Sports all around the world created moments that have made players legends, and that status makes a sports memorabilia asset worth potentially millions. 

Soccer have Pele, Basketball have Michael Jordan and Baseball have the infamous Babe Ruth. All of these and more have had careers that put them into the record books and are desperately sought after by collectors of all ages.

Gone are the days when you could pick up a pack of cards with your pocket money. The price, unsurprisingly, has risen just as fast as the interest in collectables which has also had more coverage thanks to talk shows and TikTok videos highlighting them. 

The Cost Today

While the majority of collectors won’t be able to afford cards that are ultra-rare, they can still purchase rare cards from other sellers, even if the price is slightly inflated. Lockdown certainly helped improve the popularity of the cards as sport fans looked for a hobby to take up their free time. 

You could get a single pack of 14 Topps baseball cards for about $8 in 2021 although most collectors would buy them by the box or case, potentially costing a princely sum of $1,500. It really makes it hard for the younger generation to start their collection with the prices how they are,

What Is The Most Expensive Baseball Card Ever Bought?

Babe Ruth has gone down in history as one of the greatest players to grace the baseball field and is one of the most expensive baseball cards in history. At a staggering $4,212,000, the 1933 Babe Ruth Goudey #53 card was sold at auction after being graded in mint condition by the Professional Sport Authenticator.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Mickey Mantle, a player that was hampered by injuries and could have been the one to top Babe Ruth’s all-time record for home runs (714) but finished his career with 536. Despite this, he was still known as the best switch-hitter in MLB history and is the face of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card. It sold for an eye-popping $5.2 million in 2021 and is the second most expensive card in the baseball universe.

Number 1? Well that title belongs to Honus Wagner. Baseball historians believe him to be one of the best players ever and his card sold for an astronomical $6,606,000. The reason the card is so rare, and known as the holy grail of cards, is because Wagner had his card pulled from production. It is thought that only 25-200 cards exist due to this which meant the value of the card inflated to what it is today.

Basic To Riches

To think a card that was once worth pennies less than 100 years ago is now worth millions is mind-boggling. It’s truly a testament to the escalation of power a sportsperson can be valued to, and with young stars coming through the system from a young age, it may be worth purchasing a pack yourself… You never know how much they’ll be valued at in the years to come.