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View Full Version : Worst buy of all time??



stasman
09-16-2014, 07:16 PM
So today, I was remembering when Spawn creator Todd Mcfarlane bought Mark Mcqwire's 70th homerun ball in 1998 for 3 million dollars....now in 2014 how much is that ball really worth....I know most of you are true collectors with a lot of knowledge of the business, could this have been the worst financial sports memorabilia purchase ever??? What do you think?

danesei@yahoo.com
09-16-2014, 08:10 PM
I don't think so, as it garnered him a lot of publicity, which he was able to leverage into McFarlane Toys.

ShaimOnYou
09-16-2014, 11:52 PM
IMO, it was. For the sheer devaluation factor alone.

The resale value would likely drop over 67% if McFarlane ever chose to sell it. It's a tarnished item, hit by a player who admittedly "used steroids my entire career".

It is, however, still the first 70th home run ball hit in a single season in MLB history, tainted or not. Some will always value that fact. And, if the "steroid era" players are somehow accepted one day as "the best players of their era, enhanced or not" and are somehow elected into the Hall after a forgiveness campaign by a veteran's committee with a different mindset other than the one we see today, than maybe the ball gains back a bit of it's luster?

Roady
09-17-2014, 06:54 AM
Whoever owns that trimmed Honus Wagner card is in contention for worst buy of all time I would think.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/mastro-admits-cutting-honus-card-article-1.1482098

rdeversole
09-17-2014, 07:15 AM
Whoever owns that trimmed Honus Wagner card is in contention for worst buy of all time I would think.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/mastro-admits-cutting-honus-card-article-1.1482098

+1

Misha
09-17-2014, 07:33 AM
According to the above link:

"It currently belongs to Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, who paid a record $2.8 million for it in 2007."

Jags Fan Dan
09-17-2014, 09:12 AM
So today, I was remembering when Spawn creator Todd Mcfarlane bought Mark Mcqwire's 70th homerun ball in 1998 for 3 million dollars....now in 2014 how much is that ball really worth....I know most of you are true collectors with a lot of knowledge of the business, could this have been the worst financial sports memorabilia purchase ever??? What do you think?

Would that ball even get 6 figures now in an auction setting?

Roady
09-17-2014, 09:21 AM
According to the above link:

"It currently belongs to Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, who paid a record $2.8 million for it in 2007."

Ouch!
And I didn't even read all of my own link. :o

stasman
09-17-2014, 12:14 PM
Would that ball even get 6 figures now in an auction setting?

That's what I was thinking...being its way out if my price range, would a $$ collector pay big bucks for it? I wonder what it's value is now???

swainer
09-17-2014, 12:20 PM
Maybe not the worst but surely in the top 5 is whomever ends up with the Lesean McCoy 20 cent tip receipt. As Ken stated in another thread, odds are high the winning bid will be retracted but $100K and climing??? C'mon man!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331318749411?afsrc=1

Peace,

John

danesei@yahoo.com
09-17-2014, 04:09 PM
Whoever owns that trimmed Honus Wagner card is in contention for worst buy of all time I would think.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-team/mastro-admits-cutting-honus-card-article-1.1482098

The irony of the card is that it was over-sized to begin with, so even being trimmed, it's over-sized. Has PSA acknowledged that the card is trimmed yet or is it still the word of convicted con-artists and felons associated with Mastro that are claiming the card was trimmed?

sox83cubs84
09-17-2014, 04:15 PM
I don't remember the end result on this, but what about the Luis Gonzalez bubblegum wad, game-chewed?

Dave Miedema

stasman
09-17-2014, 04:39 PM
I don't remember the end result on this, but what about the Luis Gonzalez bubblegum wad, game-chewed?

Dave Miedema

Nasty!!

beachpetrol
09-18-2014, 06:36 PM
Wasn't there a Mark Sanchez jersey that sold for @$20,000? That would have to be top 5 too.

