Dusty Baker won his 2,000th game as a major league manager Tuesday night, which should clinch his spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baker’s rookie card is a short print–and a high number in the 1971 Topps set, known for its black borders and as such, top grade examples aren’t easy to locate. Prices have shot up in the last two years.
Once available for $250-$400 in NM/MT 8 grades, most of the card’s most recent sales have been well over $1,000. However, most lower grade examples haven’t seen much change, with ungraded examples showing some light to moderate wear usually there for the taking on eBay in the $30-$75 range.
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An autographed T206 Ty Cobb Green Portrait card goes up for sale this week in the PWCC Premier Auction. The low grade example carries Cobb’s fountain pen signature and is one of only a small number of signed Cobb cards from his career that have sold at auction.
The same card last sold for $228,000 at Heritage Auctions last August.
One of five signed Cobb cards originally acquired through the mail by collector George Sands decades ago, it was originally sold back in 1995.
“The on-card autograph market for vintage cards has seen a tremendous rise in value over the past few years,” says PWCC Marketplace Director of Business Development Jesse Craig. . “Further, the demand for every T206 Cobb remains incredibly high.”
The auction goes live May 5 and runs through May 19.
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Over 68% of the approximately 826,000 cards graded by PSA in April date from the last 22 years, according to GemRate’s latest report. Another 28.5% were from the 1980s and 90s.
Over 255,000 of the more than 826,000 cards graded by PSA were basketball. SGC graded more baseball than any other sport while Beckett graded more football.
SGC graded about 94,000 cards in April while Beckett examined over 79,000.
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There won’t be many jerseys from the Brooklyn Nets’ 2022 appearance in the NBA Playoffs available for sale, but their Game 1 shirts from the series with the Boston Celtics are on the block at NBA Auctions, including one donned by Kevin Durant.