For two straight years, Topps has gotten extremely lucky to have huge names in their Bowman flagship product that drive incredible sales. Now that almost two years has passed since Strasburg mania, and we are more than a year into Bryce Harper’s run at the title, there seems to be a lot of questions of whether either players will ever live up to the insane prices that were tied to them at release.

Funny enough, prices are still crazy:

2011 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor Bryce Harper Auto /25

2011 Bowman Bryce Harper Auto BGS 10 w/ 10 Auto

2010 Bowman Stephen Strasburg Rainbow – Red/Orange/Gold/Blue

2010 Allen & Ginter Stephen Strasburg Auto BGS 10

When going back through the posts on this site, I was continually shocked at the prices people paid originally for Strasburg, and then AGAIN for Harper, despite the eerie similarities between their hobby plights. Being that he is already through one surgery that took a season away, it has become less likely that Strasburg will ever match his potential from before. That’s not to say that people who have Tommy John surgery cant bounce back, its just that so many of them come back at half of what they were.

Harper is a bit different, mainly because he plays in the outfield and is MUCH more likely to be an impact player on a daily basis. Despite this fact, Harper has yet to take a swing in a major league game. He will no doubt hit the bigs this year, and if he can impress in a similar way to Strasburg during his debut, prices could again reach ridiculous levels.

The question becomes, if Harper does eventually become the next Albert Pujols, which is highly unlikely, will these cards be worth more or less than they are right now? One of the reasons that Pujols’ cards are so expensive is because they are rare. Harper has been a focus of every prospect set released by Topps in 2011. Not only that, but every inclination points to him being more on the level of a guy like Evan Longoria than Albert Pujols. Pujols is a once in a lifetime player, and though Longo is still a top player, he isnt in the same zipcode.

Prospecting functions on buying low and selling high, in bulk, for a lesser known player that should get a call up. Both Harper and Strasburg are well past that point these days. I stand buy the idea that cards should NEVER be an investment. Ever. They are a hobby, a fun thing to have on display when your friends come over. On the flip side, value will always have a factor in anything having to do with a collectable item, and I believe that will NEVER change. The main thing is that buying into hype riddled players like this should be something that a fan does, not an investor. Its obvious this plea will fall on deaf ears, but I can think of a million things to buy each year than a card from a guy who is being collected by so many people at drastically inflated prices.