Reviewing the 2020 Rookie Cards

 Looking over rookie cards and properly valuing them is crucial to building a good collection as I have mentioned in passing over and over again on this blog.  Today, I will look over the 2020 rookies and "rate" the value of a couple of them.  

Bo Bichette a SS for the Toronto Blue Jays is an outstanding young player who is continuing the family legacy of his father who also played in the MLB.  As a result of both factors, one day if he has the career I suspect he will have, his rookie card will spike in price.  Right now, countless of these cards are up in eBay and supply is high so it's only going for roughly a $1.  

Dylan Cease is a special one for me because I was in attendance at Guaranteed Rate Field for his MLB debut July 3rd, 2019.  I went with some friends because we all suspected Cease would become a very successful big leaguer.  Despite some early struggles, he has really started to become more successful in the early portion of the 2021 season.  I think prices of his card will only increase in value as time passes.  

The 3rd and final card I will review is much different from the other two.  Danny Hultzen  won't have any more cards made after him, despite it looking much different in the early 2010's.  Drafted early in the 1st round of 2011 by the Seattle Mariners, he looked primed for greatness.  However many injuries and minor league stops later, he made his long awaited MLB debut 9 years later in 2019 for the Cubs as a 29 rookie.  He threw 3.1 innings and then retired following another year in the minors in 2020.  Some players careers take very interesting paths and Hultzen is one of those.    

 

Identifying Good Cards

 The practice of identifying "good" cards in this case refers to cards that will hold higher value.  It goes without saying a general rule of thumb that the better the player, the more valuable that given card will be.  However at the end of the day, that is all it is: a general rule of thumb.  Let's get into instructing you on what you should be looking for.

- Older cards are more valuable then newer cards.  Why?  This is because as time passes supply of these older cards becomes less and less.  A new general Topps Now card published in 2021 is going to hold much less value then a card published in 1921.  

- I briefly mentioned it above, but generally the better the player the more valuable the card is.  Everybody is looking for the Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, etc. cards, because 1) They were outstanding players 2) As we have already gotten into, those are older cards.

- Rookie cards, usually signified by a little R with a red circle in the left hand lower corner are going to generally hold very high value.  Many traders make it a habit to load up on rookie cards, so if the player does go onto have a great career that trader will generally be able to flip them for a lot more money then they originally paid for them.  It's effectively like trading stocks in that you are trying to gauge future value without there being 100% guarantee of profit.  

These are just three of the things that you should be looking for when doing business, I will likely get into more over future postings.