Some of the earliest baseball cards released in the late 19th century can still hold significant value today, though they are quite rare. Some key years where baseball cards started gaining popularity and retaining value over long periods include:

1887 – Considered the first major set of baseball cards, the 1887 N172 Old Judge tobacco cards featured individual players with statistics on the back. High grade specimens of star players like Cap Anson can fetch well over $100,000.

1909 – The 1909-1911 T206 tobacco card set marked the golden age of baseball cards printed on thick cardboard instead of tissue paper. Honus Wagner is the most famous and valuable card that can sell for over $1 million in near-mint condition. Other notable stars like Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson in high grades also command five or six figures.

1911-1913 – The M101-8 and M101-14 sets continued highlighting many of the same players as the iconic T206s but are very challenging to find in top condition. They retained collectors’ interest but top examples still fetch north of $10,000.

1933 – Goudey gum cards had colorful painted images and remain a very popular vintage set. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig rookie cards graded high can sell for $150,000-$500,000 depending on demand.

1936-1939 – Play Ball (1936), Goudey (1939), & World Wide gum (1939) sets featured many future Hall of Famers. Stars like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Johnny Mize rookies can be worth $25,000-$75,000 in solid grades.

1951 – Bowman’s colorful photograph design was the first post-WWII set that reinvigorated the industry. Top rookie cards of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Whitey Ford are routinely six figures in pristine shape.

1952 – Topps had the first successful post-war design that it would produce for decades. Top rookie cards include future stars like Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and Roberto Clemente worth $50,000-$150,000 in top condition.

1968 – The first year of the modern larger size cards. Rookie cards of Nolan Ryan, Reggie Jackson, and Carl Yastrzemski could reach $150,000 for near-mint copies.

1969 – Marked the 50th anniversary of professional baseball cards. The design highlighted individual team checklists. Star rookie cards of Tom Seaver and Johnny Bench routinely go for over $100,000 in mint shape.

1975 – The first year of the switch to wax paper packaging that ushered new collecting methods. Fred Lynn and George Brett rookies graded gem mint can surpass $50,000 each.

1988 – Ken Griffey Jr., already a rising star, had one of the most popular and valuable rookie cards of the late 20th century. Highly graded copies have sold for over $500,000.

Any product from the years 1989-1991 that featured rookie cards of sluggers like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Frank Thomas are iconic investments from the sport’s “steroid era.” First Bowman cards or Topps flagship rookie cards of players before they broke major single season home run records command the highest sums.

While modern card investment still faces more volatility than vintage cards, any ultra-rare rookie cards pulled within the past 30 years that featured generational talents in pristine condition could appreciate substantially in the decades to come assuming the player has a Hall of Fame career. Examples might include cards like the 2012 Mike Trout, 2001 Ichiro Suzuki, or 2015 Kris Bryant. The rarer the parallel printing, photo variation, autograph/relic version – the more potentially valuable if the player lives up long-term to initial hype and production numbers remain scarce in the highest grades over time.

While the value of any collectible depends on condition, demand, and career arcs – baseball cards from the early 1900s up through the late 1980s/early 1990s have shown the most reliable long-term appreciation because they captured some of the most iconic players at the earliest stages of their careers before mass production. Maintaining high standards for centering, corners, edges and surface preserves the maximum possible value over decades. The trading card industry boom and bust cycles also tend to have less impact on investments in the all-time star rookies from baseball’s formative eras that remain scarce in pristine quality.