How much are my baseball cards worth?

However, it's important to remember that for a collector, it may not be all about the money. Baseball cards have value for different reasons to different people. That being said, the money factor is important to many collectors, or people just looking to sell cards they may have inherited.

When it comes to money, a baseball card is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Two of the most popular baseball card price guides are Beckett and Tuffstuff. A tricky thing about different price guides is that they may have different values for the same card! At this time Beckett is the most commonly used guide. Some collectors love Beckett and some hate it, but the bottom line is that Beckett is the resource that most collectors use.

Price guides give a high and low book value (BV) for any particular card. We like the online price guide offered by Beckett. You can subscribe to their site for a low monthly fee and have access to all of their current baseball card listings. Beckett makes it very easy to search their site for the cards you want to look up. Beckett also puts out a monthly magazine with the same price information. TuffStuff magazine also has online version of their price guides located at their website. A nice benefit to using this guide is that it is free! Learn more about the price guides.

These price guides are helpful but don’t rush out to sell your cards just yet...

CAUTION the listed prices in the guides do not mean you’ll be able to go and sell your cards for those prices! Remember that a card is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it; with this in mind you must visit auction sites to see what your card is actually selling for. After you visit the auction sites like ebay, you will notice that baseball cards often sell for much less than even the low end BV (book value) of the price guide range. As with any type of investment, we recommend you do your homework before investing in baseball cards.

Where we find the price guides to be particularly helpful is with trading baseball cards. Since there is no money exchanging hands when trading, collectors tend to rely more on what the price guides list; often card collectors will trade book value for book value!

One way to increase or maintain the $$ value of your baseball card is to have it graded. Learn more about getting your sports cards graded. If you're looking for a way to sell your baseball cards you'll want to learn more about the various ways you can turn your sports cards into cash!

A Mickey Mantle from this same 1952 Topps set is currently valued between $12,000 and $20, 000! More often than not, the older the cards the more likely they will have value, this is especially the case with cards from the pre 1970's. On the flip side, sports cards were vastly over produced in the 1990's, many cards from those years have very little value. It all gets back to supply and demand. The more that there are of a card the less value it's going to have.

Back in the 50's kids would actually play with their baseball cards, flipping them, putting them in the spokes of their bicycle tires, etc.. These cards often received a lot of hard (well loved) use, wear and tear, and often were damage beyond repair, diminishing the supply and increasing the demand (value).

The notion of a card becoming an investment dominated the late 80's and 90's. Kids were no longer playing with the cards, but were instead encouraged to not touch them, and put them in protective cases, binders, etc. The thought of jamming a card into the spoke of your bike tire became almost unimaginable! Combine this lack of use with card manufacturers making more and more cards, and the end result is a glut of cards not worth very much. That being said, we feel that even with cards from the 1980's and 90's, it is worth your time to see what you have and what it currently is selling for on sites like Ebay!

Let's take a look at the different values of baseball cards (and other sports cards as well). We'll pick a baseball card and look up its Beckett book value. We might also use the TuffStuff guide as well. Then, we'll look at what the card is actually selling for on sites like Ebay, Beckett, and Naxcom. Our experience tells us that most of the time we'll find that cards sell for quite a bit less than their high book values, often coming it at around 50% of high book. Occasionally there will be cards that sell for around book value, and in some instances we'll find cards that sell for more than their listed book values! Such was the case with the recent media induced phenomena involving the 2007 Topps #40 baseball card featuring Derek Jeter, President Bush and Mickey Mantle. Clearly what happened with this card was extremely rare and it's unlikely we'll find many (if any) examples of this type of sky-rocketing over book value situation, but you never know! Maybe you have a card that you'd like us to throw into the mix? No promises, and we're not professional graders, but if you send us the year and number of your card we'll see what we can find out. For the most part we're just going to assume that the cards we evaluate are near mint to mint condition.

The date we post a card is the date we check the book value, so it's possible that the book value may have changed if you're looking at an older post. When a card has sold for more than it's book value we'll give it a *.

5/13/2008
* 2002 SP Authentic Cliff Lee Rookie Card #223 (he's hot right now, so prices will reflect this fact)
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $3.00 low book and $8.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $13.65 (170% of high book value!)
A seller on Naxcom has one of these cards listed for sale for: $22.50 (281% of high book value)
A Beckett market place dealer has one of these cards currently listed for: $40.00 (500% of high book value)

5/5/2008
2007 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Aspirations 33 Max Scherzer (makes his much anticipated first MLB start tonight, so the ebay prices probably reflect that)
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $2.50 low book and $6.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $4.99 (83% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one of these cards listed for sale for: $4.00 (66% of high book value)

4/29/2008
2007 Bowman Chrome Draft BDP3 Justin Upton RC
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $1.50 low book and $4.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $.99 (25% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one of these cards listed for sale for: $.50 (12.5% of high book value)

4/17/2008
Okay, we're getting a little bored with doing these set values and have decided to start posting the values of some of the hotter players going in this new 2008 MLB season. Let's start with Billy Butler...

