Wilt Chamberlain was one of the most dominating centers in NBA history. “The Big Dipper” remains the only NBA player ever to score 100 points in a game, and he is still the league’s all-time leader in rebounds with 23,924. Chamberlain’s rookie card in the 1961-62 Fleer set is one of its key cards, but finding a well-centered example with little wear or print defects is an expensive proposition. Finding one in the wild? It just doesn’t happen.
And yet…
SGC announced on Aug. 21 that it has graded its first gem-mint 10 grade of Chamberlain’s rookie card. According to the Florida-based grading service’s population report, 607 cards have been submitted for grading. This one, submitted after a customer brought it to a shop in the small city of Crosby, Minnesota, is the first specimen to get a 10 grade from SGC.
According to DK’s Sports Cards owner Caleb Baker, the card had been stored in the cabinet of an area grocery store for more than 60 years. The owner of the card, who wishes to remain anonymous, was a family member of the grocery store’s owners.
What is even more interesting, Baker said, is that the owner of the card does not collect — but he certainly knows a valuable piece of cardboard when he sees it.
“He’s a hard-working, blue-collar guy,” said Baker, 29, who opened his shop in September 2021. “He’s not a collector at all.”
Company President Peter Steinberg called the Chamberlain rookie a “pretty incredible” find.
“I was on the road about two weeks ago, and 15 minutes after it arrived I had a bunch of missed calls from the staff,” he said. “The card is completely one-of-a-kind. It checks every box.”
For context, only six cards have received a 9 from SGC, with seven grading out at 8.5. PSA, meanwhile, has had 2,139 submissions of Chamberlain’s rookie card. Only three have been awarded a PSA 10 grade, with 32 getting a PSA 9 rating.
“Wilt Chamberlain rookies cards have not been an easy card to grade,” Steinberg said. “There is just a disproportionate amount of defects. There is always off-centering, or printing defects. And there was always the chance of chewing gum stains on the card.”
This card also “escaped the hands of young collectors in the 1960s who used to rubber-band their cards,” he added. “It is nothing short of a miracle.”
An SGC 9 sold for $159,484 in February of 2022. A PSA 9 sold earlier this year for $198,000. A PSA 10 hasn’t sold in 16 years.
The 1961-62 Fleer Basketball Set
The 1961-62 Fleer set contained 66 cards, with 44 different players featured. Twenty-two of the players — including Chamberlain — had a second, “In Action” card, and there were no short prints.
In addition to the Chamberlain card, other key rookies in the set were Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. Chamberlain would be a four-time MVP in the NBA, leading his squads to six NBA Finals and winning a pair of titles. His 31,419 career points rank seventh in NBA history.
A Lifelong Connection and the Find of a Lifetime
Baker became part of the Chamberlain rookie card saga thanks to a relationship he had with a sports card shop owner in Brainerd, 15 miles southwest of Crosby.
Baker, a collector for “as long as I can remember,” would go to Sports Card Central, owned by the late Laura Bisted and her husband, Todd. Baker’s grandmother bought him his first autographed card, of Houston Rockets guard Steve Francis, at the shop.
Bisted, in an indirect way, was responsible for Baker finding Wilt the Stilt’s rookie card. Baker calls it “divine intervention.”
“I built a really good relationship with her,” he said. “She sold cards but never really bought any.
“Years later I started buying, selling and trading for a living, and I told her I was buying and Laura would give out my phone number and card” to prospective sellers.
One was the owner of the Chamberlain card.
“About two years ago she gave him my information,” Baker said.
Bisted died at the age of 60 on June 8, 2023. She had run her card shop for 26 years.
Recently, the Chamberlain card owner came into Baker’s shop to have four cards graded, Baker said.
“Then he came back with more, I guess he was checking me out to see how I ran my business,” he said. “And then (about three weeks ago) he showed me a potato-looking photo on his flip phone.”
“It was the Chamberlain rookie.”
The man had Baker’s number for nearly three years before contacting him. And when Baker saw the card in person, he was stunned.
“The color was unbelievable,” he said. “It looks like you opened a pack at your local Target.”
That’s an interesting observation, since Baker worked briefly for Target as a logistics team member in late 2015 and early 2016.
A Long Forgotten Untouched Pack?
Steinberg did not want to speculate about the card’s origins, but said his staff has a theory that it might have been part of a fresh pack of cards, since several other cards the man submitted for grading were equally pristine.
“They were convinced it (Chamberlain card) was pulled out of the same pack,” he said. “You could tell they were brothers.
“All of the cards surrounding the Chamberlain all showed tremendous color, perfect white borders. The deciding factor was the centering.”
Baker was unsure if the cards the man brought him were from the same pack, but his customer also submitted card No. 47 — Wilt Chamberlain in Action — and that card received a 9 grade from SGC.
“I thought it had a chance to be a 10,” Baker said.
The Next Chapter
Now that the rookie card has been graded and certified a 10, Baker said he and his customer are pondering whether to send it to auction. He was coy about whether he bought the card or the man still owned it — or whether they entered into a mutual deal to sell it — but said that if the card goes to auction, “We’ll both walk away happy.”
“It’s a very cool situation, it’s going to do some incredible things for a lot of people,” he said.
A few auction houses have already contacted Baker about the card.
He believes the card might be “the best Wilt Chamberlain” in history.
“The PSA cards were done years ago, and I think this one might be the greatest card in existence,” Baker said. “It would be a pretty big third anniversary” for the shop if the card is auctioned.
It is a big deal in Crosby, a town of 2,366 people, according to the 2020 census. Baker graduated from Crosby-Ironton High School in 2013 — “An Ironton Ranger, yeah,” he said with pride.
Before owning his own store, Baker was a collector in his own right, enjoying cards from “the big three” but especially enjoying basketball.
“That was my first love,” he said.
His collection includes cards of Twins Hall of Famer Joe Mauer, a 1/1 card of longtime Vikings safety Harrison Smith, and of course, the card of “The Franchise” — Steve Francis.
“It’s probably worth about $20, but it still means something to me,” Baker said.
But finding a gem-mint card of Chamberlain is definitely a personal and professional highlight. Steinberg is still shaking his head.
“In all my years in the hobby, I’ve yet to see anything like this,” he said.
Baker is equally thrilled.
“These are like one-in-a-million stories,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.
“It’s a dream.”
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