Sportscaster Help Needed

ROCKDJRW

This weekend I purchased a huge lot of hundreds (thousands??) of Sportscaster cards from the late 70's early 80's. There are football, basketball, hockey, bowling, tennis, swimming, and almost ANY other sport you can think of. I believe it to be unsearched however there weren't any baseball players (except Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb) and there was no Magic Johnson(the only card I knew to look for). I was wondering what other cards might be rare or valuable? I have OJ Simpson, Walter Payton, Pele, Tony Dorsett (in college) and MANY MANY sports stars of the day. Also there are tons of cards that are not sports related. There are Civil War, Indians, Government, War and almost every other topic. Are those still referred to as "Sportscaster" cards? I am planning on listing these on Ebay and any help on the best way to sell them would be greatly appreciated. The only sportscaster card I have ever purchased was of Bruno Sanmartino at the National. I paid $6 for that card and there was one in this lot. The condition of this lot is in the ex-mt - nrmt-mt range. Does PSA grade these? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

eyebone

Rock:

I know the Wayne Gretzky card has a hefty value--something like $500. Hope you have a couple in your pile.

Eyebone

ROCKDJRW

by doing a completed auction search on Ebay I noticed there are several valuable Hockey cards. I have none of those. However I have several that people are selling in the 10 dollar range (Steve Profontaine(sp)??) Also some sellers speak of "high numbers". Were are the numbers on these things?

NickM

Get the Beckett Almanac (any sport). The high series cards are the most valuable. You can't tell the series by the card, but the price guide breaks them down by series. Only the cards that have the Sportscaster set of classification marks on them are Sportscasters. The rest are other nonsports card sets put out by the same company (it sounds like you have the American History set).

Nick

ptper

There were 103 "sets" of 24 cards issued between 1977 and 1979. Sets 56 and up are considered the high numbers with sets 101-103 being extremely scarce.

I've only collected the basketball set and there are 3 cards in the high number series that are expensive; Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Danny Ainge. The Bird and Magic list between $150 and $200 and the Ainge is about $60. However, all of them can be had at about 1/3 of that with careful shopping.

Although I do not have an example handy, I'm almost certain that the cards are numbered on the back. The numbering system looks like 05-22 or 89-01, meaning card #1 in Series 89.

I really enjoyed working on my basketball set and will probably go after some of the other sports. I am very surprised that these do not have more value than they do. They are great photos with great write ups on the back.

rbeaton

Here's a sample.





Robert

ROCKDJRW

Thanks for all the info guys! There are still some minor finds to be had. I bought this entire lot at a flea market for five dollars! Any suggestions on how to list the non-sport cards on Ebay?

phreakydancin

Nice cricket icon on that card

aro13

PSA does not grade them, yet. Steve Prefontaine is a very popular card - I think I paid around $20 for mine.

NickM

That was a major find. Even the cheap ones normally sell for 50 cents to a dollar apiece.

As for listing the non-sports cards, you will need a non-sports card price guide to know what you have and how to list it.

I love Sportscaster cards. I used to get them as a kid, and saved all of mine (together with the peripherals). I've gotten a few of them autographed (John Wooden on a card about the UCLA championship teams, Elgin Baylor, and Bill Walton), and they make great pieces for that purpose.

Nick