2005 Bowman Billy Butler rookie RC card #277
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $1.50 low book and $4.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $.25 (6.25% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one of these cards listed for sale for: $1.00 (25% of high book value)

3/27/2008
2004 Topps baseball card set (737 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $19.50 (24% of high book value)

3/26/2008
2003 Topps baseball card set (720 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $19.00 (24% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $29.95 (37% of high book value)

3/24/2008
2002 Topps baseball card set (718 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $30.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $19.00 (24% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $40.00 (50% of high book value)

3/17/2008
2001 Topps baseball card set (790 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $39.03 (48% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $30.00 (37.5% of high book value)

3/13/2008
2000 Topps baseball card set (478 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $30.00 low book and $60.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $15.50 (26% of high book value)

3/7/2008
1999 Topps Baseball Card Christmas Set (463 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $28.75 (36% of high book value)

3/6/2008
1998 Topps Baseball Card Set (503 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $22.54 (28% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $50.00 (62.5% of high book value)

2/28/2008
1997 Topps Baseball Card Set (495 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $41.00 (51% of high book value)

2/22/2008
1996 Topps Baseball Card Set (440 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $15.00 low book and $40.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $14.05 (35% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $13.00 (32.5% of high book value)

1/23/2008
1995 Topps Baseball Card Set (660 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $50.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $39.23 (50% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $45.00 (56% of high book value)

1/16/2008
1994 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $20.00 low book and $50.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $16.49 (33% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $22.00 (44% of high book value)

1/9/2008
1993 Topps Baseball Card Set (825 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $15.00 low book and $40.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $12.56 (31.4% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $35.00 (87.5% of high book value)

1/4/2008
1989 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $8.00 low book and $20.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $12.38 (61.9% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $3.35 (16% of high book value)

11/29/2007
1988 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $6.00 low book and $15.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $.99 (6% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $2.90 (19% of high book value)

11/4/2007
1987 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $10.00 low book and $25.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $13.00 (52% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $8.95 (35% of high book value)

10/26/2007
1986 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $10.00 low book and $25.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $.99 (.4% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $15.00 (6% of high book value)

10/22/2007
1985 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $30.00 (38% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $64.00 (80% of high book value)
A seller on Beckett has one listed for sale for: $59.00 (74% of high book value)

10/18/2007
1984 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $20.00 low book and $50.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $20.50 (41% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $25.00 (50% of high book value)

10/10/2007
1983 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $36.00 (45% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $50.00 (62.5% of high book value)

10/3/2007
1993 Topps Baseball Card Set (825 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $15.00 low book and $40.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $9.49 (24% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $35.00 (88% of high book value)

10/2/2007
1982 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $31.00 (39% of high book value)
A seller on Beckett has one listed for sale for: $70.00 (88% of high book value)

9/28/2007
1991 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $8.00 low book and $20.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $6.05 (30% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $35.00 (40% of high book value)

9/26/2007
1981 Topps Baseball Card Set (726 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $30.00 low book and $60.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $24.95 (42% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $35.00 (58% of high book value)

9/13/2007
1990 Topps Baseball Card Set (792 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $8.00 low book and $20.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $8.00 (40% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $6.95 (35% of high book value)

9/11/2007
1980 Topps Baseball Card Set (726 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball card set value at: $70.00 low book and $120.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $88.00 (73% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $79.95 (67% of high book value)
A Beckett market place dealer has one of these listed for: $79.99 (66% of high book value)

9/6/2007
2000 Bowman Draft Picks Grady Sizemore Rookie Card #109
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $6.00 low book and $15.00 high book
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $9.95 (66% of high book value)
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $7.50 (50% of high book value)

9/5/2007
2003 Topps 205 Nick Markakis Rookie Card #176
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $3.00 low book and $8.00 high book
A Beckett market place dealer has one of these listed for: $3.75 (47% of high book value)

8/22/2007
2003 Bowman Chrome Dan Haren Rookie Card #167
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $1.50 low book and $4.00 high book
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $1.75 (44% of high book value)
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $.75 (19% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $2.25 to $10.00 (56% to 250% of high book value).

8/7/2007
1991 Bowman Ivan Rodriguez Rookie Card #272
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $1.50 low book and $4.00 high book
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $.25 (6% of high book value)
A seller on Ebay has a buy it now for sale for: $3.00 (75% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $1.32 to $12.00 (33% to 300% of high book value).

