The major authentication firms graded over 830,000 sports cards in October. That number is down both month-over-month and year-over-year, according to GemRate, which tracks grading data. However, add in TCG and non-sports and the number of cards graded last month set a record at 2.7 million.
PSA graded about 703,000 sports cards, with CGC second at 71,000 and SGC third with about 47,000.
Collectors and dealers submitted a lot of 2024 football cards to PSA, with Panini Select, Optic and Prizm accounting for nearly 47,000 submissions.
Here’s a look at the players that PSA’s graders saw most often last month:
The most graded card at PSA was Cooper Flagg’s Draft Night Topps NOW card with around 2,600 encapsulated. The 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. was second on the list at 1,100.
All but one of SGC’s top ten graded sets were of the vintage variety, with 1961, 1958 and 1956 Topps leading the way. However, the player that SGC graders saw most often was Michael Jordan, with about 1,300 of his cards entering SGC holders. There were also 900 Mickey Mantle and about 700 Nolan Ryan cards slabbed last month by SGC.
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In the wake of the World Series, the list of most watched baseball card auctions on eBay is dominated by one pitcher and a teammate who can pitch and hit.
As of Monday afternoon, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto occupied 20 of the top 25 cards on the list.
Check out the top 100 here.
A 2018 Topps Chrome Ohtani rookie autographs (Gold #/50) sold for a record $84,000 via Fanatics Collect’s weekly auction Sunday night. A little over a year ago, one sold for $22,950.
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With the season now in the rearview mirror, here are the top five MLB players whose cards were searched for most often on eBay during the season:
Shohei Ohtani- Aaron Judge
- Paul Skenes
- Elly De La Cruz
- Pete Crow-Armstrong
He didn’t make the top five, but he got hot as the homers piled up. Searches for Cal Raleigh increased over 1,000% between March and September.
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Fanatics has pushed out its line of Dodgers World Series championship memorabilia. A photo of Will Smith, with an inscription noting his game-winning homer is $249.99 but there are multi-autographed items and dozens of other items created in the wake of the team’s latest title via this page.
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He was once one of the Hobby’s most avid collectors of high-end baseball memorabilia (and a pretty fair player himself). Charlie Sheen once owned a T206 Wagner among many other interesting items.
His life has had its share of ups and downs, all of which are chronicled in his new book, which is already on the New York Times bestseller list (see it here).
He recently sat down with Graham Benzinger, where they discussed some of the memorabilia he once owned and whether he wishes he’d kept anything.
