/ the $1k I'd take a look at some RC's in the 1969/70 Topps basketball set.