Baseball Card Market Report for June 13-19, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on 1985 Topps

Jun 21, 2024

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Say “Hey!” for a Fun Week of Cards

Even in the realm of baseball cards, which is always more fun than a barrel of monkey bread, the list of the top sellers on eBay last week (see bottom of post) stands out as super enjoyable.

At least if you enjoy variety, a nice mix of vintage and new stuff, and some sets and names you probably haven’t thought about for a very long time…if ever.

Don’t believe me?

Well, when was the last time you saw a 1971 Topps Ken Boswell in this company?

Or a 1998 Donruss Barry Larkin?

Or even a 1977 Topps Steve Garvey?

Uh-huh, it’s been awhile. Yet they all hammered down for big bucks last week, along with the requisite Shohei Ohtani barrage and an uptick in Willie Mays cards. I expect that last bit to continue this week, as the Say Hey Kid passed away on June 18, casting a pall over the sport but also spurring on plenty of Mays tributes and interest in his cards.

So, it was a fun week at the top of the market, which reminds me of another fun time in hobby history and sort of spurs on this week’s question…

How Did 1985 Topps Survive the Pandemic?

This week on YouTube, we took a look at the most expensive 1985 Topps baseball cards to change hands on eBay recently. You can see that video right here if you want.

As we did last week with 1989 Donruss, today we’re going to look at how 1985 Topps baseball cards are selling today compared to how they were selling before the pandemic.

What follows, then, are comparisons of selling prices (per PSA Actual Prices Realized) for PSA 10 copies of the ten most valuable 1985 Topps cards, from late in 2019 and from this spring (2024). This is a slight departure from my normal take in these types of comparisons because the most common condition for 1985 Topps (via the PSA Population Report) is actually PSA 8.

So we’re bumping that up a couple of notches to visit the high-rent district.

Anyway, here’s what I found…

1985 Topps Mark McGwire (#401) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $850
2024 Value: $3300
Profit/loss: $2450
% change: 288

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1985 Topps Roger Clemens (#181) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $375
2024 Value: $1100
Profit/loss: $725
% change: 193

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1985 Topps Kirby Puckett (#536) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $275
2024 Value: $750
Profit/loss: $475
% change: 173

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1985 Topps Dwight Gooden (#620) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $150
2024 Value: $500
Profit/loss: $350
% change: 233

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1985 Topps Nolan Ryan (#760) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $125
2024 Value: $500
Profit/loss: $375
% change: 300

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1985 Topps Don Mattingly (#665) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $110
2024 Value: $550
Profit/loss: $440
% change: 400

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1985 Topps Eric Davis (#627) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $350
2024 Value: $1000
Profit/loss: $650
% change: 186

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1985 Topps Cal Ripken (#30) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $500
2024 Value: $500
Profit/loss: $0
% change: 0

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1985 Topps Rickey Henderson (#115) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $40
2024 Value: $225
Profit/loss: $185
% change: 463

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1985 Topps George Brett (#100) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $40
2024 Value: $240
Profit/loss: $200
% change: 500

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—

Pretty strong increases across the board, right? In fact, none of these cards went down, even with the recent softening of the market. Only Ripken started and ended in roughly the same spot.

Overall, this group showed a 208% increase, meaning the values roughly tripled. That’s a pretty nice boost over the 39% we saw with 1989 Donruss and 1990 Bowman.

Chalk it up to a) stretching into the more condition-scarce cards, which wasn’t possible for the other sets since PSA 10 is the most populous grade, and b) the fact that 1985 Topps is only borderline Junk Wax. They’re certainly tougher to come by than either of the sets we’ve talked about the last two weeks.

And speaking of cards that are tough to come by, unless you happen to own a mint…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for June 13-19, 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 …

Baseball Card Values Newsletter

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