Baseball Card Market Report for November 14-20, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on Randy Johnson baseball cards

Nov 22, 2024

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Villainous Sales

Take a look at the list of the most expensive baseball cards sold on eBay last week (bottom of post), and make sure not to blink…that one-two leadoff punch is not one you see very often. And one you probably won’t see again for a good while.

Barry Bonds and Pete Rose leading all comers? Maybe it’s a leftover from Rose’s recent passing or the turmoil surrounding the recent U.S. election cycle.

Or, more likely, it’s a reminder that pretty much anything can happen in baseball — and with baseball cards — at any given moment. Heck, we even get a rare George Bretty sighting down below.

How about that?

And, speaking of things that you better not blink on, it’s been a while since we saw a Big Unit fastball. But at least we can go…

Checking in on Randy Johnson Baseball Cards

Over the last several months in this space, we’ve walked through the baseball cards for some of baseball’s big names with an eye toward pre- and post-pandemic values.

The gist of this series is to get an idea of what types of cards weathered the COVID boom and mini-bust well, and which don’t look so hot here on the other side.

Next up on our roster is a guy who got a slow start in the major leagues and in the hobby but ended up becoming the most dominant lefthander in modern baseball history: Randy Johnson.

Earlier this month, we ran down the top Johnson cards sold recently on eBay over on our YouTube channel:

And that exercise reminded me that we should probably give the Big Unit the before-and-after treatment here.

So…

Below are the first ten regular-issue and Traded Johnson cards, including his 1989 issues plus his 1990 Leaf card. Note that I’ve stuck to the basics here, which means excluding parallel versions like Tiffany or glossy cards. For the Fleer rookie, I went with the most common version (per the PSA Population Report), which has the Marlboro sign over Johnson’s left shoulder completely blacked out.

For each card, I found selling prices for copies in PSA 10 condition (via the PSA Auction Prices Realized tools) from both late 2019 and from this summer/fall (2024).

Here is what I found:

1989 Donruss Randy Johnson (#42) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $35
2024 Value: $45
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 29

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Fleer (ad blacked out) Randy Johnson (#381) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $15
2024 Value: $25
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 67

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Fleer Update Randy Johnson (#U-59) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $20
2024 Value: $30
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Fleer Update Randy Johnson (#U-59) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $20
2024 Value: $25
Profit/loss: $5
% change: 25

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Score Randy Johnson (#645) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $20
2024 Value: $30
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Score Traded Randy Johnson (#77T) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $15
2024 Value: $20
Profit/loss: $5
% change: 33

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Topps Randy Johnson (#647) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $30
2024 Value: $75
Profit/loss: $45
% change: 150

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Topps Traded Randy Johnson (#57T) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $15
2024 Value: $25
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 67

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1989 Upper Deck Randy Johnson (#25) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $50
2024 Value: $85
Profit/loss: $35
% change: 70

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1990 Leaf Randy Johnson (#483) - PSA 10

2019 Value: $20
2024 Value: $30
Profit/loss: $10
% change: 50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)
—

Overall these cards showed a 63% increase in selling price over the last five years, which means they’re hammering down for around one-and-a-half times as much now as they were in late 2019.

That slots Johnson below pretty much every player we’ve looked at so far, including Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Dave Winfield, Pete Rose, and Ken Griffey, Jr.

Part of the deal there is undoubtedly that Johnson has already been in the Hall of Fame for nearly a decade and never shows up with any sort of controversy attached to his name.

Add in the fact that his early cards hail from the heart of the Junk Wax Era, and you have a formula for more modest growth than some of his contemporaries, or near-contemporaries.

Now, here are some cards whose new owners no doubt hope show stronger price growth over the next five years…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for November 14-20, 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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