8/6/2007
2005 Absolute Memorabilia Yuniesky Betancourt Rookie Card #97
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $1.50 low book and $4.00 high book
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $1.75 (44% of high book value)
A seller on Ebay has a buy it now for sale for: $.50 (12% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $2.00 to $4.00 (50% to 100% of high book value).

7/31/2007
2001 Bowman Chrome Justin Morneau Rookie Card #169
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $40.00 low book and $80.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $36.00 (45% of high book value)

7/27/2007
1986 Donruss Jose Canseco Rookie Card #39
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $4.00 low book and $10.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $4.25 (42% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $1.95 (19% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $4.00 to $25.00 (40% to 250% of high book value).

7/26/2007
1980 Topps Rickey Henderson Rookie Card #482
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $20.00 low book and $50.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $18.00 (36% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $20.00 (40% of high book value)

7/20/2007
1992 Bowman Mariano Rivera Rookie Card #302
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $10.00 low book and $25.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $10.11 (40% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $11.90 (47% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $12.50 to $30.00 (50% to 120% of high book value).

7/18/2007
2001 Bowman Draft Picks Erik Bedard Rookie Card #BDP70
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $2.00 low book and $5.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $5.00 (100% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $1.00 (20% of high book value)

7/16/2007
* 1989 Score John Smoltz Rookie Card #616
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $.60 low book and $1.50 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $2.99 (200% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $.20 (13% of high book value)

7/13/2007
1989 Donruss Curt Schilling Rookie Card #635
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $1.50 low book and $4.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $2.00 (50% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $.35 (9% of high book value)

7/12/2007
1999 Bowman Chrome Pat Burrell Rookie Card #175
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $3.00 low book and $8.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $.99 (13% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $2.75 (34% of high book value)

7/10/2007
1999 Bowman Chrome Matt Holliday Rookie Card #400
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $3.00 low book and $8.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $3.25 (41% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $8.00 (100% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $10.00 to $15.00 (125% to 187% of high book value).

6/28/2007
1992 Topps Baseball Complete Factory Set (802 cards)
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $10.00 low book and $25.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these sets closed at: $20.70 (83% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $14.95 (60% of high book value)

6/25/2007
2002 Bowman Joe Mauer Rookie Card #379
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $5.00 low book and $12.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $.99 (8% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $5.95 (50% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $5.88 to $11.88 (50% to 100% of high book value).

6/22/2007
1993 Topps Traded USA Todd Helton Rookie Card #19T
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $6.00 low book and $15.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $10.77 (72% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $7.95 (53% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $7.50 to $35.00 (50% to 233% of high book value).

6/20/2007
1990 Topps Sammy Sosa Rookie Card #692
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $1.00 low book and $2.50 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $.95 (38% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $.20 (8% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $.75 to $15.00 (30% to 600% of high book value).

6/19/2007
2005 Upper Deck Portraits Prince Fielder Rookie Card #47
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $3.00 low book and $8.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $1.99 (25% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $3.00 (38% of high book value)

6/18/2007
2004 Bowman Chrome Draft Josh Fields Rookie Card #31
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $2.50 low book and $6.00 high book
An Ebay "buy it now" is currently available for one of these cards for $4.00 (66% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $4.00 (66% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $3.16 to $6..00 (53% to 66% of high book value).

6/14/2007
2002 Donruss Elite Alexis Rios Rookie Card #252 /1000
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $35.00 low book and $60.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $55.89 (93% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $80.00 (133% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $48.00 to $100.00 (80% to 166% of high book value).

6/13/2007
2005 Bowman Chrome Melky Cabrera Rookie Card #190
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $3.00 low book and $8.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $.25 (3% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $3.95 (49% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $4.00 to $24.00 (50% to 300% of high book value).

6/8/2007
1988 Fleer Edgar Martinez Rookie Card #378
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $2.00 low book and $5.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $3.26 (65% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $.10 (2% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $1.49 to $7.50 (30% to 150% of high book value).

6/7/2007
1992 Bowman Trevor Hoffman Rookie Card #11
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $4.00 low book and $10.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $7.99 (80% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $7.95 (79.5% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $5.00 to $20.00 (50% to 200% of high book value).

6/6/2007
1989 Upper Deck Gary Sheffield Rookie Card #13
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $2.00 low book and $5.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $1.99 (40% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $1.35 (27% of high book value)

6/4/2007
1987 Donruss Jamie Moyer Rookie Card #315
Beckett lists this baseball cards value at: $.40 low book and $1.00 high book
A recently completed Ebay auction for one of these cards closed at: $.05 (5% of high book value)
A seller on Naxcom has one listed for sale for: $.10 (10% of high book value)
Various Beckett market place dealers have these cards currently listed for: $.35 to $1.27 (35% to 127% of high book value).