Cards
Collectors buying best of the best, sending card prices and values soaring heading into The National
The last three National Sports Collectors Conventions have broken attendance records.
Collectors have come in droves to the hobby’s biggest show of the year. Over 100,000 people of all ages have crammed into the event, cementing the fact that popularity in the space is at an all-time high.
By all indications, this year’s National is shaping up to be another record-setting show.
The 46th annual event July 29-Aug. 2 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. will be the 12th time in the last 24 years the Chicago suburb will be the host. Last year’s show was held in Rosemont and next year will be as well.
Kevin Savage, owner of Kevin Savage Cards, has set up as a dealer at every National except the first one in 1980. He’s never seen more interest in the hobby than right now.
“I still sit on The National board and I get some insight into ticket sales and all that kind of stuff and everything seems like it should be a record crowd,” Savage said. “The show managers, they just have to figure out different ways to deal with the crowd and to try to make sure everybody’s experience is good and they’re not sitting out in the 90-degree heat if it’s warm that weekend for an hour waiting to get in. Just trying to get people into the building as quick as possible while still having the right security and the stuff you need to have.
“But it’s a good problem to have. It’s a lot better than, ah, we can’t get anybody to go to our show. It’s like first-world problems. But on the other hand, it seems like the show is hotter than ever.”
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The hobby is on fire. Vintage and modern cards, memorabilia—you name it, record prices are being realized it seems on a weekly basis.
Card sales are fetching astronomical numbers. According to Card Ladder, which tracks card prices, there were $606.04 million in sales in March alone. In that same month in 2025, there was $303.22 million in sales. That means in a matter of just 12 months, sales numbers doubled. By comparison, March 2019 was a miniscule $22.08 million.
“The market is incredibly robust,” said Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions. “The number of new participants and bidders we’re seeing in every auction cycle is pretty staggering. So, we’re seeing growth even beyond where we were in 2020 when that surge happened. We’re seeing strong numbers across the board, and it’s a great thing to see. Obviously, the pie is growing for everybody just because the popularity of the market.
“I’ve always loved this stuff and so it’s nice to see other people getting into it and appreciating it and the prices reflecting where I always thought they should be.”
WHAT'S HOT
Savage, who deals mostly with vintage cards, is seeing a shift in the market. Cards of star players have always been popular, but over the last two years, Savage has watched it increase to another level.
“We don’t have many set builders. We don’t have many people collecting eclectic, weird things that we used to have a lot—stuff that was rare,” Savage said. “But it wasn’t a Mickey Mantle or a DiMaggio item, so there were people that went after it because it was tough to find and tough to build the sets. It seems like more and more we’re getting people that they just want a Jackie Robinson or they just want a Mickey Mantle.”
Scott Mahlum, owner of Mill Creek Sports in Mill Creek, Wash., agrees. People are seeking the best cards of the best players.
“There’s really no end in sight right now. It’s crazy the prices of Jordans, Babe Ruth, Kobe,” Mahlum said. “Just the best of the best is what keeps selling and running this hobby.”
Ivy one-ups that sentiment; he’s seeing vintage cards with strong eye appeal really driving the market.
“We’re starting to see people really being more discerning with cards in the same grade based on the eye appeal of those cards, so centering,” Ivy said. “We’re seeing cards that can sell for up to 30% more on the same card in the same holder based on its eye appeal. It’s interesting, because that’s always been something as far as when I worked at SGC 26 years ago, buy the card, not the holder. I feel people are actually doing that now.”
According to Ivy, the importance of great eye appeal on a card has been a gradual switch over the last five years.
“I think we’re kind of like at the peak of that right now where that difference in prices realized is really significant,” Ivy said. “The other thing we’re seeing is the growth of third-party grading companies like MBA [Mike Baker Authenticated] and that type of thing—the stickering of something that they believe is on the upper echelon of a card in that grade, so those are seeing stronger numbers in the market.”
Memory Lane Inc. owner JP Cohen said rookie cards of the top players in baseball and other sports are always in high demand and are still the leaders of the pack.
“The main Hall of Famers are always popular: Mantle, Mays, Clemente, Aaron, Ruth, Gehrig,” Cohen said. “The autograph side of things seems to be taking a position here in the hobby lately. People have cards that are getting signed by Elway or Marino or anyone that’s alive and getting PSA to grade the card and the autograph and that seems to be a lot of buzz going on right now. We sold a lot in the last auction and did really well.”
Savage says the tobacco card market, especially T206 cards, is really strong. Demand and prices for unopened product is also on the uptick.
“Every time I think some of the unopened stuff’s gotten to crazy levels and it doesn’t make any sense, it sells for more money,” Savage said. “Stuff that used to be $5 and $10 all the time is now $20 and $30 and $50. It’s hard to wrap my head around it, because I saw so much of it and I had so much of it. It all gets broken, so there’s less of it out there.”
VINTAGE VS. MODERN
With a new wave of collectors and speculative investors entering the hobby, they are going after a mix of vintage and modern cards. But from what Ivy and his co-workers at Heritage have seen, a surge in the modern sector is showing the most growth over the last six to seven years.
