Your First PSA card

jaxxr · January 21, 2005 4:55AM

Most of us here now have many PSA cards. A set registry collector, or anyone with some, had to have started somewhere. I am able to recall the first PSA card I ever got, and think it might be interesting to hear how others plunged into slabbed cardboard.

The first I ever got was a purchase, not a submission, about 7-8 years ago. 1957 Topps FB Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsh PSA 8. It seemed "pack-fresh" and almost new to me whan I opened the package, ordered via SCD magazine through the mail. Stan the Man Sportscards in Florida was the seller, and it now resides among my mediocre registered set.

I had tried for some time to upgrade my raw 57 FB set to all NM or better ( I learned it had a few ex and ex-mt when I became more informed as to graded standards ) and had a tuff time getting Hirsh. A few others were picked up at card shows, mail order, Etc., but I never could find a Hirsh in true NM shape. I am from the Chicago area and had a good selection of shops and shows to find the card, but that and mail-order mis-grades were quite frustrating. So I decided to take a chance on the high-priced, unproven, sure to be only a fad, graded card route.

That card purchase in itself, did not fully convince / convert me to PSA, but was really a big start.

Who else can recall who / why that first card was ???

shagrotn77 · January 21, 2005 4:58AM

A PSA 9 '89 UD Griffey. Bought for about $175 in late '98 or early '99.

daywalker2029 · January 21, 2005 5:07AM

hello - im new to the forum and kinda new to graded cards (only been collecting slabbed cards for about a year ) my first PSA card was a (10) 90 leaf john olerud - olerud is my favorite player and 1990 leaf is my fav set so it was perfect - a year later i have just over half of a complete PSA 1990 leaf set and many other PSA/BGS cards

RipublicaninMass · January 21, 2005 5:08AM

85 topps mcgwire PSA 10, paid way too much

CreeperKat · January 21, 2005 5:14AM

I remember watching a news show when Mark McGwire was chasing Roger Maris's record. It talked about the high value of McGwire's USA Olympic card. I remember telling my wife, I should have a handful of those in my card binders and boxes that I haven't looked at in 10+ years. I found a handful of them, looked them up on eBay and learned of PSA. Noticed a local card shop was a "PSA Authorized" dealer so I took my McGwire cards over to him. He looked them over and suggested I send 3 of the 5. He submitted them for me and I got 2 PSA 8 and 1 PSA 8 O/C. I was hooked at that point and began submitting myself. I sold the O/C and recovered most of my grading fees. I still have the other two. They even have the 0 prefix serial number.

ZodiacMindwarp · January 21, 2005 5:14AM

I started collecting baseball cards in 1975 at the age of 6 1/2. It was not until 1981 that condition had any meaning to me. Up until that point, simply owning a card, in any condition, was good enough for me. Throughout the years I filled in the sets with my youth and I have not upgraded them. My sets from 1973 through 1980 have cards of varying condition.

When the husband of my Mother's boss passed away a few years ago his widow was going to sell off his entire baseball card inventory for $200. He sold baseball cards at a local flea market but I never saw anything of value at his booth. I offered her $400 just for the fun of going through hundreds of thousands of cards. Most of the stuff turned out to be worthless mid 80's overproduced junk but there were enough 1960s cards to make it worthwhile. What stood out from the rest were several hundred beautiful 1969 cards. I began to become curious how these cards would rate compared to the PSA cards that I was seeing on eBay so I bought a PSA 9, a PSA 8 and a PSA 7 for comparison purposes. Here is the first card that I received:

Outside of my 1969 set (which is currently at 90%) I am still not too interested in condition but I rarely buy raw cards now. I have filled in the holes in some of my older sets with PSA 4s through PSA 7S.

MorrellMan · January 21, 2005 5:17AM

Hard to say for sure, but I think my first PSA card was my own submission - a '59 Morrell Podres that came back a 7 - still the only 7 in the set. That was in '99; however it was also the first '59 graded and they incorrectly put 1960 on the flip. I had it corrected about a year ago.

spacktrack · January 21, 2005 5:19AM

Got my first PSA card(s) after I graded out all the stars in a collection that I had bought. Included were the following cards:

