Baseball Card Market Report for November 28-December 4, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on 1989 Bowman baseball cards

Dec 06, 2024

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The Ignitor and Captain Video

It’s easy to forget just how many superstars, even Hall of Famers, have graced the baseball diamond over the decades. When in-the-moment baseball and hobby news revolves around names like Ohtani, Judge, Skenes, Mantle, and the rest of the usual suspects, some really great names sort of get pushed to the side.

Every once in a while, though, especially during slow times in the game’s news cycle, the hobby steps up to remind us of the more subdued reaches of our glorious past.

A case in point is the list of the most expensive baseball cards sold on eBay last week (bottom of post), where you’ll find a couple 1980s and 1990s household names checking in. When was the last time you saw Paul Molitor and Tony Gwynn show up on a list like this at the same time?

Yeah, me too.

Speaking of cards you may not have thought about for a good long while…

Checking in 1989 Bowman Baseball Cards

Last week over on our YouTube channel, we took a look that the most expensive 1989 Bowman baseball cards sold on eBay recently:

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.

About a year ago in this space, we took a look at how the 1989 Bowman cards fared during the pandemic — you can read that rundown right here.

The upshot is that the set did OK but not great during the most recent boom, seeing some relatively modest price increases.

But how has the set done since then? The last year has seen a fairly flat older-card market in general, so this not-so-popular issue might give us some insights into broader trends.

Well, here is a rundown of how the most 1989 Bowman baseball cards have done over the last year in PSA 10 condition, based on actual selling prices (per the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool):

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

2023 Value: $275
2024 Value: $250
Profit/loss: -$25
% change: -9

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Bo Jackson (#126) - PSA 10

2023 Value: $75
2024 Value: $100
Profit/loss: $25
% change: 33

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman John Smoltz (#266) - PSA 10

2023 Value: $30
2024 Value: $26
Profit/loss: -$4
% change: -13

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Rickey Henderson (#181) - PSA 10

2023 Value: $40
2024 Value: $37
Profit/loss: -$3
% change: -8

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Nolan Ryan (#225) - PSA 10

2023 Value: $50
2024 Value: $48
Profit/loss: -$2
% change: -4

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

2023 Value: $35
2024 Value: $31
Profit/loss: -$4
% change: -11

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1989 Bowman Barry Bonds (#426) - PSA 10

2023 Value: $30
2024 Value: $38
Profit/loss: $8
% change: 27

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Ken Griffey (#259) - PSA 10

2023 Value: $25
2024 Value: $125
Profit/loss: $100
% change: 400

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Bowman Gary Sheffield (#142) - PSA 10

2023 Value: $30
2024 Value: $26
Profit/loss: -$4
% change: -13

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1989 Bowman Tom Glavine (#267) - PSA 10

2023 Value: $25
2024 Value: $23
Profit/loss: -$2
% change: -8

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—

Overall, as a group, these ten cards saw a 14% increase since the fall of 2023. But there’s a huge caveat to that: 7 of the cards are actually selling for less now than they were back then.

And of the three “growers,” Ken Griffey, Sr., is far and away the winner, accounting for nearly all of the ten-card uptick. To make matters even dicier, that Senior card was trading for about 80 bucks this summer, but the single sale this fall came in at a cool $125. Seems a likely candidate for regression.

So, what can we take from this little exercise?

One, the pandemic boom is likely completely done, and it might have been done for a good while now. No big news there.

Two, “old” cards aren’t necessarily compelling buys for collectors or destined to go up in value year after year just because they’re old.

Three, this is all cardboard we’re dealing with here, and there comes a point in the life of nearly every hunk of expensive cardboard when the dollar-brokers realize…hey, this is just cardboard.

Now for some cards that are currently running in economic circles well above their only-cardboard reality…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for November 28-December 4, 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
Most expensive hockey cards sold in the last 30 days

Now, on with the show …

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