“The entire market has grown, obviously, but I feel like modern is a driving factor for bringing a lot of people into the market,” Ivy said. “And the interesting thing is, it always has been—it was that way in the ’80s. It’s the younger kids that are into the current players. That’s the beauty of being in this market in general and dealing in sports is you get new generations. So, there’s new heroes that the kids want to collect and then with that there’s always a percentage of those people that get into the market that then start to mature in their collecting a bit, I would say, and then start going after Hall of Famers and vintage cards.”
Cohen feels like modern collectibles, especially Pokémon and other trading card games (TCG), are continuing to fetch worldwide attention and in turn sell for high prices. In early June, third-party grading leader PSA had to halt submissions for a number of its tiers because of a backlog of over 14 million cards. One big reason is TGC submissions. Of the 2.246 million items PSA graded during a 30-day span from mid-May to mid-June, 65% were TGC.
“Also, the modern players that are coming into the leagues, they’re popular, those cards seem to keep getting record prices out of the gate,” Cohen said. “Fanatics with Topps and Bowman, they’ve created these one-of-one cards and a lot of people are gravitating towards buying those as well as buying the boxes and trying to find them. In a way, it’s a form of gambling, I guess. But people are enjoying that. I see a lot of older collectors bringing their young kids into it and opening boxes. It’s kind of a way for these fathers and sons to connect, it’s something they do together and they enjoy that.”
Mahlum’s shop, which has been located just outside of Seattle for 35 years, has a difficult time trying to keep modern unopened product in stock.
“We sell out of every baseball product we can get,” Mahlum said. “Topps has their hands full trying to get enough product to us, but there are so many stores. It’s spread so thin where we’re receiving a lot less product now than we did say 10 years ago. It’s challenging for us, because you really can’t replace it. … It’s one of those things where if we get four or five cases, we sell through it and then we just don’t replace it, because you just can’t. The prices have dried up and the margins just aren’t there.”
For how popular modern cards are at the moment, vintage remains strong. Demand is exceeding supply, noted Cohen.
“I’m finding that in the last few years that the type of person that collects the vintage stuff, their hands are getting stronger,” Cohen said. “That means that even though the prices keep rising, we see these record prices, the people that own these cards or examples aren’t willing to sell them. Money’s not always the reason. They’re holding them because they love having them and that just creates a higher demand and a higher evaluation.
“The stock market, for the most part, has been doing very well the last few years overall, so people’s portfolios and assets are strong, so they feel a lot better spending money on collectibles for their hobby.”
Rare, high-grade vintage cards have skyrocketed in price because big-name players don’t come up for sale too often. When they do, they can create quite a bidding war.
“Things are still really good,” said Savage about vintage prices. “There are still records being set in a lot of things. But like common cards from early sets, that stuff has really stabilized. It doesn’t seem like there’s that much push, unless it’s just an exceptionally high grade, hard to find card that’s never centered.”
The demand for Jackie Robinson cards has been through the roof for the last five to 10 years. Following Robinson’s lead, Larry Doby became the second black player to break MLB’s color barrier. There has also been a push in popularity recently for Doby cards.
“I had a ’50 Bowman Robinson in the auction last night and it had big hunks of tape on it and it was in horrible condition and it still sold for almost $800,” Savage said. “If you went back to the 1981 National I set up at, that probably would have been a $5 card. It’s kind of crazy to put into perspective that way.”
TOPPS IMPACT
Topps has held a license to produce MLB cards since 1951. The company has always been synonymous with America’s Pastime.
But when Topps secured the NBA license in October 2025 and the NFL license in April 2026, it gave the company exclusive contracts with the three major sports for the first time.
Having baseball, basketball and football cards produced by the same company has made a major impact on the hobby.
“I think Topps and Fanatics are doing a good job of trying to expand the hobby into new markets and bringing in new collectors,” Ivy said. “I think that’s certainly one of the reasons we have seen the growth that we have over the last few years. I feel like it’s a net positive for the collecting community, so far.”
“I think it’s a good thing,” added Cohen. “You can see that Fanatics is a good company and really into growth, so I think having the right people at the helm of that company helps the hobby in general, because they put out a good product, people are satisfied, they make sure people get value out of their packs that they’re buying. In turn, that creates a lot of interest. If people are enjoying it and they feel like they’re successful in their purchases, then that’s just going to keep people around and keep people interested in collecting.”
Mahlum has been impressed with how Fanatics—the parent company of Topps—has handled its marketing initiative and rapidly increased interest and participation in the hobby.
“The number of new customers that they have driven to our stores, it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen before,” Mahlum said. “They’ve done a hell of a job promoting. They’ve done a lot of great things—the Debut Patches that the players are wearing on their jerseys and then they put those into a card.
“The negative thing about it is there aren’t as many true collectors, so you don’t have people buying this stuff for their own collection and building sets like you used to. It’s more going for big hits and the gambling aspect of things. It’s changed but you just have to adapt to it and roll with those changes.”
With the enthralling NBA Finals in which the New York Knicks won their first championship in 53 years and Victor Wembanyama making a remarkable run with a young San Antonio Spurs team, the NBA made a major push this season to become the most popular sport amongst collectors.
But, according to Cohen, Ivy and Mahlum, baseball is still No. 1 when it comes to cardboard. Names like Ruth, Ohtani, Mantle, Aaron and Mays push baseball over the top.
“Baseball remains king, but basketball’s not too far behind and football is the most popular sport in the country,” Ivy said.
