Jackie Robinson vs. Mike Trout

The card market has been on a tear. Prices are at all-time highs despite challenging economic times ahead. I’ll admit it - I don’t get it. Certainly there are more 40-somethings who collected as kids entering the market in a big way. However, unemployment is likely to hit 20% and you can’t pay your bills with a baseball card. Seems to me that we’re in a bit of a bubble. Only time will tell.

The other thing that I don’t understand is the relative price of modern and vintage cards. Take this comparison of a 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout and a 1952 Topps Jackie Robinson. A PSA 10 Trout and a PSA 4 Robinson recently traded for about $3000 each. Does that make sense to you? There are 4761 PSA 10 Trouts. There are 1136 TOTAL Robinsons graded by PSA.

Sure, Trout may be the best player of all time. But Robinson is arguably the most important player of all time.

Which one would you rather own for $3000? For me, the answer is obvious.