Surprisingly Great Prices on Vintage Willie Mays Cards!

I believe that Willie Mays Cards hold a premium at most card shows. I've definitely felt at times that some of Willie Mays 1950s and 1960s cards can be really expensive and out of reach. However, in recent sales, it seems like Willie Mays cards can be purchased at or around $100 if you can be reasonable with your condition preferences.
I'm not looking at cards that are fillers, but I am not trying to break the bank in finding the perfectly centered sharp card either. If you want to add some Willie Mays Cards to your collection on a smaller budget, definitely check out sources like 130Point.com (Free) and Vintagecardprices.com (Subscription) to see for yourself how much certain years of certain players are selling for!
Let me know what y'all think and share any Willie Mays purchasing stories y'all have!
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[@RipFan8]

Hi Sammy. Really good prices on sharp looking cards. Thanks for sharing my friend, talk soon pal.

[@Vintage_Dave_T]

I love those Mays. Wow! Thx for sharing.

[@SammyThunder]

Thanks Dave! It's nice to see that those prices exist!

[@jimfalkler9361]

Hi Sammy. Willie Mays prices are very reasonable. He was truly one of the All Time Greats. Thank you for doing this video.

[@SammyThunder]

Thank you Jim. Did you receive my email about the Nolan Ryan?

[@jimfalkler9361]

@@SammyThunder Hi Sammy, yes I did. I will let you know when I receive the card. Thanks again.

[@s.macintosh-jc9rf]

Hi Sammy, Thanks for your video about Willie Mays affordable cards. I got a 1969 OPC Willie Mays #190, SGC 5 for $120.00. Pretty good for Canada 🇨🇦. Have a great weekend, Peter

[@SammyThunder]

Can't go wrong. I like a lot of Mays' later year cards. The 65, 68 and 69 cards are among some of my favorites from his later years.

[@royakard8536]

Thanks for the video on a excellent topic. The vast majority of collectors, in my opinion, can take value from videos like this. Wouldn't be a bad waste of effort to showcase a few iconic players stuff ever so often.

[@SammyThunder]

Thank you for your feedback. It's encouraging to hear this. When you say that it would be good to showcase a few iconic players, are you referring to more videos like this where I show value in star cards of premiere players?

[@royakard8536]

@SammyThunder yeah yeah showcasing what your seeing on them ect

[@nabzy28]

SO glad I just added a '59 Topps of his to my collection about 6 months ago, or so. I was at a show and was looking through a showcase that had some Brady refractors in it, along with just a mix of other decent cards. I pulled one that I was interested in and it was priced a bit high, so I started looking through the rows of slabs that he had 'stacked/laid down/spilled' into rows. The '59 Mays caught my eye. PSA 5. Incredibly well centered and only slight yellowing. Great color. As you said in your video regarding the corners - I don't mind corner wear, as long as it's not surface paper loss or anything crazy, and this one just has corner wear you'd expect on a 65 year old card. It became the first vintage baseball card in my PC. I've stuck with football for the entirety of my collecting, but could not pass it up for 250.

[@SammyThunder]

Congrats on a stellar pickup!

[@ACD1994]

My Willie Mays card recommendation would be, the baseball thrills 1959 Topps Catch card. Cost would be around; 100 to 150 depending on the condition, but is, a great card. One of my favorite of Mays. Honestly, great alternatives that are more affordable than Mickey Mantle. Could be it's whole entire series. Aaron, Clemente, Musial, Frank and Brooks Robinson. Your guy Tom Seaver. The possibilities are endless. But great video- I like the format. Thanks, Sammy.

[@SammyThunder]

Thank you Andrew. I think if you're paying about $100 or $150, you might be able to get that card in better condition than if you paid the same for his 59 issued card. It's a classic though, the baseball thrills! All the names mentioned are great alternatives. Aaron and Clemente will always be popular throughout their career with all the issued cards. Sadly, Frank and Brooks don't really get a lot of love passed their first few years of issued cards. Seaver is great because outside his rookie card, his other cards drop down considerably. I did a video on this once about the dropoff from a player's rookie to their second year. It's a fun theme to look into sometimes.

[@ACD1994]

@@SammyThunder The baseball thrills is indeed less expensive than his 1959 base card. Both great ones. Yes, Aaron and Clemente both have historical significance, which should bode well for their cards and future values. Frank and Brooks are popular in Maryland still, but very much a regional thing I think!

[@ACD1994]

Also, I want to add. The price for vendors at the Mid-Atlantic show is $100. I don't know if that's a fair price or not, since I don't go there to sell, or have the experiences you do, but the next show is in September. So not for another 3 months. Then there's another one I believe in November. Not sure how often you down to Maryland throughout the year tho.

[@Rocketrickj18]

Sammy, thanks for sharing this great video packed with info concerning the availability of great looking cards at reasonable prices for one of the game’s biggest superstar! Well done! Maybe the ‘65 Mays benefits from it being one of his MVP years.

[@SammyThunder]

That's definitely true. The MVP year does help!

[@ACD1994]

Yeah, I think that's a good point.

[@vintagesportflips]

Great video man - I agree the value in Mays cards is pretty wild when compared to contemporaries like Mantle

[@SammyThunder]

I may look into the Mantle cards next. I feel like there may be value there too.

[@The_Cincinnati_Kid]

An informative and inspiring video to me Sammy. I don’t have too many of his playing days cards. I’d like to pick up his ‘56 perhaps at the national. Thank you, for sharing this!

[@SammyThunder]

You will definitely have more opportunities to buy that card at the price that you want.