Roady
09-18-2014, 07:57 PM
Wasn't there a Mark Sanchez jersey that sold for @$20,000? That would have to be top 5 too.

I do remember something to that effect. I remember thinking how crazy it seemed at the time.

Jags Fan Dan
09-19-2014, 07:32 AM
Wasn't there a Mark Sanchez jersey that sold for @$20,000? That would have to be top 5 too.

Yep, it was his first ever pro worn jersey.

TNTtoys
09-19-2014, 01:49 PM
Yep, it was his first ever pro worn jersey.

I would not put that jersey anywhere near a top 5. Sure, someone out there lost 90 percent of his investment -- if not, more -- but how could you compare a loss of $18-20K to the millions being lost on other items, like the McGwire HR ball?

Roady
09-19-2014, 02:11 PM
I would not put that jersey anywhere near a top 5. Sure, someone out there lost 90 percent of his investment -- if not, more -- but how could you compare a loss of $18-20K to the millions being lost on other items, like the McGwire HR ball?

Maybe percentage wise it could be top 5?

ShaimOnYou
09-19-2014, 07:31 PM
I would not put that jersey anywhere near a top 5. Sure, someone out there lost 90 percent of his investment -- if not, more -- but how could you compare a loss of $18-20K to the millions being lost on other items, like the McGwire HR ball?

Right?

The McGwire ball takes the cake.

beachpetrol
09-20-2014, 03:24 PM
I would not put that jersey anywhere near a top 5. Sure, someone out there lost 90 percent of his investment -- if not, more -- but how could you compare a loss of $18-20K to the millions being lost on other items, like the McGwire HR ball?
What other items, other than the McGwire ball, lost millions of dollars, or more money that the Sanchez jersey? OJ Simpson jersey maybe? Something from Tiger Woods?

Jags Fan Dan
09-20-2014, 04:27 PM
What other items, other than the McGwire ball, lost millions of dollars, or more money that the Sanchez jersey? OJ Simpson jersey maybe? Something from Tiger Woods?
What about something from some of the "future stars" baseball prospects that start hot disappear? I don't wish failure on anybody, but like some Bryce Harper stuff has gone pretty high in the past, if he never comes around that stuff would pretty much tank.

Skizzick
09-20-2014, 06:51 PM
If we're talking percentage loss, then let's look no further than some rookie that received a ridiculous amount of hype.

-Remember when the Stephen Strasburg Boman Chrome Superfractor sold for $25,000? It's probably worth about 10% of that now. Even if the guy has a Hall of Fame career, it won't fetch anywhere close to half of that in the future. And still, it's an insane amount for a modern rookie card that isn't even graded.

-The 2001 Michael Vick SP Authentic Patch/Autograph rookie card sold for almost $5000 at his peak. Now you can grab one for around $250. Probably not worth even that now.

godwulf
09-21-2014, 07:58 AM
Someone paid $25K for a modern card? I don't care if it's graded, certified and blessed by the Pope, that's ridiculous. I will never understand people getting so excited about cards because they're "1/1". It's a manufactured, i.e. artificial, collectible. Is having something, however cheaply-made and ephemeral, that no one else has really worth that much money to any sane person?

godwulf
09-21-2014, 10:44 AM
I don't remember the end result on this, but what about the Luis Gonzalez bubblegum wad, game-chewed?

Dave Miedema

The auction for that item almost fell apart over some concerns about its authenticity - especially after it came out that the owner/collector of it, Jason Gabbert, was convicted of impersonating Aaron Sele, for some reason, in 1993 - but Luis put a second, "authenticated" piece of gum in an empty water bottle and gave it to a local radio station, which promised to send it to the winner of the auction...presumably because the proceeds of the auction were to benefit the gum owner's high school. The winning bid was $10,000.

