Baseball Card Market Report for February 22-28, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on 1975 Topps stars

Mar 01, 2024

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The Market Yawns

After a couple of weeks with BIG sales at the top of our list, including an Ohtani that topped 20K (as reported last week), the listings of most expensive eBay sales at the bottom of this post probably look a bit mundane.

That 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson at the very top is a specimen, to be sure, but it checks in at “only” $13,555. Two more Jackies join that one, along with an Ohtani, a Brady, and a Hank Aaron rookie card in rounding out a list that peters out pretty quickly just above $5000.

But this list does give us one sure sign of Spring (Training): an appearance by Jackson Holliday, 20-year-old prospect for the Orioles, who has yet to play in the majors.

Hope springs eternal this time of year, huh?

Now, let’s see if “eternal” includes cards from 49 years ago…

Checking in on 1975 Topps Stars

So a couple of weeks ago, I looked at how “old” commons were performing relative to “old” star cards and ended up comparing 1975 Topps commons to 1974 Topps stars.

I vowed to close the game with that mismatch, and took the first step towards that end last week by diving in to the market for 1974 Topps commons. You can read that piece right here.

And this week, I’m back to finish the job by looking at how 1975 Topps stars have fared since just before the beginning of the pandemic.

As usual, I’m looking at rough selling prices as gleaned from the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool for the most common grade — PSA 8 in the case of 1975 Topps cards — for the ten most valuable cards (though you might quibble with the checklist a bit depending on your tastes and the market at any given instant).

Here is what I found…

1975 Topps George Brett (#228) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $275
2024 Value: $650
Profit/loss: $375
% change: 136

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1975 Topps Nolan Ryan (#500) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $200
2024 Value: $450
Profit/loss: $250
% change: 125

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1975 Topps Hank Aaron (#660) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $175
2024 Value: $350
Profit/loss: $175
% change: 100

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1975 Topps Robin Yount (#223) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $165
2024 Value: $300
Profit/loss: $135
% change: 82

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1975 Topps Highlights Nolan Ryan (#5) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $30
2024 Value: $100
Profit/loss: $70
% change: 233

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1975 Topps Highlights Hank Aaron (#1) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $120
2024 Value: $160
Profit/loss: $40
% change: 33

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1975 Topps Mike Schmidt (#70) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $40
2024 Value: $150
Profit/loss: $110
% change: 275

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1975 Topps Bob Gibson (#150) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $45
2024 Value: $150
Profit/loss: $105
% change: 233

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1975 Topps Jim Rice (#616) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $55
2024 Value: $125
Profit/loss: $70
% change: 127

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1975 Topps Reggie Jackson (#300) - PSA 8

2019 Value: $45
2024 Value: $150
Profit/loss: $105
% change: 233

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—

Overall, these cards increased an average of 124%. That means they’ll generally cost you more than double now what they would have cost you back in 2019.

That lags a bit behind the 164% increase we saw for 1974 Topps stars earlier this year.

And it brings stars and commons a bit closer together, from a 1975 Topps perspective: stars outpaced commons by a factor of about six since 2019, instead of the 8X we saw when comparing 1975 Topps commons to 1974 Topps stars.

Any way you cut it, though, the blue chips have far outdone the also-rans as collectors and investors have pumped the hobby with money these last four years.

Now for some other cards their buyers hope will remain blue chips in the coming years…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for December February 22-28, 2024

(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 …

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