Baseball Card Market Report for November 2-8, 2023 - Top eBay Sales post

PLUS -- Do oversize cards hold their value?

Nov 10, 2023

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A List 75 Years in the Making

The list of the most expensive baseball cards sold on eBay last week (bottom of post) shares a lot in common with what we’ve come to expect from these “standings.”

Mantle, Trout, Ohtani, Griffey — they’re all there. Jackie Robinson, too.

In fact, Robinson leads off, with a beautiful PSA 5 copy of his 1948 Leaf rookie card. Another, lower-grade, copy appears further down.

And Jackie leads the way in another respect, too, as a total of six 1948 Leaf cards made the cut, at least a couple from a set break.

It’s a throwback treat we don’t seen often.

Speaking of throwbacks, let’s get down to…

Checking in on 1989 Bowman Prices

This week on YouTube, we did a quick tour of 1989 Bowman prices:

This set has a pretty interesting history…

The hobby at large was pretty excited about the return of the Bowman brand when Topps announced what it had planned.

And the cards were instantly hailed for their big, superb photography and simple design — those fit right in with a couple of upstart Upper Deck’s calling cards.

But the downsides to 1989 Bowman included the same old mushy brown Topps cardstock, strange card backs, and — worst of all — the card size.

Problem is, 1989 Bowman cards are too big to fit in standard sleeves and sheets, so you had to either leave them naked or buy special holders. And they stuck out when you stacked them with other “normal” cards, which led to a lot of them getting damaged.

Oh, and they were Junk Wax, so there were (are) plenty of them available.

So, would all of those dings keep 1989 Bowman from riding the pandemic hobby wave?

Well, here is a rundown of how the most valuable cards in the set have done over the last four years in PSA 10 condition, based on actual selling prices (per the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool):

1989 Bowman Ken Griffey, Jr. (#220) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $125
2023 Value: $275
Profit/loss: $150
% change: 120

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Bo Jackson (#126) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $30
2023 Value: $75
Profit/loss: $45
% change: 150

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman John Smoltz (#266) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $20
2023 Value: $30
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Rickey Henderson (#181) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $25
2023 Value: $40
Profit/loss: $15
% change: 60

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Nolan Ryan (#225) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $16
2023 Value: $50
Profit/loss: $34
% change: 213

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Cal Ripken, Jr. (#9) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $15
2023 Value: $35
Profit/loss: $20
% change: 133

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Barry Bonds (#426) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $15
2023 Value: $30
Profit/loss: $15
% change: 100

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Ken Griffey (#259) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $12
2023 Value: $25
Profit/loss: $13
% change: 108

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Gary Sheffield (#142) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $15
2023 Value: $30
Profit/loss: $15
% change: 100

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Tom Glavine (#267) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $15
2023 Value: $25
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 67

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

—

Compared to some of the card values we read headlines about all the time these days, those are some pretty modest prices.

But all in all, the average selling price among those ten 1989 Bowman cards has increased by about $30, or more than double, since the beginning of the pandemic.

Not too bad for an oddball bunch that can’t fit in, huh?

Now, speaking of those headline grabbers…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for November 2-8, 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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