Wise Investment or Victim of Hype??

[cjmezz]

Lindor and Correa Home Run balls. Worth holding onto or have I fell for for the early star "hype"?

[JoeSoss]

Depends on a number of factors including acquisition cost, level of interest in collecting players, etc. If you are interested in selling either of the balls contact me at sossjoe@yahoo.com

[Phil316]

Personally I never got into collecting game used baseballs. I have one ball that John Olerud fouled off that hit my dad while he was coming out of the tunnel with an 80.00 tray of food and beverage. I wish I had a camera back then.

To me it is hype. That's just my opinion. If you like them, keep them.

What are they worth anyways?

[carbonrosa]

It all depends on how much you paid for them. I'm guessing Mike Acosta over at the Astro's Game Used Store wanted top dollar for that Correa Home Run ball which doesn't allow much wiggle room for a large investment. Correa would then have to have many MVP quality years over his career for you to turn a large profit or fined that one guy who would pay more then it is worth. The thing is, either you are a collector or a seller. Like most people on here, they are looking to collect first and sell only if they get bored of the item or a bad situation comes up which means collectors are not closely following the market trends looking to sell. Sellers watch the markets carefully and always look to sell high no matter what they bought or cherish. Getting top dollar is first priority. Take me as an example. I'm a huge Bryce Harper fan. I bought his 2012 GU rookie bat and Home Run baseball among other items during his worst year 2013. Paid $1500 for the bat and $1600 for the HR baseball. That year and 2014 the majority of the comments I heard or read about Harper was pure dislike for the guy to be polite on the subject, but I didn't care and knew he had an MVP season in him. Now if I was a true seller, concerned about making a profit, I would of sold my Harper collection last year for 3 times what I paid for them with out much effort, especially that home run ball which at one point I was offered $5000 for. Instead I chose to showcase my collection here and at my home proud of what I have and ended up buying more with the thought maybe one day I would sell my collection, with the hope of braking even once I got bored or a bad situation arose. So the question is, are you a collector or a seller? If you're a collector like my then NO buying any sports memorabilia is not a wise investment. We are the sheep, not the wolves.

[cjmezz]

Well said Carbonrosa! I'm a collecter and not a seller. Obvisouly I try to buy as "investments" for future gain when the time comes to liquidate.
These balls I'm in very fair for. I traded for both of them and what was traded was bought cheap on my end, so I'm "ahead" on these. I enjoy the hobby and collect for the history of the game and its future. So my collection is very narrow and I try to just stay on Trout/Harper/Miggy/Jeter/Correa etc.
I mainly posted to get a discussion going as to the possible future of these guys and see if people believe the hype or think they will fizzle out.
Thx!

[earlywynnfan]

I watch Lindor on a daily basis and think he's the real deal. He's the most exciting Tribe player since Omar (biased there: Omar was my favorite.)

[Swoboda4]

You ( and I) are buying stocks. They may rise, they may fall. But Hopefully we break even.

[Billy77]

Unlike Jerseys and bats...I can not see the investment in game used balls. Just too much out there and tuff to authenticate. How do u draw the line. Tooth brushes, gum wrappers in dug out???

Even jerseys do not have as much significance like in the past. Too many sets produced each year for every event and holiday.

The entire game used hobby is so watered down.

I started collecting in early 1980's before it was crazy popular and rather than pay for items, players would give you bats, hats, hockey sticks and equipment with no problem.

My .02

[Juicyfruit66]

I don't collect abything newer than 2004, I've said it before but the new stuff is just like the card boom in 90's, too much out there and prices are crazy. Finite items will keep their value

[emann]

I don't collect abything newer than 2004, I've said it before but the new stuff is just like the card boom in 90's, too much out there and prices are crazy. Finite items will keep their value

Hi Juicyfruit66

This is a little off topic but I'd argue the above a little . . . While the older stuff is certainly more assured in the value category, there are a number of newer items that are just as "finite."

Not disputing that the teams are cranking out stuff (I blame MLB and greed), but some things are limited by either the nature of a special event/milestone connection or by players that don't part with certain items (like Manny Ramirez and his game used helmets for example). I think it also depends on the team as some teams were not in the "business" of game used until the last few years . . .

For me, I've got a wide range of older players and newer players that I collect. But some of the newer pieces have more value to me sentimentally (I went to my first WS game a few years back and have a few helmets from that series, which are high among my favorites for that reason).

Also, just curious, what was your criteria for selecting the pre-2004 as your cutoff date? Would you turn down a 2005 Jeter if it came along at a fair price?