Cubs fans remember Ryne Sandberg as Ryno cards surge at the National Sports Collectors Convention
ROSEMONT, Ill.—Chicago Cubs legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg was on the minds of collectors and dealers alike at the 2025 National Sports Collectors Convention.
On July 28, Sandberg died of prostate cancer. He was 65.
Sandberg played 15 years with the Cubs and became one of Major League Baseball’s greatest second basemen, compiling a 285 batting average with 282 home runs and 1,061 RBIs.
On defense, he holds the MLB record for the highest career fielding percentage of .989 at his position.
Those are impressive stats for one of the most heralded players in Cubs history—amazingly, Sandberg was a throw-in from the Phillies in the Larry Bowa-Ivan DeJesus trade in January 1982—but you wouldn’t know it from gauging the value of his baseball cards.
Sandberg’s rookie card in 1983 came during the so-called “junk wax era” when Topps, Fleer and Donruss were mass producing cards and flooding the market with a multitude of products. As a result, there were plenty of Sandberg rookies available, and up to his death this summer, those cards in good condition, rated high by PSA, could be purchased for less than $20, not exactly a hot commodity for a Cubs standout.
But in the few days following his death, the industry saw a spike in the value of Sandberg cards in general, which was evident during The National, proving once again that death is a powerful marketing tool.
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Early in the show, one dealer had Sandberg’s Donruss rookie card priced at $40. Another dealer was selling 8-by-10 glossy signed photos of Sandberg for $80, a fairly steep fee compared with the $10 bargains he offered for Glenn Beckert, Don Kessinger and Jim Hickman, three members of the beloved 1969 Cubs team that faded down the stretch during the season that the Amazin’ Mets won the World Series.
Jim Kramer, a card dealer from Minnesota and a 25-year attendee of The National, was among the merchants experiencing renewed interest in Sandberg cards. For him, Ryno cards were the hot item heading into the show. As soon as the news hit about Sandberg’s death, Kramer saw sales go up for his rookie card in the eBay store he runs online. Kramer estimates he sold up to 50 Sandberg rookies over 48 hours.
“His rookie card came during the junk wax era, but the cool thing is, Ryne signed a lot of autographs through the mail for fans and would charge a minimal amount,” Kramer said. “The demand went up with him signing through the mail. It’s hard to find his ungraded cards now, because most people have wanted to get them autographed the past few years.”
In one instance, though, the price was too high for one dealer to make an investment.
On early Thursday (July 31), the first full day of The National, Jim Doyle, a dealer with AJF Sports Cards, turned down a signed Topps Sandberg rookie card peddled by a collector for $950. A few days earlier, a similar Sandberg rookie sold for $1,200 on eBay, according to Doyle. The card held a PSA grade of 9 with the autograph itself scoring a perfect 10, he said.
At the show, the Sandberg rookie in question held a PSA grade of 9.9, just short of mint condition. There was no grade available for the autograph.
In the past, Doyle, who grew up in Massachusetts as a big fan of Boston sports teams, had seen rookie cards of his hero, Boston Celtic Hall of Famer Bill Russell, spike after his death three years ago, due in part to all the media coverage surrounding his storied NBA career. Ultimately, though, prices fell at or below those tied to Russell inventory preceding his death, Doyle said.
“I decided to pass [on the Sandberg card],” he said. “I feel a little guilty chasing money related to someone’s passing, and what [typically] happens is the prices start to wane a little bit as time goes on. I’m a little conservative in that regard. Potentially, if someone came by [my booth] today, they might buy it for $1,000 or $1,100. If they aren’t, two weeks later, it could be a $600 card. Before his passing, those cards were not anywhere near $1,200.”
The folks at Stadtmueller's Sportscards were banking on a robust Ryno market at the show.
The Stadtmueller family doesn't own a brick-and-mortar store. Instead, they combine their personal collections and set up a booth to buy and sell cards at The National. They've attended the show for 13 years. This week, they bought a Topps Sandberg rookie, graded a perfect 10 by PSA, and priced it at $2,000 in accordance with the market, said Carolyn Stadtmueller.
“What's sad to me about the hobby is that whenever someone passes, the cards spike up, and then they come back down,” Carolyn Stadtmueller said. “But that's the nature of the beast.”
For Nate Underwood, whose favorite player was Ryne Sandberg, pricing was no issue concerning his first trip to The National. Underwood, a collector from Roanoke, Va., as a kid, used to visit his grandparents in Hammond, Ind., a 45-minute drive south of Chicago. He got to see the Cubs play at Wrigley Field in 1985 and 1992, and collected Sandberg cards growing up.
It wasn’t until about a year and a half ago that Underwood started collecting other baseball cards in earnest before selling off his collection to focus on current Cubs, including the half-dozen current players that signed on Thursday. It's a rarity in which the timing worked for the show; the Cubs had an off before starting a six-game homestead against the Orioles and Reds.
Underwood got signatures from all the current Cubs in attendance—Michael Busch, Kyle Tucker, Dansby Swanson, Pete Crow Armstrong, Shota Imanaga, and Nico Hoerner. They all signed Underwood's custom-made Sandberg jersey.
“We’re so lucky to have these guys here,” Underwood said. “Last year, I was going to go to Cleveland [for The National], but a work trip got in the way. It worked out this year in Chicago. My son is flying here and we’re going to go to the games [Friday] and Saturday. It’s going to be a great weekend.”
For The National, the event was lucky to have Sandberg’s participation when he was alive. For many years, he was among the autograph guests at the show, booked by TRISTAR Productions, which historically added value to the lineup with a bona-fide Hall of Famer and fan favorite, Tristar officials said.
Don Muret