Sunday, January 1, 2012

Whatever happened too.... ?

When you look through your baseball card collection, have you ever wondered. Whatever happened to this player? They were highly touted as top prospects, five tool players and #1 draft pick. But it has been 6 years and they are nowhere to be found, there career is invisible and that rookie card you paid $40 for is now selling for 99 cents, if even.
Let me throw a few names out there. Andy Marte, Chris Lubanski, Matt Bush, Delmon Young... ok so maybe Young could be an exception, at least he is playing in the MLB. But have you checked his bowman chrome rookie card? What was once a $60 card is now selling for $10. Thats a pretty big drop considering Young had a pretty good year for the Tigers in 2011.
But the other players listed have disappeared from the radar. They have either struggled in the minors or have been arrested one too many times. Products like Bowman Chrome are great to buy because you never know when you might get the next Albert Pujols. But then again if you think about it Pujols' rookie card was in 2001. That was 11 years ago, it has been 11 years since we had a breakout player like that. You could argue about players like Jason Heyward but even he has been struggling in 2011 and his cards have dropped considerably in value as well. Sometimes it feels like playing the lottery when choosing which prospects to buy. You might get lucky, but you might also get Matt Bushwhacked.