baseball versus hockey ... $

I was in one of Toronto's bigger sports collectibles shops the other day picking up some card cases. It's right by the Skydome (yes, I refuse to call it the Rogers Centre) and it attracts a healthy number of tourists, who are predominantly from the US. While browsing I overheard a conversation between a couple of the guys who work there and a couple of tourists from the US. They were speaking about the difference in cost between hockey and baseball memorabilia. One of the workers pointed out that in the US you have a potential market of 300 000 000 geared to sports, whether it's generated through TV or live attendence. In Canada the potential market's 32.5 million. He went on to speak about Gretzky and Ruth. This got me thinking. How do Gretzky values compare to those of Ruth, and, more importantly, are the two players even comparable?

Let's take one question at a time. Gretzky's rookie card books at about $900 US in the Beckett guide (providing it's in mint condition). Humm. What about Babe Ruth? I'm not sure how Ruth rates in the Beckett guide but I'll bet it's way beyond Gretzky's sphere. There's a 1921 Babe Ruth card being auctioned on eBay at this very moment sitting at $1725 US with 26 bids and 38 hours to go (It's the Nelson's Chocolate card if you're inclined to check). Mind you, that card appeared a full 6 years after Ruth's debut and the official PSA on the card is 3. Imagine selling a card from 1984 (6 years into Gretzky's career) with a PSA of 3? I imagine the value would be ... I suppose paltry's a pretty accurate word. Either way, when considering memorabilia, Ruth dwarfs Gretzky.

But, as I asked earlier, should Ruth and Gretzky be compared? I say no. Sure both players dominated their sports for an extended period of time. Yeah, I know both played on dynasties (and I'm not talking about the Carringtons and Colbeys sort of Dynasty here). But Ruth played at a time when sports cards were not a big business. During Gretzky's career sports cards became a big business. Ruth's heyday was about 80 years ago while Gretzky's was 20 years ago. It only makes sense that Ruth memoribilia is more obscure and valuable.

So how about comparing Ruth values to those of hockey stars of the 10s-30s? This question led me back to the Beckett guide and eBay. How about two megastars who played for the Habs in the 10s and 20s? Beckett values the 1911-1912 C55 cards (a Holy Grail of sorts in the hockey collecting arena, most likely issued by Imperial Tobacco) of Newsy Lalonde and Joe Malone at $1500 and $1000 US respectively (and that's assuming they'd score a PSA of 10). Lalonde and Malone were the superstars of the 1910s and both played for the Montreal Canadians (the New York Yankees of hockey) and they still can't draw the money Ruth's cards garner.

How about game used memorabilia cards? I bought an Aurel Joliat / George Hainsworth dual jersey card on eBay a few days ago for $39 US. I suppose a baseball equivilant would be a Ruth / Gehrig combination memorabilia card. Well, conveniently for this blog entry there happens to be one on eBay at this very moment. It's presently sitting at $255 US with 19 bids and 4 days and 14 hours to go. I wonder how high the price will actually go?

If you're interested in collecting sports memorabilia, hockey is easier on the pocketbook. Too bad I collect both.