Grading cards used to be the exception and now it’s the rule for many collectors, as card values have risen and third-party assessment of condition has become a part of the commodification process.
The pandemic caused an explosion in grading, driven in large part by people who had no idea what the standards were and figured their non-creased card was a 10 (gem mint) when they were lucky if it was graded a 4 (very good/excellent). There is, of course, a big difference in value between those grades, with 10s commanding exponentially higher prices.
According to GemRate, which tracks the graded card populations, we’re on pace for 16.8 million cards to be graded annually by just PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), which accounted for 78 percent of the grading market in 2023. In October alone, 1.45 million cards were graded. With virtually everything of possible value being graded now in both modern (active players) and vintage (generally considered 1973 and earlier), we know which cards in all facets of the hobby are most popular with collectors.
So let’s look at the cards with the highest graded populations overall, and by sport. On the one hand, these are the most popular cards, but they also are in the highest supply, so, if demand ebbs — especially for active players — prices can collapse.
Consider that last season’s NBA Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama already has 2,505 card types and nearly 400,000 graded, including more than 232,000 perfect 10s — and that’s just in PSA cases (also known as “slabs”). Compare this to Wilt Chamberlain, with 22,700 graded PSA cards issued during his long career (and just 1,932 are PSA 10s).
All-time most graded sports cards
Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Upper Deck #1 — 113,943 total PSA population
The perfect convergence of the height of the rookie card market, which drove the explosion of cards produced. Topps in the vintage era (pre-1974) produced hundreds of millions of baseball cards every year, but so many of those were taken out with the trash in short order. The Griffey cards were prized and protected when issued in the expectation that they’d be worth a lot of money. Current value in perfect 10 condition: $2,000. About 4 percent of the almost 114,000 cards graded are PSA 10s (4,274). A PSA 9 only costs about $175, however, because there is a massive population of 32,367.
Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Topps Traded #41T — 87,619 total PSA population
This is generally not considered his true rookie card by collectors, since the Upper Deck card was released well before the others. That combined with a PSA 10 population of 14,338 has the value of this one at only about $120.
Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Fleer #548 — 65,732 total PSA population
This is the third 1989 Griffey on this list due to Topps no longer having exclusive card rights to MLB players at this point in time. In PSA 10, with a population of 5,770, it’s currently worth about $130.
Mark McGwire 1985 Topps #401 (1984 USA Baseball Team) — 63,094 total PSA population
This is another card that was released in the era when they were viewed for the first time as investments. By McGwire’s rookie year in 1987, when he hit a then rookie record 47 home runs, he was viewed as a player who would become an icon. In March, a PSA 10 sold for $3,200 on eBay. Less than 1 percent (306 of 62,842) are in perfect 10, Gem Mint condition. Note that there was no grading at the time of release, so you couldn’t instantly put the card in a slab to keep it pristine for eternity, like you can today.
Barry Bonds 1986 Topps Traded #11T — 59,810 total PSA population
Bonds is the greatest living player, but of course with an asterisk. He’s not in the Hall of Fame and may not ever be inducted, like McGwire. So you have to feel a little bit sorry for the people who bought and held it nearly 40 years ago. PSA 10s (population 5,046) are about $300, with a gem rate of about 8 percent.
All-time most graded non-baseball sports cards
Baseball, as The Athletic wrote recently, dominates the hobby. But what are the all-time most-graded cards in the other sports?
Basketball:
Michael Jordan 1990 Fleer #26 — 58,425 total PSA population
This is not the iconic rookie card, it’s just a very common Jordan card featuring a photo of what he was best known for, and novice collectors have long thought that every single Jordan card is valuable. Jordan is pretty much living basketball history at the moment. He’s really the only retired player from the last century that’s widely talked about, as a result there are far more graded Jordan cards (more than 1.5 million — full top 10 list below) than there are for any other athlete. The recent sales of PSA 10s (population 7,533) are about $190. These cards were originally issued at the dawn of the grading era so it’s not surprising that many more are in perfect condition (13 percent) than the ones above.
Football:
Jerry Rice 1986 Topps #161 — 39,361 total PSA population
Surprisingly, the top football card is a wide receiver. Remember, football card collecting is dominated by quarterbacks — about 90 percent of the market, according to dealers. But Jerry Rice is the most productive player in football history. His records are likely never to be broken. Rice caught over 1,000 passes for over 100 touchdowns beginning with his age 30 season. This is his rookie card. The last PSA 10 sold for more than $60,000 since there are only 63 in PSA 10 condition.