Mantle: '55 Bowman, '60 Topps, '61 Topps, '63 Topps, '65 Topps, '67 Topps, '69 Topps
Aaron: '54 Topps, '55 Topps, '60 Topps, '61 Topps, '67 Aaron
Mays: '54 Bowman, '55 Topps, '60 Topps, '61 Topps, '67 Topps
Clemente: '60 Topps, '61 Topps, '62 Topps, '67 Topps
Koufax: '55 Topps, '60 Topps, '61 Topps, '62 Topps, '63 Topps
Rose: '64 Topps, '65 Topps, '66 Topps, '67 Topps
Robinson '55 Topps

Pretty much any cards the above players were on in a given year were included. I graded out a bunch of '61 high numbers including a run of the Sporting News AS cards. Submitted close to 100 cards in total. The best learning tool for me ever as this was back in October 2001. I knew pretty much what grades the cards would come back as, but in this one submission I got to see grades ranging from PSA 1 to 8. It was really neat having all the cards laid out graded, too.

spacktrack

1420sports · January 21, 2005 5:23AM

my first submission

1955 Topps Ted Williams PSA 6
1955 Topps Jackie Robinson PSA 5
1964 Mantle PSA 5
1952 Bowman Musial PSA 5

rjd · January 21, 2005 5:26AM

1965 Carlton 7 (i thought i was robbed, it was fair), 1985 McGwire 8 (ditto). Bob

gregm13 · January 21, 2005 5:38AM

This is a great thread. My first PSA card was a 1969 Joe Namath that I submitted at one of the major shows in Chicago back about 5 or 6 years ago. I remember picking the card up at the booth later in the day and was estatic that it was graded a PSA 9. I still have it - and it's registered in my neglected 1969 topps football set (which I'll finish one of these days

Regards,

Greg M.

phreakydancin · January 21, 2005 5:42AM

I've never submitted, but this past summer I picked up these, my first PSA cards, from our very own roastedcat:

I think I paid $6 for the two of them, more as curiosity pieces than with the intent of doing a set. Six months later, I'm now at 25% and over 9.00 GPA for the first time, despite some stiff competition whenever these bad boys come up for auction (a Bjorn Borg PSA 10 recently sold for $130

).

onlychild · January 21, 2005 5:48AM

In my first submission (around 98) I got:

1963 Topps Mantle - PSA 7
1961 Bell Brand Snider - PSA 9

Kevin

MorrellMan · January 21, 2005 5:51AM

phreaky - of course I recognize Bobby Charlton, but who's the gal on the left?

ranger63 · January 21, 2005 6:06AM

a nolan ryan rookie i bought on ebay for $190. submited it myself and it came back a 3.

CON40 · January 21, 2005 6:09AM

I purchased my first PSA graded card back in early '97. It was a PSA 8 1976 Topps Ryan. I paid $40 and was happy with it.

67standup · January 21, 2005 6:10AM

A 1961 Topps Koufax PSA 8: this was the first card purchased not from packs as a kid in 1979.

crsportscards33 · January 21, 2005 6:11AM

First sub:

1958 Topps Banks AS PSA 7
1958 Topps Aaron As PSA 6
1960 Topps Berra PSA 7
1960 Topps Wynn PSA 6

Thought they were all 8's. Oh, to be young again!

jimtb · January 21, 2005 6:18AM

First card bought was a Kaline, I think it was a 71 off of ebay. My 1st submission was:
89 Upper Deck Griffey 10
85 Topps Mark McGwire 9
1955 Bowman Kaline - evid. of trimming

phreakydancin · January 21, 2005 6:20AM

<< <i>phreaky - of course I recognize Bobby Charlton, but who's the gal on the left? >>

Not the best pic of Keegan, but then it wasn't the best decade for hair either

Kid4hof03 · January 21, 2005 6:22AM

First graded card was 1976 Kareem Abdul Jabbar PSA 8.

Abe

helionaut · January 21, 2005 6:24AM

The first one I ever owned was a 1991 Bowman Chipper Jones. I think is was a PSA 9. I got it as a premium for joining thepit, which was free. They sent it to me in the mail out of the blue. I popped that sucker on ebay and made $15. That was when I was pretty staunchly anti-grading and wouldn't have cared to keep it even if I liked Chipper. Remember when the Internet was like a giant cornucopia of free stuff? Websites were starting up and couldn't give things away cheaply or quickly enough. I remember spending buying about 30 DVDs in one week from various places in 1999 and I don't think I spent more than $200 with all the discounts and coupons and free shipping and rebates and whatnot. Those were the days.

