Do you collect sports cards?

[DiggityDaggityDo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1983172468937478574

Walmart put a limit of 5 per person after this video went viral.

 

[Wagerallsports]

‘Like hitting a lotto ticket.’ Why sports memorabilia collectors pursue chase cards​

Anthony Solorzano

• For collectors, the thrill of opening a pack and finding a valuable card is unmatched — sometimes pulling items worth thousands for just a few dollars.
• At Southern California trading venues, savvy dealers and entrepreneurs have turned card flipping into aggressive business, with market values shifting rapidly based on player performance.
• The sports card industry has surged to a $14.9-billion business in 2024 and is projected to reach $52.1 billion within the next decade.

Trading sports cards is a game of negotiation for Greg Petikyan. Within seconds, he talked to multiple vendors at Frank and Son Collectible Show last month offering the same card: a 2025 Panini Donruss Saquon Barkley Downtown.

The first deal consisted of a 3-for-1 exchange, with an additional couple of hundred dollars to sweeten the deal or a straight purchase for $460. As the vendor looked through his phone for the value of the cards he asked for, Petikyan told him he’ll circle back.

Instead, the entrepreneur offered it to Eric Mitchel, another booth owner, across the aisle and sold it. A rectangular cardboard collectible with the Super Bowl-winning running back in front of the Philadelphia skyline sold for $300.

What about the other deal?

“Too late,” Petikyan said. “I’ll still buy those cards I asked for.”

Nothing personal, just business.

Trading and collecting cards, an industry valued at $14.9 billion in 2024, is estimated to reach $52.1 billion within the next decade, according to Market Decipher report. The sports memorabilia business, as a whole, is estimated to reach a value of $271.2 billion by 2034.

E-commerce platforms like Fanatics Live and Whatnot have turned business transactions involving the cards of sports legends into entertainment and helped grow the market. Heritage Auctions sold the most expensive card in August. The collectible known as the “holy grail” by basketball collectors was a 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant card.

The one-of-one sold for $12.932 million, a sum that topped a Mickey Mantle card that went for $12.6 million in August 2022. The Jordan-Bryant card is the second-most expensive sports collectible of all time, trailing Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series Jersey, which he wore when he called his shot, that cost $24.12 million.

Last Friday, Heritage Auctions set a sales record for the year by crossing the $2 billion mark. The cards sold that day included a 2003 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Jordan-Bryant card for $3,172,000 — this one was not autographed.

The trading card business has grown so much, the ecosystem has created specialized markets within it. Collectors can chase a specific team; stick to vintage cards; complete a set of prints with mistakes; chase specific relics of their favorite team; or even just buy cards to resell them for the sole purpose of buying more to flip.

“I know for a fact, a lot of men like to show off their collection,” Adam Campbell, sports cards specialist with Heritage Auction, said. “People love to have good, cool collections,” he added.

The type of chase can change the direction of a business transaction, said George Peña, 53, another booth owner at Frank and Son, an old Sam’s Club that now houses more than 200 vendors selling and showcasing collectible merchandise three days a week.

Kids go into his booth and negotiate with him. Most of the time he doesn’t necessarily need a card from them but engages with them to give them the experience.

“Family members get all excited for them,” Peña said.

But when dealing with people like Petikyan, the stakes change.

“Negotiations are a little different with those kinds of people because they want to make money and we want to make money,” he said as he quipped with Petikyan.

Some collectors have turned into investors because the value of cards is so volatile. It changes in real time — it’s fast, unpredictable and relentless. The moment Dodgers designated hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs and struck out 10 batters in Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS, the value of his cards went up. But it cuts both ways — the moment Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase was indicted on federal charges for wire fraud conspiracy and bribery, the value of his cards dipped.

“The value of cards is not based on anything else, whatsoever, except for hype and buzz” Campbell said. “[It’s] entirely arbitrary.”

Collecting trading cards has been a part of the culture since Goodwin Tobacco Company released the first set of individual players’ baseball cards in 1886. The N167 Old Judge sets were inserted into tiny cigarette boxes to increase sales and to make sure the cards were not damaged in transit.

