It’s Jackson’s world and we’re just living in it.
If that’s your first name and you’re a young big league player, your name is getting worn out from collectors looking for your picture on cardboard.
The online giant offered us some info on searches as the 2024 regular season heads into the final two weeks and it’s been dominated by rookies Jackson Merrill, Jackson Chourio and Jackson Holliday, all of whom got their first full taste of big league play.
The top five most searched rookies on eBay since January 1 are—in order– Holliday, Paul Skenes, Junior Caminero, Chourio and Merrill. The latter is favored to win the National League Rookie of the Year, with Chourio starting to nip at his heels. Those searches include more than just cards.
Skenes dominated the mid-year storyline when he began his career with a string of high strikeout performances for the Pirates. In July, when he was selected to start the All-Star Game for the National League, global searches for “Paul Skenes” increased nearly 620% compared to April, the month before his MLB debut.
Six Skenes cards have sold for more than $10,000 on eBay this year, most of them autographed cards from 2023 Bowman Chrome Draft.
The highest priced Holliday card sold on eBay this year was a 2022 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor numbered to 25 and graded PSA 10 that sold for $17,099 in August. The largest Merrill sale to date this year was for a 2022 Bowman Chrome Red Refractor Autograph PSA 10 that netted over $13,000.
In March, before Merrill turned 21 years old and was earning his way into a starting job with the San Diego Padres, searches for him grew over 200% compared to the month before.
In August, when the Washington Nationals called Dylan Crews to the major league roster, collectors snapped up his items to a tune nearly 590% higher than they had during the first month of the major and minor league season.
Collectors haven’t forgotten the big name veterans either. In August, after Aaron Judge won his third American League Player of the Month Award of the season, eBay says fans and collectors searched his name nearly 1,400 times per hour. Twenty Judge cards have sold for $10,000 or more on eBay so far in 2024.
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