My next one was a 1999 Collector's Edge Ricky Williams PSA 10 that was a redemption deal. I paid $75 for the redemption card, knowing that I would double or triple my money in a few weeks when I got the card. I sent it in before opening day and waited. I didn't receive it until after the season was over. I still made money on it, though, as mine was the first auction to close on ebay. I think it sold for $125.

The first one I ever bought for myself was a 1971 Greatest Moments Bob Gibson PSA 7 I got from 1954 in late 2001. That's the set that got me into all this nonsense. A big, heavy slab like that makes it feel like you're really buying something.

WinPitcher · January 21, 2005 6:26AM

1961 NL Batting Leaders for 36.00 dollars sold it 3 months later for 49.99 To Toppsgun of all people Card was a PSA 8 and was sweet.

my first submission was at the fort wash show (my freebies) and I did pretty well, or at least I did what I thought I should.

PlayBall · January 21, 2005 7:05AM

1998 Topps Chrome Vince Carter PSA 10.

Dumb, da-dumb, dumb, dummmmmb!

First PSA card I lost on E-Bay was a 1940 Play Ball George Sisler PSA 7. Don't remember the first card I won, but losing that card (my intro to snipers) still sticks in my craw to this day.

ydsotter · January 21, 2005 7:35AM

I love that Kevin Keegan - I have been looking for one forever...
hey, if you ever wanna part with it, lemme know...
I'd love to find some of his cards...

ydsotter · January 21, 2005 7:38AM

oh yeah, my first psa card....
my first graded cards was a sgc 92 1972 Dr. J...
My forst PSA graded card was a psa 7 1971 tom seaver. I won 2 for $10 on teletrade...
my first psa graded card that I was truly happy with and kept was a psa 9 1990 bowman tiffany bernie williams.

magellan · January 21, 2005 7:58AM

'69 Ernie Banks PSA 7 from eBay on March 1 of 2004. I'm a real newbie when it comes to graded but have over 1200 PSA slabs in that time frame. Can you say addiction?

Robby · January 21, 2005 8:29AM

My first Psa Graded Card was purchased in 1999........a 1963 Fleer Baseball Checklist - Psa 6 o/c which was the last card I needed to complete my raw set in ! I think I paid around $150 or thereabouts for it ! Have purchased many graded cards since then , but that was the last card I ever purchased that had a qualifier !...............Robbie

krunchtyme · January 21, 2005 8:50AM

Wow, Some cool stuff out there. My first submissions if I remember right were in 1998:

89 Pro Set Troy Aikman - PSA7
38 Goudey Joe DiMaggio - PSA 5
33 Jimmy Fox PSA 4
and I think the last one was a 1998 Terrell Davis Topps Stadium Club First Day Issue PSA 10

Grades relatively low, but hey, I own them. By the way Still looking for a PSA 10 Aikman, actually Aikmans and Emmitts, and any other Cowboy in almost any grade, LOL.

Thanks for all the interesting posts.

NickM · January 21, 2005 12:46PM

At the 2000 National, PSA gave out a coupon for one free onsite grade as part of each VIP member package. I too thought grading was sort of silly at the time, but decided to use it. I ended up not leaving myself much time to evaluate cards before I had to submit something with enough time to get it returned that day, so I went through a few cards I had picked up out of Kevin Savage's dollar boxes. I had a Joey Galloway '95 Finest (rookie) that I was confident was Mint, so I decided to use that as my submission (I had picked up a free SMR, and it gave that card's PSA 9 price as $15).

I was right. The card sits in a PSA 9 holder.

It's the only post-1970 card I've submitted.

Nick

aro13 · January 21, 2005 1:04PM

First graded card purchase was 61-62 Fleer Bob Cousy PSA 8 OC
First submission results were C56 Nick Bawlf PSA 8, C56 Herb Clark PSA 5, 57-58 Topps Bob Cousy PSA 7

downgoesfrazier · January 21, 2005 2:22PM

Neat thread. 1957 Topps Willie Mays PSA 8 NQ. Purchased in the early fall of 1997 from Ric Chandgie's Piedmont Cards. I paid $450 for it, which was really strong for the market at the time. The card was fantastic. It qualified (cross-over) to SGC 92 and I never did cross it. I sold it last year to a '57 set builder for $900 who was thrilled with the card. It is still one of the finest copies of that card I've owned or even seen. My second was a 1972 #309 Clemente PSA 9 that I later traded to WIWAG for a 52 Bowman Stengel PSA 8. At that point I was hooked. It was only after my disenchantment with consistency within registered GPA's-- in the competitive registry-- that I became "unhooked". I still like the concept, however.

dgf

ctsoxfan · January 21, 2005 2:26PM

Cool thread - I don't recall at which show I first purchased a PSA card, but I remember submitting a small group of my own childhood cards before I actually bought an already slabbed one. In that group was a PSA 10 1989 UD Griffey, a PSA 10 1987 Fleer Bonds, and a PSA 9 1980 Henderson RC. I was hooked after that, of course...

wolfbear · January 21, 2005 4:15PM

I used to buy PSA slabs solely for the purpose
of breaking the cards out to upgrade my raw sets.

