Four Nolan Ryan rookie cards highlight a collection purchased and with no time to spare! An expecting grandpa on his way to celebrate the birth of his grandchild brought his cards to Just Collect.
A gentleman with a childhood collection of 1968 Topps baseball cards brought them all into our Just Collect with an unusual story. Peter and his wife were on their way to Florida and had just TWO HOURS to spare. Why so little time? Peter's daughter was about to give birth to his grandchild!
The 1968 Topps set consists of 598 cards and is filled with stars! The big attraction is card #177 - Nolan Ryan's rookie card. Ryan is one of the game's best pitchers. The first-ballot Hall of Famer tallied more strikeouts than any other pitcher in baseball history. Ryan's 5,714 K's are 839 more than the man behind him, Randy Johnson. The most career strikeouts by an active pitcher is Justin Verlander with 3,416. If you're wondering whether Verlander could catch Ryan, the answer is an easy no. Verlander just turned 42 and needs 2,296 strikeouts to pass Ryan. Verlander's personal best for strikeouts in one season is 300; he'd need to match his career high every year and pitch until he's almost 50! Nolan Ryan was that good. Ryan also holds the record for the most no-hitters thrown in baseball by completing SEVEN!
FOUR Nolan Ryan rookie cards are in the collection and you can see these in the first two photos below. Following Ryan is a rookie card of Johnny Bench. Bench is a 14-time All-Star, won 10 Gold Glove awards, earned the MVP award twice and led his team to a pair of World Series championships. Bench's rookie card is #247 in the set.
Hank Aaron and Willie Mays steal the show in the third photo. FIVE cards each of Aaron (card #110) and Mays (card #50) were in the collection. Aaron retired as the all-time home run leader with 755 round trippers. The 25-time All-Star still holds the record for career RBI despite not taking an at-bat in 49 years! Willie Mays is called the greatest all-around player; he could hit for average, hit for power, outrun anyone, and play stellar defense. Mays won the MVP award twice, took home 12 Gold Glove awards, and when Aaron wasn't leading the league home runs, Mays was. Each led the league in home runs four times!
The fourth photo below showcases Roberto Clemente (card #150), Mickey Mantle (card #280) Pete Rose (card #230), and Tom Seaver (#45). From left to right, we're looking a member of the 3,000 hit club, 500 home run club, the all-time leader in hits, and a member of the 300-win club. So much history if one picture of cards! There are two Rose cards and FOUR Seaver cards!
A few cards outside of the 1968 Topps set were in the collection including a 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr rookie card in the fifth photo. Like Aaron and Mays, Griffey led the league in home runs four times. The 1997 AL MVP hit 630 career home runs and sits seventh all-time. While we mostly buy vintage cards at Just Collect, we do buy select modern cards and a Ken Griffey Jr rookie card is on our buy list!
The last photo shows the collection binders. Using binders and pages is one way to safely store your cards.
With each of the duplicate cards, we wonder if Peter had traded his cards or won them in a game of FLIP!
Here are photos of the collection:
Two hours? No pressure!
Peter contacted us through our
Three binders of vintage cards came with Peter and our owner, Leighton, had TWO HOURS to evaluate the entire collection. Leighton went right to work. At Just Collect, we have the experience and expertise to purchase vintage collections such as Peter's The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. This is where we are happy to help you!
After completing the evaluation, we made a fair offer for the entire collection and Peter happily accepted. We then paid Peter with a company check. When you choose to sell your collection to Just Collect, we pay you how you want to be paid be it company check, cash, or wire transfer. Before Peter and his wife left to go meet their grandchild, check in-hand, we also gave him a bonus - we paid for his gas and the tolls for his travels; we know what it is like getting ready to spoil a newborn and wanted to make his day go as smoothly as possible. Thank you for choosing Just Collect to sell your collection to, Peter, and congratulations to the new family addition!
Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.
We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:
We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.
If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.
We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.
If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.
If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; read all the information here.
If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.
We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!
Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.
Whether you have vintage cards or modern wax you want to sell, you can reach out to us any time!