Hey guys, ‘member when the Strasburg Supefractor sold for $25k and we all went nuts? Hey guys, ‘member when everyone was saying the Ohtani Superfractor would sell for $65k and we all were left wondering how that could happen? Well guys, its time we all start to look at the recent sale of the Mike Trout superfractor at a reported $400k tag, and realize none of that other stuff matters. This is the big dog, and in all likelihood, it may never happen again.
Trout is the best player in baseball over the last decade, and its not even close to a competition. His sabermetric stats are off the charts, and what’s even more insane is that they seem to be getting better not worse. Yes, friends, Mike Trout hasnt reached the summit yet, and when he does, im not sure what more will be said.
Honestly, I think this sale says less about Mike Trout and more about the ceiling that exists on modern cards in the hobby today. There are really only a handful of players that can sniff this range, and its pretty clear who they are. Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Tom Brady, and Mike Trout. That’s about it. I think there are certain arguments that can be made for other players, but that’s a very small list of titans to be reviewed.
Modern cards survive on contrived scarcity combined with BGS introducing hyper-mint grading services to the industry. Without those two things, there isnt a discussion about cards like this Mike Trout. For vintage, the cards that are worthy of a safe at Ft. Knox are much more about condition and age, as well as the fact that almost all the benchmarks are one of a few in a given market. The players are all dead, which means that there wont be off the field incidents that will tarnish their legacy, or even injuries that can end a career. All that will be said has already been said in some capacity, and there is comfort in collecting that way for many people.
Vintage will forever be the gold standard, and though Mike Trout’s card is like a pit bull in a sea of puppies, it will never live up to the best examples from the pre-war and post war eras. There was a recent sale of a 2.5 million dollar Mantle recently, including some speculation that one other may be in the 10 million dollar range. That’s Honus Wagner type company, and that’s saying something.
As said above, this sale should tell you that no matter how good some modern player is, or how insane his rookie card might be, its still not close to the best of the best. It will never be close. Not sure if that is more crazy than sad, but maybe a little of both.