[@goodyg]

Great cards and great information. Thanks again

[@SammyThunder]

Thanks Goody!

[@rayfromphilly6969]

great video sammy. Yes i agree willie mays cards from the 60s and 70s are definitely doable.

[@SammyThunder]

Without a doubt Ray, but I'd even go back further in the late 50s. If you don't mind a lower grade, but good centered Mays, it can be found for what I feel to be a good price.

[@ACollectorsDream]

Good deals are out there

[@SammyThunder]

Yup, they're out there.

[@TheCardDeal]

Nice display Sammy! His prices sadly will go up the day he passes. I notice you say trends. I say that points out opportunity for like you said a learning opportunity and chance to grab some that are very affordable.

[@SammyThunder]

Definitely! We talked about this in my Chill & Chat the other night. Graig from Midlife mentioned that since he is a premiere hall of fame player and has always commanded such attention in the hobby, his prices may rise when he passes, but not for as long as we probably imagine they will. I agree with that thought.

[@CraigsCards62]

I need to add some Willie Mays @ some of those prices

[@SammyThunder]

They exist!

[@lauracook2810]

You gotta buy all Willie mays cards

[@EverydayCardCollector-Jason]

Great video Sammy. I really believe Willie is under valued in comparison to players of the same caliber.

[@ACD1994]

Most vintage cards are under valued compared to Mantle. Though like you and Graig were saying. Mays is expensive in California, but Nellie Foxx and Luis Aparicio - Chicago isn't the best place to buy either. Maybe to be a seller though.

[@SammyThunder]

It's hard for me to wrap my head around this. I feel like maybe this needs to be a video in of itself. The wheels are turning now.

[@cardboardandplastic9267]

For people buying cards online or on eBay, I would recommend buying 4/5's. The lower grade cards may be disappointing when you get them in your hand. I would save the under 4 cards for in person purchases.

[@SammyThunder]

Could you elaborate on this strategy? Genuinely curious.

[@cardboardandplastic9267]

@@SammyThunder Cards that look amazing with scans with grades 1, 2, and 3 typically have an issue that may not show up or are worse than what appears. It just takes a surface wrinkle across the face to kill the aesthetics of the card for you. Surface wrinkles are hard to see in 2D images, but when you hold up the card to the light, they will pop out and you never can unsee them again.

[@SammyThunder]

@@cardboardandplastic9267 Great points. I genuinely will scour a low grade card if it looks fantastic, so I understand the concern. It's important to make sure the description is read and if you have any concerns, reach out to the seller and ask for yourself.

[@cardboardandplastic9267]

@@SammyThunder Some sellers are descriptive and accommodating on eBay and some will get upset and tell you the card has been graded and look at the pictures. Bigger cosigners don't even bother responding to questions about the card in the slab. Experienced graders like yourself also can usually figure out why the card got the grade from pictures and inexperienced graders won't be able to tell. Card shows are a great place to pick up these lower graded cards IMO for newer vintage collectors. :)

[@xf2891]

That card you can regraded it and maybe you could get a six or seven on that card.

[@SammyThunder]

Which one?

[@xf2891]

@@SammyThunder the Willie Mays card that got a 5 grade

[@xf2891]

What is your most expensive card that you own.and what is your favorite baseball team.

[@SammyThunder]

@@xf2891 I can only go by what I paid for a card, that is the 54 Stahl Meyer being the most expensive card. Favorite baseball team is the Mets.

[@ShawnFoote]

Thanks Sammy! Those are great deals, I'd buy all of those! I have several Mays cards (most of his run except his first three years and a 54 Bowman, most are raw... I've been debating whether or not I should grade them. They are primarily low grade... a few great mids with solid eye appeal. I'd definitely submit to SGC... any thoughts you'd care to share? Thanks! Long time viewer of the channel. 🤙

[@SammyThunder]

If you're going to hold onto them, debating on sending them in for grading is not worth debating. I choose to grade some of my cards from my collection because I want to preserve them and am also curious if what I predict to be the grade is close to what it actually grades at. I suppose the only reason why you would debate sending them in is if you were thinking of selling them after the fact.

[@BringingTheHeat-VBC]

Never a better time for collectors to dip into the Baseball card pool. Willie Mays is a good place to start. He was good. If you're buying 200 different parallelograms with Precious metals shimmering mixed in that will be landfill fodder one day, you should learn to love these cards too. "Buy what you don't like" is a good strategy for new collectors and young guns. You have a great eye Sammy.

[@SammyThunder]

Thanks Petty. I appreciate the reverse psychology here. It's a form of trickery, bur for the greater good!

[@cryptonite8495]

The thing all these have in common is auctions. Sellers are getting crushed by auctions, unless they're putting up a grail card or high-grade superstar. But they keep on doing it. In general, I say buy mid-grade and low-grade from auctions but don't sell in them!

[@SammyThunder]

I've definitely been in that loop before as a seller. I put something up for auction and it definitely sold for a lot less than I thought it would. It happens, but I've definitely seen cards go for way less.

[@bobcalderon2534]

Why scg cheaper , psa is still number one.

[@SammyThunder]

Sorry, could you rephrase?

[@lauracook2810]

It don't matter just buy willie mays cards or you dont no baseball Willie mays is baseball

[@Rocketrickj18]

Sammy, thanks for sharing this great video packed with info concerning the availability of great looking cards at reasonable prices for one of the game’s biggest superstar! Well done! Maybe the ‘65 Mays benefits from it being one of his MVP years.