1988 Baseball Cards Price Guide Lot

This was the first year that Baseball Cards released 12 issues during its 8 years since it first came out in 1981.  I am still missing the October and November issues.  With so many boxes piling up, I felt like it was time to choose between Beckett and Baseball Cards.  Honestly, I like the look and the stories of Baseball Cards better than Beckett.  Baseball cards also have more of a down home personal feel to it to, whereas Beckett during this era seemed more professional but detached.  Also, Baseball Cards often included reprint-style cards called repli-cards.  I'm not sure if my 1988 magazines contain all of the repli-cards but I listed the ones that I do have below.  Since I grew up with Beckett, I'm more comfortable with their pricing than I am with Baseball Cards.  Also, Baseball Cards only lasted to about 1993.  Issues in the 1990's are tough to find though.  My final decision was to hold onto Becket and let go of Baseball Cards--at least down to about 1985.  I'll post my issues for each year as I pull them out.

 

2004 Topps Traded #T1-#T220 + #T221

Ever since Blogger updated to their new format, the pictures seem to get inserted backwards.  If you view pictures from bottom to top, they will be in the order that I inserted them.  This was the final Topps Traded set.  From 2005-2007, the new Updates & Highlighted sets would be offered in factory form.  As soon as I listed this thing for sale, it was gone.  I'm glad to be dealing in more familiar territory where the sets are called Traded and not Updates.  I remember a lot of people not collecting these sets, which never made sense to me, but I know that a lot of collectors are not so business-minded.  As far as I'm concerned, the Traded/Update sets are the High-Series cards of yesteryear.  Without a Traded set, your set is not complete.  Up until the early 2010's, I would purchase numerous complete Traded/Update sets for $20 shipped.  I remember passing on the 2011 Traded set because it was going for $25 in 2013.  As I started to sell off my modern collection in reverse chronological order from 2017 down to 2004, I've seen how these Traded sets have sold for far more than the base sets.  They were definitely worth it.  In fact, if I had to choose only one, I'd choose Traded/Update sets over Base sets for potential collecting value--talking post-2000.  Next up from my modern collection sell-off are all of the bonus and insert sets.  It may take me a couple of months before I get them all posted.  Hopefully,  I'll be breaking up my 2003 set before New Year's.  

2004 Topps Complete Set #1-733

With the listing of my 2004 Topps set for sale, I'm really starting to cut into my collection from return to collecting period.  From 2001-2003, I started back up after a 10-year hiatus.  From 2004-2006, I was was starting to slow down my modern collecting.  In 2007, I sold off my modern collection and then returned back to it again in 2013.  In 2018, I gave up modern cards for good.  So what happened in 2004-2006 that caused a slight slowdown in modern card interest?  This was the rise of the anti-Barry Bonds movement in Topps.  The Giants had finally made it back to the World Series in 2002 and Bonds was breaking records.  Steroids talk had not yet become all that anyone could talk about.  That started between 2003-2004.  Bonds almost didn't get a Topps card in 2004.  I was already starting to get tired of the retired #7 card, which returned in 2006 but was missing #297.  Overall, I really liked the 2004 set.  What doesn't make sense to me is that the Molina RC has a $100 BV, but the set has a $60.  Next up, I'll show some of my 04TT set and then all the bonus cards before moving down to 2003.