Since the tobacco industry started the trade, sports cards have endured changes through generations, each defined by specific characteristics.

The vintage era, before the 1980s, ushered in simpler designs, lower print runs and sets featuring the legends of all the sports. Then came the junk wax period, marked by mass overproduction that devalued the product. The current ultra modern era evolved the market into investments, scarcity, and digitized the business with websites like Arena Club, which repackages pre-graded cards as slab packs.

No matter the changes, there remains a common thread within collectors throughout the years: opening packages and feeling a bump of euphoria when a chase card, a sought-after item, appears.

“It’s the best feeling ever, imagine getting a $1,000 card for like 20, 30 bucks?” Petikyan said. “It’s like hitting a lotto ticket, but better, because it could go up in value depending on the player.”

Petikyan, 27 from Montebello, runs a page called Strictly Pullz on the shopping app Whatnot where he opens boxes and auctions the items within them. Any card pulled from a team that’s purchased by the individual will be shipped to them. On occasion, he inserts a card with higher value to hype a specific set.

To some, the business is intertwined with collecting.

“I’ll use some of the money that I am able to make on the business side, to add to my personal collection,” Mitchel said. “Finding items for the personal collection, I wouldn’t find if I wasn’t out for the business part of it.”

Regardless of motivation, pulling a card worth more than the price paid for will remain priceless.

“I just bought a pack and I pulled a card worth $1,000,” Campbell said, speaking as a collector. “It can change your whole day, and maybe your whole week, maybe a whole month or even a whole year every time you open a pack.”

But, collecting cards is more than just the value of each, Campbell said.

“Do this because you like sports, do this because you love collecting.”

 

[quantumleap]

I would love to have Shohei there to sign my PSA10 rookie card I have. That would make it worth thousands of dollars more.

My Shohei (unsigned) rookie cards are now worth 50% more than when I posted this in July of last year.

 

[flyingillini]

Just booked my plane tickets. I can't wait, headed to the Dallas card show May 14-17th!

 

[Wagerallsports]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023369918109122928

 

[quantumleap]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2023369918109122928

I buy cards at Goldin's site. They charge a 15% commission. I see that for some of the higher priced items they take that down to about 5% so if Goldin's company gets 5% then he is getting about $825,000 for this card alone.

 

[quantumleap]

I just checked my Ohtani 2018 rookie cards I bought last February (non signed). They are up 50% in 1 year.

There are some Ohtani 2018 rookie cards with autograph going for well over $100k.

 

[flyingillini]

I just checked my Ohtani 2018 rookie cards I bought last February (non signed). They are up 50% in 1 year.

There are some Ohtani 2018 rookie cards with autograph going for well over $100k.

I pay 23% buyers premium at REA. REA is the best in the business when it comes to pre war. Brian is a great guy while Ken is a scumbag. REA has the most amazing selection in all their auctions and market place.

 

[quantumleap]

I pay 23% buyers premium at REA. REA is the best in the business when it comes to pre war. Brian is a great guy while Ken is a scumbag. REA has the most amazing selection in all their auctions and market place.

View attachment 85945

Goldin company charges a 22% buyer's premium. The 15% is for sellers, unless you have a high price item, then it can go down to 5%

I agree, Ken is a scumbag. I remember one time he was selling a Tiger Woods rookie card. The problem is that there were multiple rookie cards for Tiger Woods. The one he was selling is the one I have which is the 1997-99 Grand Slam Ventures which was selling for much less than his other rookie cards such as the Grand Slam Ventures 1998.

 

[flyingillini]

Goldin company charges a 22% buyer's premium. The 15% is for sellers, unless you have a high price item, then it can go down to 5%

I agree, Ken is a scumbag. I remember one time he was selling a Tiger Woods rookie card. The problem is that there were multiple rookie cards for Tiger Woods. The one he was selling is the one I have which is the 1997-99 Grand Slam Ventures which was selling for much less than his other rookie cards such as the Grand Slam Ventures 1998.

