9 Striking Similarities Between Baseball Cards and the Stock Market

Hi Friends,

  For those of us who not only collect baseball cards but invest in them as well, it's daunting when you look at the similarities between the Stock Market and the Baseball Card Market. Being a former registered stockbroker for a few years back in the early 90's (yes, during the "JUNK WAX" overproduction era of baseball cards; it's not a coincidence!), I'm able to draw some real parallels, and I'll break them down for you.

  1) Players, very simply, are the "Stocks". They are pieces of a whole, but sold individually. If you feel strongly about a player, you invest in him by buying his cards. Simple enough, right?

  2) Teams are a collection of players, just like a company is made up of a collection of stocks, or shares in its profit. The better the Team does, the better the stocks fair in the eyes of the public. Some players do outshine the others. We can call them "Preferred Stock" vs. "Common Stock", as they pay dividends (larger shares of the profit). Make sense so far?

  3) With stocks, we analyze the market value. How much profit is expected? How do we expect the common vs. preferred shares to perform? In Baseball Cards, we question whether the player will lead the league in average, home runs, etc. Will the team reach the playoffs and maybe the World Series? Speculation. The Data that is analyzed for stocks turns out to be the statistics we monitor closely in baseball, for example, the shootout among the National League to see who will win the batting title (In the AL, Altuve has that one locked up!). Stats=Data, and these are looked at in charts and graphs to see trends.

  4) Ever head of an IPO, or an "Initial Public Offering"? It's when a new company launches and its shares hit the market. IPO's are hot since they often skyrocket in price early on. That is what Prospects are. Bregman, Turner, Urias...they are all the IPO's of the Baseball Card Market. Catch them while they are hot, because if they cannot make it big in the sport/the market, their card prices will tank.

  5) Where is the corporate headquarters? For the Mets, I know it's Citi Field. The home team operates out of its "Store" or Corporate Headquarters, or Stadium. It's where they intake revenue. It's where the fan (potential investors) gets to see their favorite players, and if the player performs well, guess what? More purchases of their cards and increasing values!

  6) The Baseball Season is equivalent to a trading session in the Stock Market. After the season ends, Baseball Card trading quiets down some. But during the heat of the season/session, it's literally 24/7, just like our Global Stock Market.

  7) Post-Season play is equivalent to after hours trading that occurs in the market. The advantage goes to the players on the teams that made the post-season, as you can imagine, which points to the value-added of a team making the Post-Season!

  8) All-Star Games are basically a road show of the best of the best. Stock Market Road Shows are organized to make local investors aware of some upcoming offerings so they can prepare their financials to be able to invest. The All-Star Game prepares us for a hot 2nd half, and we get a look at both leagues to see where and with who do we place our investments most wisely.

  9) NASD is an association of Stock Brokers and dealers, and they do not have one specific location and are spread out all over the country. That is the Stock marketplace. What about the Baseball Card marketplace? What about baseball card shows happening all across the country and some dealers either attend some shows or none of them and some strictly sell online or from their shop. It's just as fragmented and decentralized as the stock market.

   As I mentioned, there are striking similarities between the two marketplaces.
   Incidentally, some new additions to our corner of the Baseball card Marketplace...

For your review:

1974 Topps #300 Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds, All-Time Hits Leader "Hit King"

1976 Topps Dennis Eckersley ROOKIE CARD, Pitcher, Cleveland Indians, Card #98

1993 Finest #199 Mike Piazza Rookie Card, Sparkling Topps RC, HOF, HOT!

2008 Topps Update UH280 Max Scherzer ROOKIE CARD, Graded 9.7 MINT+

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP101 Anthony Rizzo, ROOKIE CARD, Red Sox

Many thanks and Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com

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OK, I Admit it; I Really, Really Love Baseball Cards

Hi Folks,
 
   OK, I have to admit it; I love baseball cards. I have placed myself in just such a way that I am over my head with stacks of cards that I've been buying nonstop. I'm not talking junk either. I am talking 84 Topps Traded Set, and 12 pounds (yes, 12 pounds) of card assortments.

