A little backround and some speculation

An introduction:

I collected Mets baseball cards and at one point I had every card printed from 1962 to 1994. Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Post Cereal, 3-D cards, SSPC, everything.

 In 1987 I plunked down a $150 cash and a stack of ten 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly Rookies for Tom Seavers 1967 Topps rookie card.





To me this was a major coup and collecting the rest of the Mets was easy and fun after that. It did involve a bit of luck.

I worked with a guy who collected baseball cards all his life and he had a few 68 Topps Ryan rookie cards. He sold me one for $45 in 1988. I don't remember what it listed for at the time.

What would a Seaver/Ryan rookie like the one posted here be worth if it was real? That is a most interesting question.

And if Ed Kranepool had turned up on a different rookie card, say the one imagined here, what would this have been worth?

I'm glad this card didn't exist, because it would have cost a pretty penny just to get Kranepool's rookie.