Greg Maddux 300 Game Winner Topps Rookie Card
Written: Aug 09 '04 (Updated Jan 03 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Affordable card of a future Hall of Famer
Cons: Not rare enough to present any kind of lucrative investment potential.
The Bottom Line: Greg Maddux has 300 wins, 11 gold gloves and back to back unanimous Cy Young Awards. How can you go wrong?
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| LonghornMan's Full Review: Topps 1987 Chicago Cubs Greg Maddux 'Topps Traded'... |
I thought it fitting to review Greg Maddux's 1987 Topps Traded rookie card numbered 70T since he recently achieved his 300th career win. The card itself is far less than spectacular in appearance as are all the cards from the 1987 Topps sets. The image of Maddux on the card is not particularly compelling compared to the high quality photography on the cards that are currently being produced by Topps and other manufacturers. The photo captures him following through on a delivery to the plate in his Cubs away jersey. The card has a wood grain border with the Cubs seal in the upper left corner. There are many Greg Maddux cards from more recent years that feature far superior images. If you are looking for a card with higher quality photo you would do better to shop Topps Stadium Club, SPX Authentic or Upper Deck. Unfortunately, none of these were being produced in Greg Maddux’s rookie year. If you are seeking a non-rookie card with a more nostalgic look, your best bet would be Fleer Tradition. These cards are similar in appearance to those from the 50’s and 60’s.
The back of the card is equally bland in appearance and presents Maddux’s biographical information and statistics previous to the 1987 season as well as the gee whiz fact that Greg and his brother had to pitch against one another on September 29, 1986. It shows the standard pitching statistics which consist of games, innings pitched, wins, loses, runs, earned runs, strikeouts, base on balls, games started, complete games, shutouts saves and earned run average. It has his pitching statistics for his first three seasons in the minors when he played for Pikeville in 1984, Peoria in 1986 and Pittsfield and Iowa in 1986. The card also has his statistics for the three games he was called up to play for the Cubs in 1986. The card back differs in coloration than those from the regular 1987 Topps set. The Traded back is white with blue and yellow print, while the regular set is standard cardboard brown with blue and yellow ink.
The card is made of a fairly decent stock that is less prone to accentuating any minor damage to the edges or corners than the Donruss and Fleer cards produced the same year. You have a far better chance of pulling a card that is in mint or gem mint condition from the Topps Traded set than you do from a wax pack from the other two major brands. Depending on how the wax packs are handled prior to their sale, there are many opportunities for the corners and edges of the cards to be damaged even before the pack is opened. The fact that these cards are less likely to show imperfections is advantageous only if you pull a card from a Topps Traded set that you plan to keep for your own personal collection or to display in your home or office.
If you are concerned with condition and intend to send the card off to be graded this can prove to be a real problem. If you are going to spend the money to have PSA, BGS or another company to grade the card, naturally you want to get the highest grade possible. There is a great potential for slight imperfections on the corners to go unnoticed before the card is sent off to be graded. This leaves room for you to send off a card that you might think will grade a 9 or a 10 to come back graded an 8. Since a Professional Sports Authenticators (PSA) with a grade of 9 can be purchased for $15.00, I see no point in trying to obtain what you might think is an ungraded potentially gem mint 10 card.
Greg Maddux was drafted by the Cubs in the second round of the 1984 draft. By today’s standards he probably wouldn’t have even been drafted. He didn’t throw that hard even back then and today there’s plenty of high school players that are throwing in the 90’s. However, his ability to fool batters with his precision pitch placement is what has allowed him to have such a successful career in the Majors. There is almost no question that Maddux was the best pitcher of the 㣾’s. His statistics are undisputable: 176 wins with only 88 loses, a 2.54 Earned Run Average and 1,764 strikeouts with only 443 walks. In the seasons from 1992 to 1995 he won four consecutive Cy Young Awards and was the only pitcher besides Sandy Koufax to voted a Cy Young awardee unanimously two years in a row. He has not only helped the teams he’s played for with his pitching, but has managed to rack up 11 Rawlings Gold Glove awards.
On Saturday, August the 7th Maddux secured his place in Major League baseball by achieving what only 22 major leaguers before him were able to accomplish. After failing to reach the landmark on August 2, 2004 he left the field after six innings to soon become part of an extremely elite club of outstanding pitchers that includes Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Warren Spahn and Tom Seaver. Odds are it will be a very long time before another pitcher reaches this achievement. Maddux is a lead pipe cinch for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. There are only two or three pitchers that stand a chance and they will have to have banner seasons for the remainder of their careers to do so.
Considering all his accomplishments I must recommend this card to potential buyers. I would not pay the lowest price of $12.99 as offered by the vendors on this site unless you have some sort of affinity or allegiance to one of these particular stores. The cards they are offering are not graded, therefore you have no guarantee as to the condition they are in. You should be able to pick up an ungraded near mint or mint card on Ebay or at a baseball card show for about $5.00 not including shipping and handling. The Beckett price for a PSA Gem Mint 10 is currently $60.00 and the Mint 9 is valued at $15.00. A PSA 8, which is still a nice looking card should sell for about $7.00. This card will by no means ever make you rich, but should never waiver in value more than $2.00 below what you buy it for. The only way you’ll lose your initial investment is if Greg Maddux retires and publicly announces that his intentions are to move to Asia and focus on rolling the perfect joint, hires a contract killer to murder a member of his family, or fails a mandatory drug test. Please keep in mind I’m rating the card itself 5 stars and not the offer of the merchants on this site.
I hope this was helpful. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments. I have been collecting sports cards for 17 years and if I can’t answer your question, I’d be glad to point you in the direction of someone who can.
© 2004 Theodore Yeager
Recommended:
Yes
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LonghornMan
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