Not long after this, Topps did a Bazooka Joe comic featuring Gonzo and his gum, and auctioned the original, poster-sized artwork, signed by Gonzo, for charity. I was the winning bidder, but my sister paid for it - a little over $1,200, I think. Gabbert emailed me immediately after the auction ended, wanting to know who I was. The piece was later featured in an SI article about "odd collectibles".

Mark17
09-21-2014, 04:21 PM
Someone paid $25K for a modern card? I don't care if it's graded, certified and blessed by the Pope, that's ridiculous. I will never understand people getting so excited about cards because they're "1/1". It's a manufactured, i.e. artificial, collectible. Is having something, however cheaply-made and ephemeral, that no one else has really worth that much money to any sane person?

Couldn't agree more. Creating a piece of cardboard tomorrow and telling people it's worth thousands of dollars because only one is being created, is silly. People who buy such newly printed cardboard as an "investment" are [Mark17 now uses restraint in his choice of words] not making good decisions.

Enyouartist
09-21-2014, 04:26 PM
I don't think so, as it garnered him a lot of publicity, which he was able to leverage into McFarlane Toys.

That is exactly why it was a GREAT BUY! He got an MLB license to sell McFarlane Toys after that, which he then branched out to all the other sports. Genius.

godwulf
09-21-2014, 07:02 PM
McFarlane's action figures are such a radical departure from anything that existed at a comparable price before; look at one of the old "Standing Lineup" figures and then at one of McFarlane's little masterpieces; it's like the difference between a stick figure doodle and a fine art portrait. Quality like that speaks for itself.

Plus, McFarlane didn't need the publicity that buying the McGwire ball got him - he was already well known in comic and other pop culture circles, which comprise a ready-made market for his non-sport, comic, t.v. and film character figures.

Roady
09-22-2014, 09:19 AM
I agree with godwulf. McFarlane just got caught up in the moment and wasted his money.

Skizzick
09-22-2014, 10:36 AM
Someone paid $25K for a modern card? I don't care if it's graded, certified and blessed by the Pope, that's ridiculous. I will never understand people getting so excited about cards because they're "1/1". It's a manufactured, i.e. artificial, collectible. Is having something, however cheaply-made and ephemeral, that no one else has really worth that much money to any sane person?
You really have to make a distinction here, though it should be obvious. A modern card, i.e. the Strasburg rookie is a ridiculous thing to pay $25k for. But people aren't buying it for the value, they're buying it for the hype, thinking it'll be worth $50k someday, when it's really worth $1k the following month.

Then you have the modern memorabilia/autograph cards that do have some inherent value in them, but they are still insanely overvalued. I mean, look at this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2009-10-UD-Exquisite-Triple-Logoman-Patch-LeBron-James-Kevin-Durant-Garnett-1-1-/331277347153?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item4d21ab2951
For that price, you can probably get a full game used jersey of each of them!

Babe Ruth cut signatures regularly sell for 10K plus, when they're taken from a letter or check that would probably go for $3k-5k. The sports card business, aside from the horrors they commit cutting up historical pieces to put them into cards, creates this insane market printing $10,000 bills by slapping a 1/1 on the back.

godwulf
09-22-2014, 02:45 PM
I'm assuming that the only reason anyone makes those auto/memorabilia cards in the first place is so that they can sell a pack of ten or so cards for $5-$8 to a guy who's looking for one, correct? Somebody like me who just wants the cards will buy the whole factory set for fifty, rather than open endless packs looking to make a set. When I was a kid - here I go dating myself again - wax packs (do they still call them that?) existed because they cost a dime, which was about all most kids had to spend on baseball cards at any given time; I'm not even sure that they sold complete card sets back in the '60s, and if they did I'm sure I couldn't have afforded one. Who would buy the packs these days without the possibility of a "valuable" card inside? Despite my encouragement, none of my four boys ever showed the slightest interest in collecting cards, and if one of them had a few bucks he'd have been much more likely to buy a dvd or comic books with it. So a pack of cards today is a sort of lottery ticket, you might say, and it's almost exclusively the grownups who are buying them.