Baseball Card Market Report for July 27-August 2, 2023 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Aaron Judge Card Values One Year Later

Aug 04, 2023

Note: When you click on links to various merchants in this newsletter and make a purchase, this can result in this newsletter earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Trade or Keep, Shohei Leads the Way

So the Angels decided to keep Shohei Ohtani at the trade deadline, a decision they telegraphed even before last week’s newsletter went out.

But that didn’t keep their do-everything star from dominating the top end of the eBay baseball card market again last week. You can see evidence of that in our list of the top sellers from last week at the bottom of this post.

And it’s no wonder why.

In addition to posting a 9-5 record on the mound so far, Ohtani also leads the majors with 39 home runs.

Those came across 106 games, while the Angels played 108 in that span. Extrapolating that 108-game pace to a full season would put the slugger right on the verge of 60 dingers … and within striking distance of the American League record of 62.

Say, that record sounds sorta familiar.

Aaron Judge Card Values One Year Later

It was just about a year ago that baseball and the hobby latched hard onto the idea that Aaron Judge might really be headed for home run history.

Entering July with 29 dingers, Judge was a bit behind the pace that would get him into Roger Maris territory by the end of the season. And we’ve all seen big first halves evaporate in the heat of summer.

But the Yankees’ gargantuan slugger turned up his own heat last July, cranking another 13 long balls in 25 games. That left Judge “only” 20 shy of setting the new American League record.

As we know now, he get there, exactly.

This year hasn’t been all that great for Judge, due mostly to injury. But even if he had been healthy all season, we could have hardly expected an encore.

There’s no denying Judge’s record, though, and the hobby has had a year to adjust in the aftermath of his peak buzz cycle.

So … just how have Judge’s cards fare over the past 12 months?

To find out, I looked at the actual selling prices for 5 of Judge’s most popular early cards at the end of last July (2022) and compared them to the prices at the end of last month (2023). My source was PSA’s Auction Prices Realized tool.

Here is what I found …

(Note: The following section contains affiliate links to eBay listings for the card being discussed.)

2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Aaron Judge (#BDPP19) - PSA 10

July 2022 Value: $678
July 2023 Value: $513
Profit/loss: $-165
% change: -24

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

2014 Bowman Draft Picks Top Prospects Aaron Judge (#TP39) - PSA 10

July 2022 Value: $30
July 2023 Value: $39
Profit/loss: $9
% change: 30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

2015 Bowman Draft Aaron Judge (#150) - PSA 10

July 2022 Value: $75
July 2023 Value: $49
Profit/loss: $-26
% change: -35

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

2016 Bowman's Best Top Prospects Aaron Judge (#TP-28) - PSA 10

July 2022 Value: $90
July 2023 Value: $87
Profit/loss: $-3
% change: -3

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

2017 Bowman Aaron Judge (#32) - PSA 10

July 2022 Value: $79
July 2023 Value: $82
Profit/loss: $3
% change: 4

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

—

Last July, it would have cost you about $950 to buy all five of these cards in PSA 10 condition.

This July, that tally was down to about $770. That’s a difference of $180 to the bad, or a loss of around 19%.

All things considered — including that Judge has just 20 home runs on the season as I write this — that’s probably not all that bad

The big man has more big moments in front of him, no doubt, and his cards may yet find another peak.

But all this is further evidence that you gotta know when to buy ‘em, know when to hold ‘em, and know when to sell ‘em. The three are seldom the same.

I’ll bet you can find example of all three next up in our list of the …

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for July 27-August 2, 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

Baseball Card Values Newsletter

Discussion about this post