   If I only spent more of that time listing cards on the site, you'd have even more variety and I'd have more room. Somebody stop me, please !!!

A few of our latest additions:

1972 Topps Pete Rose In Action, Graded an 8

2015 Topps Heritage Mike Trout Short Print (SP)

1966 Topps Joe Morgan

Remember:, that's just a small taste of things to come. Check the site daily!

   The list goes on and on, including a slew of new Kris Bryant cards.
Check it out and help me clear some space by visiting CardboardandCoins.com

Also, note that the Long Island National @ Hofstra is coming up on 4/16 & 4/17. The show is run by JP's Sports & Rock Solid Promotions. Every show get's better than the one before, and that is due to a group of guys that dedicate their hearts and souls to this. I've seen time and again how they remind us that it's all about the kids. Great example of good folks in our industry, and the name "Rock Solid" fit's them just right ! Check out more info on them and their shows at www.nyshows.org

Regards,
Your friends at CardboardandCoins.com
From Baseball Cards to Wheat Cents, and everything in-between.
That includes all Major Sports, as well as Comics and Pokemon Cards
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Pete Rose Inches Closer To Cooperstown...

Hello Friends,
   As the regular Baseball season winds down along with the Magic Number for my Playoff-destined New York Mets, I can't help but think of one player more than any other down the stretch. No, it's not Seaver, Strawberry, Gooden, or Piazza, all of whom are true champs, but this one fella is larger than life: Pete Rose.

Why Pete Rose?

  Pete Rose was and still is the epitome of drive, determination, and fire. Pete could eat a bowl of nails and still play that same day. He gave his heart and walked off the field at the end a success, whether the Reds/Phillies/Expo's...whoever...won or lost the game.

   Growing up in the 70's and 80's, and collecting baseball cards during that time, the buzz was always about the coveted 1963 Topps Pete Rose Rookie Card. Not Mickey Mantle, who enjoyed the media hype of New York, or else he would have wound up with the same unimpressive fame as Jim Thome's 600+ HomeRun Career, had Mantle wound up in a media quiet zone vs. New York (I'm obviously not flattered by Mantle, nor am I brainwashed by Mantle rhetoric!).

   I'll go on the record here and say I am one of the biggest PRO-ROSE-HOF folks out there. Did he jump into the stands and beat up fans, get drunk and beat his wife, or knock kids off their bikes if they got in his way? No, that's what the OTHER people already inducted into the Hall of Fame have done before being voted in!! He gambled, he bet FOR his own team, as that is finally now coming to light. Not AGAINST his team...FOR his team. From where I come from, that's called putting your money where your mouth is!. Why? Because it was in his best interest to win those damn games at all costs. I'm not saying what he did was right...but again, I ask, did he use "The Clear" rub-on steroids like that wonderfully nice guy, Barry Bonds did? How about Clemens, another honor roll guy. I'd love Mike Piazza to get another shot at Roger Clemens when he's not all tough-guyed up on drugs (Did George Steinbrenner know? Did he care? Sore Topic!). Piazza has too much class, and is too much of a gentleman to deal with guys like that. On this topic for another time, the only one I can show some respect for in that batch is Jose Canseco. He didn't hide it, come out and didn't say, "Duh, I didn't know this was illegal". He made bad choices, but he owned it. I teach my son that what they did was wrong, but to take something out of what Canseco did, and he took responsibility for his actions. Now, back to Rose.

   Rose had none of these problems. So it's irrelevant. He's not Communist Cuba, the embargo is over, and it should be for Pete as well. Is he the most upstanding citizen in the world? Would I want to meet him in a dark alley? Hell no! At 74, I saw Pete at the National back in April (See story here), he's still built like a tank and takes no "shoot" from anyone.

   What did I say to him when he was signing a bat and for my son? I told him that he's always been a source of inspiration ever since I was a kid my son's age, and I thanked him for being a role model. (I also said Giamatti and Selig were punks and were not even half the man he was; I got a wink for that from Pete along with a "thank you"!).

