I was listening to one of the biggest AM Sports Talk Radio Stations in California, KNBR 680, the other day and I heard someone say Mike Trout was the best player on the Angels and by seasons end – he might be the best player in the American League.
I thought, wow … wish I had one of his rookie cards.
Then I kind of wanted to know how much has his main RC card gone up since being called up to the MLB? Most fans already knew about Trout, as he played 40 games in 2011 while batting .220 with 5 home runs. He was also one of the top rated prospects in all of baseball for most of his minor league career.
I wasn’t surprised to see he had a ‘baked in price’ of around $80 – $85 in January, which is essentially the slowest time of the year for baseball. Not much happened for Trout until he got called up to the majors on 4/28. After a slow start, he has really picked up his play and has gotten the attention of the national media for his play. While he’s not your classic power hitting prospect, not too many of those guys exist these days, so I expect his prices could stay at the current levels without big home run production.
The data from below is from a sampling of year to date raw (non-graded) Mike Trout autographs cards from 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Baseball. Only auctions (not buy-it-now) listings were used.
2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks & Prospects #BDPP89 Autograph Card on eBay
This aged poorly