Baseball Card Market Report for October 17-23, 2024 - Top eBay Sales

PLUS -- Checking in on Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball cards

Oct 25, 2024

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You Were Expecting the Mud Hens, Maybe?

The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers are set to square off in the World Series for a record twelfth time (though, of course, many of those Dodgers teams were of the Brooklyn variety).

So is it really any surprise that the list of the most expensive baseball cards sold on eBay last week (bottom of post) is dominated by Yanks and Dodgers? Nah.

Shohei Ohtani is there, as always, as is his regular co-host, Aaron Judge.

But we also get plenty of nods to the past with cards of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Reggie Jackson, and others.

There are also a few “surprises” down there if you look hard enough.

Now, for a guy who never registered as much of a hobby surprise, considering he seemed Cooperstown-bound from the get-go…

Checking in on Cal Ripken, Jr., 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 has ruled the hobby a few different times over the last 40 years or so: CalRipken, Jr.

We recently ran down the top Ripken cards sold on eBay in September of 2024 over on our YouTube channel:

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

So…

Below are the first ten regular-issue and Traded Ripken cards, from his iconic 1982 Topps rookie cards through his 1984 issues.

For each card, I found selling prices for copies in PSA 9 condition (via the PSA Auction Prices Realized tools) from both late 2019 and from this summer/fall (2024).

Here is what I found:

1982 Topps Cal Ripken (#21) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $55
2024 Value: $100
Profit/loss: $45
% change: 82

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1982 Topps Traded Cal Ripken (#98T) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $200
2024 Value: $400
Profit/loss: $200
% change: 100

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1982 Donruss Cal Ripken (#405) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $30
2024 Value: $80
Profit/loss: $50
% change: 167

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1982 Fleer Cal Ripken (#176) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $35
2024 Value: $80
Profit/loss: $45
% change: 129

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1983 Topps Cal Ripken (#163) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $10
2024 Value: $25
Profit/loss: $15
% change: 150

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1983 Donruss Cal Ripken (#279) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $10
2024 Value: $20
Profit/loss: $0
% change: 100

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1983 Fleer Cal Ripken (#70) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $10
2024 Value: $15
Profit/loss: $5
% change: 50

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1984 Topps Cal Ripken (#490) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $7
2024 Value: $15
Profit/loss: $8
% change: 114.

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1984 Donruss Cal Ripken (#106) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $10
2024 Value: $15
Profit/loss: $5
% change: 50

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1984 Fleer Cal Ripken (#17) - PSA 9

2019 Value: $6
2024 Value: $13
Profit/loss: $7
% change: 117

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—

Overall these cards showed a 105% increase in selling price over the last five years, which means they’re hammering down for around twice as much now as they were in late 2019.

That actually slots Ripken below most of the other players we’ve looked at recently in terms ov five-year percentage gains. For example, Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Dave Winfield, Pete Rose, and Ken Griffey, Jr., all saw bigger jumps.

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

Sort of an out-of-sight, out-of-mind situation, but Ripken is a top-tier blue-chipper whose cards will pretty much always keep pace with — or outpace — the market as a whole.

Now, here are some cards of other blue-chippers, along with some blue-chip hopefuls…

Top Baseball Card Sales on eBay for October 17-23, 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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