Rare Doc Gooden Grail Card Hits the Market
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Mets fans are not exactly celebrating the current offseason. Still, that's not to say the month has been a total dumpster fire. After all, card collectors among the Mets faithful now have a chance to scoop up what may be Doc Gooden's ultimate grail card.
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If you were under the impression that most of Doc's cards from the 1980s and 1990s were so mass produced that they held very little of their original value, you weren't wrong at all. Even Doc's 1985 Topps rookie card routinely sells for under $5 these days, though PSA 10 examples command prices in the high triple digits.
That said, Doc's grail card isn't a rookie card, nor was it even issued in the 1980s. It came in 1991 when Doc was still an effective pitcher but hardly the Hobby darling of years past. In fact, his name was more likely to be found on a certain periodical's "Cold List" than anywhere near the top of collector want lists that year.
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The card's value, therefore, has less to do with Doc than it does to the history surrounding its issue. As Hobby die-hards know, Pacific Trading Cards grew from a small-time producer of 1980s oddballs and Ken Griffey candy bars to a major player in the 1990s trading card space once it obtained its MLB license in 1993. Of course this license didn't just show up at company founder Mike Cramer's doorstep. A key step in the process was the creation of prototypes that would convince MLB the company could deliver a high quality product on par with the MLB brand. Already having a successful NFL product, Pacific knew exactly where to turn.
Pacific mimicked its successful 1991 football design to produce a 10-card set of baseball prototypes for its meetings with Topps. The checklist included Rickey Henderson, Frank Thomas, Darryl Strawberry, and of course Dwight Gooden. Only 20 copies of each card were made, none of which were (at least directly) made available to the public. And one of the 20 Doc cards now sits on eBay with a $350 starting bid or $490 "Buy It Now" price tag.
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Given how few of these cards have ever hit the market, determining "comps" on the card is somewhere between useless and impossible. To be clear, there have been no recent sales. About the closest thing is a Chris Sabo prototype from the set that the same seller recently unloaded for $150 or best offer. Naturally there are hundreds of Gooden cards numbered to 20 or less, including many "one of one" cards available for under $100. However, none carry the Hobby history of the Pacific sample.
In the end, as always, the value of the card will come down to whatever someone is willing to pay. At the moment, that doesn't appear to be $490 since the card is still available. In truth, even the minimum bid of $350 is unlikely to be met. Still, for the Gooden collector looking for the ace's most significant rarity, this card may well be it, and how do you put a price on that?
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.