My 2011 Card Purchasing Priorities

As you can see from reading my blog I mainly collect baseball prospects. I'm not much for cards from other sports, although I do dabble in hockey from time to time. I've thought about the cards that I want to purchase in the new year and I break them up into two categories, prospects and Hall of Famers.

I'm not much for vintage cards, but the thought of diversifying my collection is appealing. The problem I have with prospecting is the wait for return on investment. Granted, a player doesn't have to make the majors in order for you to turn a profit. I've sold plenty of prospect cards at a profit when a players moves from AA to AAA. The issue I have is that prospects are kind of like taking out a 2-year CD at the bank, the money is tied up and can't be touched. What if I come across a really great deal and need to come up with some cash quickly? I'd be selling off prospects at the expense of future earnings to purchase more prospect cards that are going to sit and wait for future earnings.

Vintage Cards

My 2011 collecting/investing goals now include vintage cards. I really think there are some deals to be had on vintage right now, especially with some of the bigger names. I'm doing this as an investment and a way to get that quick cash that I spoke of before if a great deal comes along.

1955 Topps Roberto Clemente - I had a chance to purchase one of these when I was a kid and didn't do it. For Pirates fans, this is the holy grail of baseball cards. A PSA 3.5 recently sold for $400.

1954 Topps Hank Aaron - The true home king. Did you know that you can pick up a PSA 3 of his rookie for around $400? Absolutely crazy.

1963 Topps Pete Rose - The hit king, another record that will probably never be broken. You can pick up a PSA 5 in the $400 range.

1980 Topps Rickey Henderson PSA 9 - The PSA 10 is a little to rich for me right now. The PSA 9 hangs out between $175-$200. That's a bargain in my eyes considering he owns a record that will never be broken.

Prospects

There are too many cards available to list individual cards. I'll go the route of just naming players, in no particular order, that I'll be prospecting in the next few months before prices really start to rise.

Jesus Montero
Dustin Ackley
Jarrod Parker
Grant Green
Aaron Hicks
Brett Jackson
Nick Castellanos
Tony Sanchez
Julio Teheran
Kyle Gibson
Mike Moustakas
Martin Perez

Ichiro Appreciation

Ichiro is the greatest hitter of all time. Yeah, you read that right. Not only did I say it but I truly believe it. He kind of flies under the radar a bit because he plays in Seattle and he doesn't hit home runs. I don't think most people have taken the time to soak in what he's accomplished in his first eight years in the majors.

Eight 200 hit seasons

.330 career batting average

Averages 40 stolen bases per season

Has played all but 16 games in his career

Eight Gold Gloves

2001 AL MVP

2001 AL ROY

Ichiro is 35 years old and on pace to have 3,000 hits by the time he's 40 years old in 2014. If you add in his 1,278 hits he amassed in Japan, that would put him ahead of Pete Rose in all-time hits. OK, I know that we're not going to count those hits but it's an interesting thing to think about.

The thing that amazes me about Ichiro is that his production hasn't slowed a bit. He played all 162 games last season and batted .310 with 42 stolen bases. That's a heck of a season for a 34 year old player in his 17th year of professional baseball. He's off to a good start this year as well with a .315 batting average.

I think the statistic that cannot be ignored are the 200 hit seasons. He has eight in eight seasons. This is an incredible accomplishment. Consider that Pete Rose is the all-time leader with ten in twenty four seasons.

Collectors may want to think about picking up a rookie card or two of this great hitter and putting them away.