   Look, I'm watching guys get tagged out trying to stretch a double into a triple in a tight game. Why did it have to be ONLY Pete Rose that slid head first? Are they too pretty to do it. Hook in there with your hands and intimidate like Pete. Pretend it's Ray Fosse standing there!!!

   The only guy since Rose with any type of deep love for the game was Ken Griffey Jr., another true professional and an asset to the game, but one who did beat Rose out in the "smiles while playing" department. Love the Griffey family !!

   These new jacks to the sport need to "Hustle" like Charlie Hustle, and this is a shining example for what all of us should be doing in our lives.

   It was great seeing Rose broadcasting during the All-Star game, but he looked so uncomfortable from that side of the field. While watching the All-Star game, it got me thinking....LOOK HOW CLOSE ROSE IS getting back to Baseball....this guys about to get himself into the Hall of Fame!!

   This is a Pro. A Surgeon. A strategic hard-headed powerhouse with a love for the game. I'll be on that huge lawn up in Cooperstown when Rose makes his Hall of Fame speech, because you know what, Pete Rose IS baseball and Pete Rose MEANS baseball. Baseball runs through his veins.

   Pete had that Rocky "Eye of the Tiger" for over 25 Seasons playing and managing, and he never flinched once. Just don't block home plate or he will bowl you right over....but that's what the game is about and isn't that what life is about? Find what you love doing, and do it better than anybody around you and don't let anybody get in your way no matter who they are and how tough they appear? True toughness is in the heart, not in the fists! Although, Pete communicated quite well with both when someone crossed the line asking for it.

   Listen carefully...the lessons Pete Rose etched into the diamond are still echoing today to help teach us all lessons about ourselves and about life!

The Wind-up: National Card Show Weekend at Hofstra

Hi Folks,
   Twice a year, collectors in the baseball card world get to experience a smorgasboard of all kinds of cards displayed before them. As far as your eyes can see, it seems, the nearly endless tables of vendors are lined up, and from the moment you walk in, you have that feeling that you've arrived, both physically and mentally.

 

   The same joy the collector's have at these shows is also experienced from a different perspective by the vendors; they get that little ping in their stomach when you walk in the door! Customers were in full force and everyone was buying.

   A fun thing for everyone was the high-powered autograph line up of Wade Boggs, Dennis Eckersley, Fergie Jenkins, Bud Harrelson, and a few others on Saturday, and on Sunday, my favorite player, Pete Rose, along with Jose Canseco, Dave Kingman, and a few others. It was baseball bliss!

   I have to wonder; Would that bliss have been shattered if Bud Harrelson signed Sunday instead, and sat close to Rose, the two guys who knuckled it out in a bench-clearning brawl in the 1973 NLCS. I like Bud, but after I saw the ageless powerhouse Rose and the cannon-armed Canseco sitting right next to each other, almost like a man-made wall, I'd say Bud chose the right day to sign.

   It's great walking around and chatting with all of the vendors I've befriended in my years in the industry, but this was not strictly business. I made some great purchases this weekend, such as:
   * 1971 Topps Tom Seaver
   * 1968 Topps Joe Morgan
   * Some very NM++ 1971 & 1972 Topps High Numbers.

   My 8 year old son bought a 1973 Topps Reggie Jackson, as close to Mint as I've seen one, and he even negotiated the price down about 20%. WOW, 3rd grade is really working for him ! He also got, with some help, a "4256" inscribed official bat with Pete Rose signing it for him. I've sworn him to agree to hold on to it and not sell!

   A big Shout-out goes to JP’s Sports & Rock Solid Promotions’ (JPRS) for coordinating one heck of a show and their massive All-Star Autograph line-up. Kudos, Guys!!

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Thanks!
Rob Eisenstein
http://www.CardboardandCoins.com




TAGS: #PeteRose #HallofFame #Cooperstown #BaseballCards #JoseCanseco #ReggieJackson #TomSeaver #Hofstra #CardShow