Maybe it’s the specific card show that I went to on Sunday, but if it’s any indication, Pokemon/TCG cards continue to dominate the card industry. I’m guessing there were between 80-100 tables set up, and, after walking the show to see what was there, I can definitively say that fewer than five of those tables had sports cards.

Yikes.

The most recent GemRate monthly recap echoes that. Out of the 2.28 million cards graded in August, 1.41 million of them were TCG cards. If this is a bubble, I have to wonder when it’s bursting.

Thankfully, I was able to find one dealer (the same one I visited at a show a couple of weeks ago) who had a ton of dollar boxes, including quite a few with vintage cards, allowing me to make another dent in my pursuit of a 1970s Topps set run. I actually have fewer than 100 cards to go in two different sets (1974 and 1975), so it’s nice to feel like I can see the finish line (slowly) approaching.

In this issue you'll find:

• Mickey Mantle and other notable HOFers: the 1960s PSA graded lists

• The Andre Dawson rookie card and player profile

• Highlights from current auctions

• News in the hobby

• Recent Vintage Card Voyage videos

Let’s get into it.

Notice a trend? And the three years that Mantle wasn’t number one - that’s right, he was number two. In fact, including All-Star cards, leader cards and other special cards, Mantle showed up a total of 19 times, as in, nearly one of every five cards during the decade featured or included Mickey Mantle. But unlike the 1970s, rookies weren’t as dominant year-by-year. They only finished first in three of the 10 years, and among the years where Mantle was the most graded, only two of those years (1963 and 1969) had a rookie card finishing in second.

And here’s the top 10 list by total cards graded:

The trend continues, with Mantle showing up six different times. If you add up all of Mantle’s regular player cards for the decade (including the 1,604 graded by PSA of the 1969 Topps card with his last name in white lettering), the total number graded by PSA is 120,063 - nearly 50,000 more than Nolan Ryan’s regular player cards during the 1970s, but still 2,200 fewer than the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr.

I think the biggest surprise for me is that the Pete Rose rookie card wasn’t in the top 10 (it wasn’t even in the top 25, with 6,796 graded cards). In fact, his second-year card (and first solo card) has been graded more often (8,178) than his rookie card.

Some other observations:

• The decade is dominated by four players - Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente - who show up in one way or another on the top 10 lists 52 times, and each of their regular player cards show up in every single top 10 list.

• Sandy Koufax and Pete Rose also show up in a top 10 list every single year that they have a regular player card. Koufax’s last appearance is a 1966 Topps card (he does show up in 1967 Topps, but only on leader cards) and Rose’s first card is in 1963. I should also mention that Pete Rose was the answer to last week’s trivia question about who, other than Nolan Ryan, appeared in every top 10 list of the 1970s.

• Tom Seaver’s second-year card (his first solo card) has been graded almost twice as often as his rookie card (8,477 to 4,322), while Nolan Ryan’s rookie card and his second-year card were both graded more than 10,000 times.

• There was only one non-Hall of Fame player who showed up in the top 10 lists with his regular player card, and he did so multiple times during the decade: Roger Maris, who appeared from 1961-64 and in 1967.

• 1968 was the year that had the most graded cards in the top 10, with 89,677 total, while 1963 had the fewest with 45,360.

I have another trivia question. There’s only one year during the decade when a rookie card didn’t appear in the top 10 list. Any guesses for which year it is, and which two Hall of Famers had rookie cards that year?

Recent High-Grade Sales:

PSA 10: $4,438 - eBay auction on July 27, 2025

PSA 9: $380 - eBay auction on August 24, 2025

SGC 10 (98)*: $2,510.40 - Memory Lane auction on September 9, 2023

SGC 9.5: No sales history

SGC 9: $243.50 - eBay auction on June 5, 2025

BVG 10: No sales history

BVG 9.5: $1,124.99 - eBay auction on March 23, 2025

BVG 9: $275 - eBay auction on March 17, 2024

*The (98) is considered “Gem Mint” while (100) is considered “Pristine”

Some Current Auction Highlights

Listed in order by closing date (with bid prices as of Sunday evening PT)

Hunt Auctions (closing September 17)

1922 E121 American Caramel Babe Ruth (Photo Montage) SGC 1 - $4,350

1964 Kahn’s Wieners Pete Rose PSA 4 - $386

Small group of 1930s-1980s sports and non-sports cards, including unopened packs (PR-EX) - $10

Mile High Card Company Auction (closing September 18)

1909-11 American Caramel Co. E90-1 Joe Jackson SGC 5.5 - $233,822

1971 Kellogg’s Football Complete High Grade Set - $477

1957 Topps #56 Charlie Ane PSA 8 - $33

The Collector Connection Auction (closing September 21)

1986 Fleer Basketball #57 Michael Jordan PSA 9 - $16,302

1954 Red Heart Mickey Mantle SGC 3 - $1,252

1981 Topps Football Unopened Wax Pack PSA 7 - $20

News Briefs

4 Million Trading Cards (!!) Purchased From One Collector, Including 30 Babe Ruths

A Cartoon Retrospective: Some of the Artists Who Drew Topps Cartoons

A Truly Unique 1972 Topps Subset: 25 Kids

A Messi Rookie Card Is Now the Most Expensive Soccer Card Ever

Saturday Is Collector Appreciation Day, Courtesy of Topps

Vintage Card Voyage: Recent Videos

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