Baseball Card Market Report for August 10-16, 2023 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on the Roberto Clemente market

Aug 18, 2023

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Ty Cobb Sets a Record

A long time ago, I wrote a post about that time Ty Cobb appeared on a candy card as a baker. Say what?

You can read my ramblings about that right here.

And you can even cast your vote for how that card stacks up to one of the most infamous airbrush jobs of all time, right here.

But if you want to see the most expensive copy of the 1932 U.S. Caramel card of the Georgia Peach to ever change hands in PSA 5 condition? Why, all you have to do is scan to the bottom of this post and click on over to the eBay listing from last week.

Or, you know, you can click over to that card right here (affiliate link).

According to PSA’s own Auction Prices Realized tool, the highest price tag ever achieved for that card in that condition — before last week — was $5,008.80 in October of 2021.

The one down below cleared that mark by nearly $2800, or about a 56% bump.

And that’s enough of a jump to stand out even in a crowded Ohtani field.

And speaking of cards that stand out …

How Are Roberto Clemente Cards Doing?

The late, great Roberto Clemente was born 89 years ago today.

Already a surefire Hall of Famer, Clemente’s legend grew to mythic proportions when his plane went down during a relief mission to Nicaragua on New Years Eve in 1972.

In recent years, Clemente’s baseball cards have ridden the wave of the Pandemic Boom along with the rest of the Cooperstown elite. Even so, there’s something extra special, almost haunting, due to his tragic early death.

So here on his birthday, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at just what Clemente’s cards have been up to over the last few years.

For starters, you can have a look at the most expensive Clemente cards sold on eBay over the last 90 days (affiliate link).

As I write this, the “winner” in that regard is a 1966 Topps Clemente in PSA 9 (affiliate link) that sold for $11,100 on the strength of 54 bids.

The runner-up? A cherry 1955 Topps Clemente rookie card (affiliate link) in BVG 7. That one sold for nearly $9000 on 46 bids.

And speaking of that rookie card, that one is undoubtedly the big star among Clemente baseball cards. So how has that one performed during these pandemic years?

Well, according to the PSA Population Report, the most common condition for a slabbed Clemente RC is PSA 4.

Yeah, that’s a pretty rough condition. But even five years ago, in August of 2018, that was about an $1100 card, according to the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool.

That was well over a year before “covid” was anything other than “divoc” spelled backwards.

Here is the progression of that hunk of crinkled (or rounded, or stained, or whatever) cardboard since then:

August 2018: $1100
August 2019: $1200
August 2020: $1600
August 2021: $2600
August 2022: $2500
August 2023: $2400

So, like a lot of the market, Clemente made a jump in 2020, then raced to a new level by the summer of 2021.

It’s been pretty even ground since then, though to be fair, I couldn’t find a PSA 4 Clemente that sold this month. So that last entry is a bit of a swag, but it fits with the general trend you see for other grades of this hobby giant in the PSA auction reports.

So, all in all, there’s no lack of money being poured into Clemente cards these days. And rightfully so.

Here are some other cards attracting their fair share of hobby dollars…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for August 10-16, 2023

(Quick note — this list contains affiliate links to the original eBay listings.)

If you want to see updated 30-day market toppers anytime, we have a couple of resources over on WaxPackGods.com:

Most expensive baseball cards sold in the last 30 days
Most expensive football cards sold in the last 30 days
Most expensive basketball cards sold in the last 30 days

Now, on with the show …

Baseball Card Values Newsletter

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