So, I have no idea ...

gmoneystyles · January 21, 2005 5:27PM

My first PSA card, and 1950 Bowman. My Fiance asked mockingly "What, are you going to collect the whole set?" . I tell her now it's all her fault I have this singular goal in life

ArtRossLives · January 22, 2005 12:00AM

I always thought graded cards were silly until deciding to start a C55 set just over a year ago. I decided to buy it graded as I had never even seen a C55 'live' and didn't know much about them. After watching eBay for a while it was clear that there were way more PSA graded cards available than the other services (although SCG has better looking holders) so I decided to go with PSA. My first purchase was in Nov 2003, a Odie Cleghorn in PSA4. Since then I've bought over half the set, most graded but some raw then submitted now that I know a little about them. Then after getting ripped on some trimmed T206s I decided to start buying them in PSA etc etc etc.

baseballjeff · January 22, 2005 12:36AM

Great subject!

First PSA gradded card I ever bought was a PSA 6 1990 Topps Frank Thomas NNOF. Before this I went on a streak of a number of years not buying cards. It was PSA's great reputation, case, gurintee of authinticity that got me back into the hobby.

Thanks PSA,
Jeff

SlangNRox · January 22, 2005 1:40PM

My first was a 1980 Magic/Bird rookie card. I am now at 1.14% complete on my 1980-81 Topps set.

srs1a · January 22, 2005 11:57PM

Mine were my first submission.

53 Paige PSA-6
54 Banks PSA-5
66 Mantle PSA-7
68 Mantle PSA-7

I thought for sure that the '66 Mantle was a 9...looking at the card today, it looks like a nice 7. Live and learn!

softparade · January 23, 2005 4:12AM

The first PSA cards I ever owned were from my freebie submissions.

1987 Donruss Mark McGwire PSA 9
1987 Fleer Barry Bonds PSA 9
1988 Fleer Tom Glavine PSA 9
1989 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr. PSA 9
1987 Donruss Barry Bonds PSA 8
1987 Topps Barry Bonds PSA 7

This was just this past November, as I just got back into the hobby. I joined and pulled my best cards from the late 80's when I last collected. Two things I learned REAL QUICK

1. Get out of the 80's
2. I am hooked like a early spring Bass who starved all winter long under the ice

liffeystynx · January 23, 2005 6:44AM

My first was a PSA 6 1967 Topps Steve Carlton in December 2000. I was working on a raw set, this one came up at a price ($30) comparable or better than the (in hindsight) overgraded raw stuff I was buying at the time. As others have said, this substantial, slabbed, icon-like treasure was soooo seductive and it wasn't long before I decided that it made sense to have the star cards in the sets I was working on (1967-72) in PSA 7 or better. You all know that slippery slope - other collecting interests open up but funnily enough, you don't go back to raw.

I am now working on the 1967 set in 8 or better (on a bit of a break at the moment though ... pressures of ...life). I upgraded the Carlton to PSA 7 two years later but I haven't got the 8 ... yet

LordThanos1969 · January 23, 2005 7:43AM

The first PSA graded card I purchased was a PSA 7, 1957 Bob Gibson rookie card. I bought it way back in 1993 from Sportscards Plus out of an SCD ad. I wish I still had it, but sold it off when I needed money for graduate school in the mid 90s.

There is a bit of an amazing story considering the sale of that card. I found someone in the back of SCD offering to buy vintage cards. He gave me a mediocre amount for four of my cards, including the Gibson. At this time, graded cards were still a relatively new phenomenon. After the transaction was completed, I received a call from the dealer asking me how to remove the card from the PSA holder, because he said he couldn't sell it unless it was out of the holder!

softparade · January 23, 2005 7:48AM

<< <i> After the transaction was completed, I received a call from the dealer asking me how to remove the card from the PSA holder, because he said he couldn't sell it unless it was out of the holder! >>

oh the winds of change

Your First PSA card

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