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Juan Soto cards, collectibles set to soar after trade to Yankees
It was bound to happen: Baseball stud Juan Soto landed with the New York Yankees, which should result in a king’s ransom of a payday.
He’s under contract only through the 2024 season; whether he heads to arbitration or works a new deal, he won’t have any financial worries.
The Yankees’ acquisition of the star outfielder puts him in a lineup with Aaron Judge, new acquisition Alex Verdugo (picked up in a deal with Boston) and — if healthy — Giancarlo Stanton. So the Bronx Bombers are setting up for an aerial show in 2024.
At only 25, Soto is entering his prime with an impressive résumé. He’s already got 160 homers (remember, he hit 22 as a 19-year-old in 2018) along with 768 hits, 527 runs and 483 RBI.
Soto has been bubbling under in the hobby. In the glare of New York, he’ll garner even more attention. Right now on eBay, there are more than 110,000 Soto listings. That said, prices leading up to his pinstriped deal have been surprisingly low. Top recent sales:
• $5,650 on 33 bids for a signed 2016 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor. Marked #145/150, it was graded BGS 9.5.
• $3,383 on 54 bids for a 2018 Topps Update Black card. Marked #35/67, it also had a grade of BGS 9.5.
• $3,051 on 37 bids for a 2018 Topps Heritage Chrome Black Refractor. It was marked #/69 and graded PSA 10.
• $3,050 on 48 bids for a 2018 Topps Chrome Update X-Factor card marked #73/99 and graded PSA 10.
• $2,905 on 48 bids for a signed 2016 Bowman Chrome Refractor marked #420/499 and graded BGS 9.5.
• $2,885 on 31 bids for a 2018 Topps Heritage card signed in red ink. Marked #9/69, it was graded BGS 9.5.
Also See: Ranking the Best Baseball Books of 2023
If Soto card prices seem ripe for a jump in value, so too do Soto-signed baseballs. Over the past few months, authenticated, top-condition examples have been auctioning at prices between $75 and $175. A few have slipped through at even lower prices.
An extreme example: a bidder got a Soto-signed ball — an Official Major League Baseball with a Beckett hologram — for just 99 cents. The seller was Probstein123, a longtime eBay consignor with a 99.4 percent positive feedback ranking on 4.7 million items sold.
As always, be careful and ask questions if you have any doubt about a signed item on which you’re bidding. When you’ve looked at enough Soto autographs — look especially at sigs on card-manufacturer items — you’ll get a feel for the way he signs. However, he’s a tricky subject; earlier Soto autographs were readable, but more recent examples on trading cards are indiscernible scribbles.