Hockey:
Wayne Gretzky 1979 O-Pee-Chee #18 — 13,103 total PSA population
Every Canadian kid must have saved their Gretzky rookie card, but just 0.1 percent, a grand total of two, are in top condition (there were not even toploaders — plastic protective cases for trading cards — in 1979). The last PSA 10 sold for $3.75 million. Bedard’s rookie card, however, already has a PSA 10 population of 5,940 and is selling for about $730. Connor Bedard’s 2023 Upper Deck #451 card has already surpassed the Gretzky in total PSA population (13,495), but not total graded population…yet.
Most graded ‘iconic’ vintage (1973 and earlier) cards
(Note that these are the most-graded cards of the ones in the Vintage Era deemed ‘iconic’ by a poll of industry experts conducted by prominent auction house PWCC, which is now Fanatics Collect.)
Nolan Ryan/Jerry Koosman Mets Rookies 1968 Topps #177 — 17,905 total PSA population
This card is so easy to find. In 1968, Topps produced its most cards ever. It was, at the time, the peak year of collecting. And kids who were eight years old then were just 23 years old at the start of the next collecting boom in 1983. So there wasn’t as much time for these rookie Ryans to be tossed. But forget about top condition (there’s only one PSA 10). For this and the other vintage cards, we’ll price based on mid-grade/excellent condition. A PSA 5 goes for $1,200 (with centered images). Note this is a card almost impossible to get with centered imagery on both front and back.
Reggie Jackson 1969 Topps #260 — 12,345 total PSA population
The rookie card of the iconic slugger of the 1970s. Trivia time: Reggie is the only member of the 500-homer club to never hit 30+ in consecutive seasons. Crazy, I know. There are a lot of these cards floating around, though most are graded now. By the time Reggie was a Yankee and setting World Series records, the kids who bought the packs in 1969 were just finishing high school. So they kept them. A centered PSA 5 can be had for under $300, which feels like a bargain.
Sandy Koufax 1955 Topps #123 — 11,436 total PSA population
The rare true rookie, meaning he had a card issue the first year he appeared in the majors. Koufax got a huge bonus deal and was on a very public team in the Dodgers in Brooklyn and was a hero to Jewish fans. So his card was prized at the time. In mid-grade condition, it can be purchased for $1,500-$2,000 depending on centering.
Henry Aaron 1954 Topps #128 — 7,510 total PSA population
During the pandemic, just about every one of these was graded, mostly in low-grade condition. Few remain raw/ungraded (I have a raw one). This is far from an easy card in mid-scale grade. A PSA 5 with good centering will run you about $5,000-$6,000.
Roberto Clemente 1955 Topps #164 — 7,172 total PSA population
Another true rookie, like the aforementioned Koufax. Clemente is an iconic cultural figure and even more transcendent as baseball’s first Latino superstar. Similar to Aaron, the population is skewed by a bunch of low-grade cards. The card is frankly not that attractive considering how great the handsome Clemente looks on every card and how timeless the horizontal 1955 Topps baseball design is. A PSA 5 is in the $2,500 to $3,500 range.
Now let’s look at the No. 1 card in vintage in the other sports.
Jim Brown 1958 Topps #62 — 5,848 total PSA population
Just over 6,000 of this football icon’s rookie card are graded by all companies. Compare that to about 27,000 for the Ryan. This is a very tough card to get reasonably centered and with top image quality, so prices vary. All of Brown’s cards are highly sought after. You just don’t see well-centered ones come on the market. If one did, it would likely be about $2,000. (Note the 1965 true rookie Topps Joe Namath is much more rare and more valuable, fetching about $4,000 in the same condition.)
Julius Erving 1972 Topps #195 — 6,741 total PSA population
It’s shocking to me that this is the most graded vintage basketball card, an honor I would have figured would belong to either a Chamberlain or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar card, but Dr. J was the Jordan of the 1970s. The pandemic brought a lot of these out of the woodwork but most are badly centered, have poor registry when it comes to that yellow background that should be blindingly bright. Also, some centered ones are borderline miscut on the back. Still, you can get a really sharp PSA 5 for under $400.
Bobby Orr 1966 Topps #35 —1,501 total PSA population
Just forget about getting a sweet, centered Orr rookie unless you have a ton of home equity to spend. We’re talking $8,000 centered in excellent condition for this all-time hockey legend, probably the greatest player who ever played and who ever will play. A centered 2 (“good” condition) is about $2,500 when the rest of the card has considerable wear.
Athletes with the most total PSA-graded cards all time, according to GemRate:
Michael Jordan — 1.5 million
Ken Griffey Jr. — 736K
LeBron James* — 660K
Kobe Bryant — 588K
Shohei Ohtani* — 530K
Derek Jeter — 392K
Victor Wembanyama* — 391K
Ja Morant* — 387K
Luka Doncic* — 378K
Tom Brady — 366K
*active player
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(Top photo: Allsport/Getty Images; card images: eBay)
