Collectors once again taking notice of Aaron Rodgers

By Larry Canale

Through 13 weeks of the 2016 season, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was playing like the future Hall of Famer he is, tossing 32 touchdowns (vs. only seven interceptions) to go with 3,529 passing yards. The 33-year-old continues to cement his place alongside Brett Favre, Bart Starr and, going back a few decades, Arnie Herber on Green Bay’s “Mount Rushmore” of quarterbacks.

At the same time, collectors continue their chase of A-Rodg items, and sellers continue to deliver; there are more than 22,000 Rodgers items currently offered on eBay. One of the hottest: Rodgers’ 2005 Playoff Contenders Rookie Ticket, a signed card that draws a crowd whenever it turns up. And several have turned up in the past two months: Recent sales include BGS 9.5-graded examples that brought $2,325 and $1,805; PSA-10 specimens that fetched $1,925 and $1,900; and an ungraded but (judging by the photograph) Mint-condition example that attracted a winning bid of $2,125.
A 2005 signed Bowman Chrome Silver Refractor card of Rodgers as a rookie, meanwhile, brought an even higher price: $2,882. And for fans of that Packers QB legacy mentioned above (minus Herber), a full-size Riddell helmet signed by Starr, Favre and Rodgers went for $2,795. The helmet was authenticated by James Spence of JSA.

He typically signed “Babe Ruth,” so an authentic autograph inked with his two first initials rather than that classic nickname has extra collector appeal. So it was no surprise to see an Upper Deck card bearing a “G.H. Ruth” cut signature sell for a healthy $17,000 on eBay, placing just outside our Top 10 chart.
Issued as an insert card attraction in 2001 as part of Upper Deck’s “Legends of New York” set, the Ruth cut-sig card was, of course, a 1-of-1. So too were two other recently sold insert cards from the same series:
• On Nov. 2, an eBay seller got $5,000 for a Mel Ott cut-sig card.
• A week later, a Jackie Robinson UD “Legends of New York” card sold for $4,000.

The Boston Red Sox’s trading for Chris Sale, one of baseball’s best pitchers, stirred up interest in the lefty. Post-trade sales of Sale items were paced by his 2010 Bowman Chrome Draft Red Refractor signed card. An example graded 8.5 by BGS brought the hefty price of $1,925, while Gold Refractors and Orange Refractors of the same card reeled in prices of $550 and $515. Authenticated Sale-signed baseballs, meanwhile, can be had for $75 to $100.

Let’s take you outside the sports realm for a minute to report on an unopened item we know you’ll appreciate. In early November, a single unopened wax pack of 3 Stooges trading cards turned up on eBay and drew a winning bid of $2,700. Issued by Fleer in 1959, the 3 Stooges series included 96 different cards, each one featuring a colorized still from the long-running TV show featuring the antics of Larry, Moe and Curly Joe (and Schemp).