Ten Sets To Treasure

Here’s another fun one from The Hobby Library: “Ten Sets To Treasure” by Bill Ballew from the September 1993 issue of Sports Cards Magazine.

What makes articles like this so interesting today isn’t just the checklist of minor league sets, it’s the snapshot of how collectors and “investors” viewed the market at the time. Future stars like Cal Ripken Jr., Don Mattingly, Ryne Sandberg, Rickey Henderson, Fred McGriff, Sammy Sosa, Juan Gonzalez, and Chipper Jones are all discussed through the lens of early minor league team sets, many of which were still relatively affordable in 1993.

There are also some terrific period observations throughout the piece, including warnings about counterfeiting single star cards from team sets, commentary on tiny print runs, and the belief that older minor league sets would continue rising in value. Three decades later, it’s fascinating to look back and see which predictions held up, and which sets became even tougher to find than collectors realized at the time.

Happy collecting!

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