Baseball Card Market Report for July 20-26, 2023 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- What happens to HOF cards between election and enshrinement?

Jul 28, 2023

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Trade You My Biancalana for Your Ohtani?

Who’s the hottest name in baseball right now?

Well, if you’re a trade-deadline-rumor follower like me, there’s no doubt that Shohei Ohtani is the most buzzed-about dude in the sport as August 1 approaches.

Will the Angels or won’t they? And if they ~~will~~, is it possible Ohtani ends up someplace exotic?

Like Baltimore?

Or Arlington?

Or maybe even Elkhart?

The possibilities seem endless, and so does the collective drool.

And, judging by the list of the top-selling baseball cards on eBay last week (bottom of post), the royal We are drooling all over the cardboard dedicated to our version of Babe Ruth, too.

Yeah, Vlad shows up down below, probably a token nod to his Derby win, and several other typical names are there, too.

But, for now, it’s a Shohei world.

And someday, he’ll probably be part of conversations like this one…

HOF Card Values Between Election and Plaque?

Ever wonder what happens to a player’s baseball card from the time he is elected to the Hall of Fame until he’s enshrined in the Hall of Fame?

Well, I have, and we just so happen to have a couple gents on hand this year who can help us start to answer that question.

Here’s how…

For each of Fred McGriff’s and Scott Rolen’s main rookie cards, I found selling prices (based on PSA’s Auction Prices Realized tool) for the three top grades at two points in time: the Fall of 2022 (before election) and July of 2023 (right before enshrinement).

Here’s what I discovered…

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

1986 Donruss Fred McGriff (#28) - PSA 10

PSA 10:

Fall 2022 Value: $350
Summer 2023 Value: $415
Profit/loss: $65
% change: 19

PSA 9:

Fall 2022 Value: $40
Summer 2023 Value: $55
Profit/loss: $15
% change: 38

PSA 8:

Fall 2022 Value: $15
Summer 2023 Value: $30
Profit/loss: $15
% change: 100

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1995 Bowman's Best Scott Rolen (#87)

PSA 10:

Fall 2022 Value: $400
Summer 2023 Value: $500
Profit/loss: $100
% change: 25

PSA 9:

Fall 2022 Value: $51
Summer 2023 Value: $51
Profit/loss: $0
% change: 0

PSA 8:

Fall 2022 Value: $30
Summer 2023 Value: $40
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 33

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

—

If you had bought one of each of these cards in all three grades, or six cards in all, last fall, you would have paid around $900.

And if you had sold all of them this month, you might have grossed about $1100 at the top end. That’s a profit of around $200, or about 22%.

That’s a pretty darn nice return for a nine months’ or so of “work.”

But, of course, there are a few caveats:

These are tiny sample sizes of just a few sales (at most) for each card.
There haven’t been many/any recorded sales of these Rolen cards in these conditions since April or so. That means we don’t really know what they would sell for right now.
None of this takes into account listing fees, commissions, etc., you might incur depending on how you sold your cards.

There are surely other qualifiers, too.

Even so, it’s pretty clear that Hall of Fame election comes with a pretty decent card-value boost in the short term (duh).

As we saw last week, though, that short term really can be pretty darn short.

Now for some cards whose new owners are undoubtedly hoping for a bit of staying power…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for July 20-26, 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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