Babe Ruth was without a doubt one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. Joba Chamberlain is an unproven rookie who was over-hyped in 2007.
Only in the world of eBay can their signatures fetch almost identical prices. Of course, I am talking about a rare, one of one Babe Ruth cut autograph currently up on eBay for $6,999 dollars or your “Best Offer” and a not so rare Joba Chamberlain autograph that is being sold for $5,999 dollars.
Sure, there is a one grand difference in price but consider gas prices and the economy and I can almost guarantee you that a $5,000 dollar “Best Offer” would be accepted. Believe it or not, a Babe Ruth autograph is not that rare thanks to eBay and/or baseball card companies cutting up every single one of them they can find but a Joba Chamberlain autograph is not rare at all.
You could find thousands of them on eBay for a very reasonable price. Hell, he’s a rookie who is known for signing quite a bit during Spring Training, why not save six grand and have him sign a $2 dollar card?
Of course, it doesn’t work this way in today’s hobby. So because the Chamberlain baseball card has been professionally graded by Beckett and has recieved a “perfect” score and it happens to be one of the many parallels of the original Joba autograph, it’s going for a lot more than it’s worth and certainly more than Joba will ever be worth.
Sure, his E.R.A is phenomenal and he just might be the wave of the future in New York, if not the American League but do you honestly believe he will ever be on Babe Ruth’s level as far as accomplishments are concerned? Joba is twenty-two years old and has just 4 wins. By that age, Babe already had 67 wins as a pitcher and that was all before he even picked up a baseball bat!
So there you go, Mr. Yankees collector. Just a little food for thought to help you make your next purchase.
Someday the hype will settle down and people will realize some of these “1 of 1″ autographs aren’t all that special. (Granted, some are, but when there’s so many parallels, and just a different border makes it 1 of 1, it’s not that big a deal to me.) I remember when inserts were huge, back in the late ’80s, and they’d sell for more than any of the top base cards. Now inserts are distributed like commons.
Maybe there’s enough people making money with all these parallels and variations, but it’s not me.
I wonder what the next big thing will be in card collecting…
This is the thing that bothers me the most about collecting today.
Cards of POTENTIALLY good MLBers are going for as much or more than cards from Hall of fame legends. WTF?
The other night, I got some great deals on old cards of some great baseball players on ebay.
for $16.36 I got:
75 Thurman Munson
75 Bob Gibson
69 Willie McCovey
51 Bowman Eddie Yost
50 Bowman Johnny Mize
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have those 5 cards and money left over rather than a blaster of something at target.
Wow thats crazy, especially when Joba signs all the time. He signed his Bowman rookie for me in Tampa.
I hope neither card sells, to tell you the truth. The hype around Joba is ridiculous considering his actual accomplishments. But spending $6,000 for an ugly modern Babe Ruth card just doesn’t seem all that much better, in my opinion.
If I had that kind of cash to blow on a hobby item, I’d rather look for a nice unique vintage piece.
The part that really makes me laugh? Both auctions are asking for at least $20 for shipping. You’d think for that kind of cash, the seller would at least be willing to pick up the cost of postage and insurance.
Please, keep informing us of the craziness on eBay. I absolutely love these and other baseball card related posts. As a renewed collector, it is very interesting to me. Peace.
check out this auction for an INPERSON AUTOGRAPHED Evan Longoria card for $499!
wtf?
http://cgi.ebay.com/2006-Bowman-Heritage-RC-Evan-Longoria-Autographed-WOW_W0QQitemZ170238227903QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item170238227903&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318
Found the same thing when I pulled my Mazeroski red ink autograph out of a box of ‘08 Heritage. Beckett has it listed as the second most valuable card in that series at $125 to 200. Who’s #1? Joba, at $200 to 300.
Yes, you heard it right. A Heritage set that celebrates the greatness of past players and cards, and the most valuable card is what? A ROOKIE who’s won a few games THIS YEAR with a decent ERA and done nothing else.
Give me a break…