How Much Are Baseball Cards Worth?

Video Transcript

"My name is Walt Case. I own Card Traders of Austin in Austin, Texas. The question that seems to come up a lot today is "How much are my cards worth?" Let's start with baseball. Baseball tends to have cards that are more valuable than some of the other sports simply because they've been around a lot longer. There's a lot more tradition associated in America with baseball than there, say, is with football or hockey or basketball. Therefore, some of the older baseball cards from the early 1900's have a much higher value than some basketball, football and hockey cards. The most valuable baseball card out there is the T206 Honus Wagner card, which recently sold for a little over two million dollars. That, obviously, is the exception to the rule. How you determine how much your baseball cards are worth depends on a number of things, the first one being, "How much of that particular product was produced, and how much of it is still available?" So it's the old American axiom, supply and demand. If you have a very, very high supply and a very low demand, your card is probably not worth much. If you want to look at book values of cards, the guide that is used most prevalent in the industry is the Beckett Price Card Guide. Those can be purchased at most bookstores and certainly in any hobby shops. So that's the best way to determine what the book value of your card is. That does not necessarily mean you can get that kind of money for your card. But that is simply a guide as to what your card is worth. Condition also plays a big part in determining the worth of your card, so it's very important to take care of your cards. Make sure that they don't have any creases in 'em. That you don't write on them, that you don't carry 'em around in your pocket. There are plenty of supplies available on the market to help protect your cards, which also plays a big factor in how much your card is worth."