Brian from REA is the best in the business.

 

[DiggityDaggityDo]

Brian from REA is the best in the business.

Ken is a scumbag

 

[flyingillini]

Ken is a scumbag

Always has been and always will be. But JP Cohen is the worst of them all.

 

[Wagerallsports]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2025405895455252793

 

[Wagerallsports]

SHOHEI OHTANI BASEBALL CARD PULLED BY COLLECTOR IN CLAREMONT COULD BE WORTH MORE THAN $1 MILLION​

ABC
2/25/26

At a "Rip Night" event in Claremont on Saturday, a collector pulled an extremely rare baseball card autographed by Dodgers superstar Shohei Otahni that experts say could be worth more than $1 million.

Video from the Legends' Attic sports memorabilia shop shows the moment the collectible was found in a new pack of Topps 75th cards.

"I'm going to cherish it. It's the biggest part of my collection now, so it's going to be with me," the owner, who gave his name only as Steve, said of the one-of-one, die-cut card.

"I look at it, I'm still in shock -- from Saturday evening to now," Steve told ABC7 on Monday. "I think I've only gotten about eight hours of sleep since then."

He said he's planning on keeping the card, for now. But if he does decide to sell it, it could possibly become the most expensive Ohtani card ever produced.

In December, an Ohtani autographed, one-of-one numbered card sold for $3 million, including buyer's premium, via Fanatics Collect, ESPN reported. The sale nearly tripled the record paid for a card featuring the Dodgers superstar.

The 2025 Topps Chrome MVP Award Gold MLB Logoman Ohtani card -- a partnership between MLB and Nike wherein the jerseys of award winners from the previous season wear gold MLB logos on their jerseys the following season to subsequently be inserted into cards -- is the highest-selling card in Fanatics Collect's history and the most paid for a modern baseball card since the $3.96 million Mike Trout autographed rookie Superfractor sale in 2020.

The previous record for an Ohtani card was the autographed, one-of-one numbered Ohtani card that featured the MLB logo from the pants he wore while hitting his 49th, 50th and 51st home runs and stealing his 50th and 51st bases of the 2024 season, which sold for $1.067 million at Heritage Auctions, including buyer's premium, in March.

"Ohtani is just this international Babe Ruthian figure, which is really hard to top," Fanatics vice president of marketplace Kevin Lenane said. "We try to listen to the collecting community and we heard this loud and clear: In high-end cards, if you're going to have patches in these cards that are worth a lot of money, let's have you be able to say, hey, this came from this game."

 

[flyingillini]

I have been looking for this card for 15 years and upgraded from my SGC 60 to this, won this last week in the latest REA. This is a true work of art. Very happy to of won this bad boy!

 

[quantumleap]

I have been looking for this card for 15 years and upgraded from my SGC 60 to this, won this last week in the latest REA. This is a true work of art. Very happy to of won this bad boy!
View attachment 86729

Wow! Graded a 7 for that old of a card.

 

[flyingillini]

Wow! Graded a 7 for that old of a card.

It is not just the grade but who it is, this is a very tough card to find and I did pay a little bit overprice for it but I really wanted to upgrade it.

 

[DiggityDaggityDo]

It is not just the grade but who it is, this is a very tough card to find and I did pay a little bit overprice for it but I really wanted to upgrade it.

How much did you pay, Illini? $1800 or so?

 

[flyingillini]

How much did you pay, Illini? $1800 or so?

The invoices will be sent out this week. Close to 15k with the buyers premium. I’m in the process of liquidating some of my higher end stuff. They are currently in the marketplace and in Huggins and Scott. I’m liquidating half of my uncut w551 strips with Ruth and Cobb. Hate to see them go but making some good $ on them.

 

[Tanko]

Guy uses taco seasoning packets to steal $40k worth of cards from Target.

Man accused of using taco seasoning packets to steal $40K from Target

A Florida man was arrested after officials said that he used taco seasoning packets to steal thousands of dollars' worth of trading cards from Target.

www.usatoday.com