Contact Us

Rookie Cards of Aaron, Jordan, Gretzky, & More Purchased in Cooperstown

Baseball Hall of Fame Visit Results in Huge Rookie Card Collection!

June 03, 2025

Aaron

Multiple rookie cards of Hank Aaron, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tom Brady, and more! A trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. turned into an epic $31,000 purchase.

Cooperstown, NY. is one of the most scenic, wonderful places that exists on the map. Away from the hustle and bustle, sitting off of Glimmerglass Lake, is a town that takes you back to the days when a wax pack of cards set you back a cool ten cents. Doubleday Field is picturesque reminder of a diamond that Babe Ruth may have played on. The mom and pop stores on Main Street like Tin Bin Alley make you remanence about penny candy. The best part about the village of Cooperstown is that the Baseball Hall of Fame calls it home.

While on a trip to the Hall of Fame, our owner, Leighton, met a local collector named Jim at the nearby Otesaga resort. Jim was interested in selling not just vintage baseball cards, but football and basketball cards, too. Cooperstown may be a baseball haven, but all the sports legends came to play!

THE COOPERSTOWN COLLECTION

When Jim was younger, he enjoyed collecting vintage cards. Like we do here, Jim found that collecting older cards was just more fun! The value of vintage cards often holds up over time; the market is very volatile for modern cards. A hot rookie may not pan out or an injury could derail their career, but there isn't much taking place today that would alter the value of Hank Aaron cards; the late icon hasn't played in game in 49 years!

Around the age of 12, Jim and his dad were in town and stopped at Mickey's Place. A few players were signing autographs at Mickey's, and Jim asked his dad who one of the players was. Overhearing the question, Bob Gibson, an all-time legendary pitcher, roared with laughter! Gibson teased the mystery player for a young Jim not knowing his name. That mystery player - Hall of Famer, Bob Feller! To be fair, we may not have recognized Mr. Feller when we were 12 either; a time with no Internet, social media, cell phones, or any way to do a quick "Google search."

Jim collected the vintage cards, and did his collection grow with him! As an adult, Jim would receive a call from the owner of Yazstremski (Hall of Famer, Carl!) Sports about vintage cards he may want to purchase, and eventually, he amassed the stellar cards we're going to show you!

As you scroll through the photos of the collection below, you'll see THREE Hank Aaron rookie cards! From the 1954 Topps set, The Hammer's cards are graded by the top two grading companies - PSA and SGC. While each card in the collection is graded, we happily buy ungraded cards, too! In the same photo with the Hank Aaron rookie cards are 1953 Topps cards of Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson. A 1952 Bowman Willie Mays card follows, and this run of beauties ends with a 1954 Topps Jackie Robinson.

The second photo has TWO rookie cards of Michael Jordan and the rookie sticker insert from the 1986 Fleer set. We all remember getting a stick of gum from wax packs when we were kids, but do you remember when you'd find sticker cards in a pack, too? If only we didn't put those stickers in our sticker books and stored them safely. A few early cards of MJ are also in the second photo.

Hoops! The NBA playoffs are currently underway, and Leighton was excited to see vintage Hall of Fame basketball rookie cards. In the third photo are 1961 Fleer rookie cards of Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson. We still can't believe that there were really no basketball cards created after the 1957 Topps set until the '61 Fleer cards came our way! Your eyes are now on the pair of Dr. J Julius Erving rookie cards from 1972 Topps - we love that ABA ball Dr. J is holding!

Modern basketball rookie cards are in the fourth photo. While Just Collect specializes in vintage cards, we do buy select modern cards! Rookie cards of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Steph Curry, and Luka Dončić are modern cards on our buy list!

Hockey! The Stanley Cup playoffs are also here, and rookie cards of Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux are in the collection that you can see in the fifth photo. The Gretzky rookie cards are from O-Pee-Chee while Lemieux is Topps. Just Collect has purchased many Wayne Gretzky rookie cards and with this purchase, we explain the difference between OPC and Topps. Each time we see a Gretzky rookie, we think back to when we helped 12-year-old Henry take home his dream card!

Vintage football cards round off the collection. In the last photo are rookie cards of the greatest every to step onto the gridiron! Ready for this list? Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Walter Payton, Paul Hornung, Bart Starr, Jerry Rice, Bo Jackson, Tom Brady, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson! While the Allen and Jackson cards are more modern, we couldn't say no to rookie cards of the most recent MVP winners. We'd add up all of the touchdowns this group combined for, but that is a lot of pressing the add button on our phone!

Photos of the Cooperstown Collection:

Do you have any similar cards from this collection that you'd like to sell? We are buying! Click here for more info:

APPRAISAL AND PURCHASE

We posted about the Cooperstown trip Leighton was taking on our blog. Jim was happy to meet Leighton in-person at the Otesaga Hotel where he was provided a FREE APPRAISAL. 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! We have purchased thousands upon thousands of collections and bought and sold over 50 MILLION dollars in cards.

After reviewing each card, Leighton made a fair offer that Jim accepted. Leighton then paid Jim how he wanted to be paid! When you choose to sell your collection to Just Collect, we can pay you in cash, company check, or wire transfer.

As you can see in the video below, Jim thought the process was easy and enjoyable! After selling this collection to Just Collect, Jim spoke with his family about possibly selling even more of his collection to us here at Just Collect. Thank you for coming to Cooperstown and choosing Just Collect to sell your collection to, Jim!

Video of Leighton, Jim, and the Cooperstown collection:

If you're interested in selling your collection but cannot make it to Cooperstown, we offer many ways to evaluate and purchase your collection! Just Collect has a store in New Jersey that you're welcome to visit, you could ship your collection, meet us at a card show or convention, and we do travel for large collections. Here is how you can contact us today:

WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

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.

Travel to Us

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.

Come to convention

We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.

Meet in-person

If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.

Meet in New York City

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.

SHIP your collection

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.

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

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.