Derek Jeter rookie card breaks modern-day record, sells for nearly $100k at auction

By Dave Kovaleski May 26, 2018 at 10:32am

A Derek Jeter rookie card sold has sold on eBay for $99,100 — the highest price for a baseball card in the modern era (1986-present).

The card was an 1993 Upper Deck SP (short print) card, which means it was limited edition. ESPN’s Darren Rovell reported Friday that the sale was confirmed by Brent Huigens, CEO of the company that auctioned it off, PWCC. The winning bidder’s name is Adrian Proietti.

Bidding on this 1993 Derek Jeter rookie card being auctioned on eBay and sold by @PWCCmarketplace is up to $66K with five days left. Will set a record for a Jeter card. pic.twitter.com/V2lZwV0n6d

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 11, 2018

“In 2008, I was offered a PSA 10 for $25,000,” Proietti told ESPN. “I passed on it. I think the $99,100 is still a very good deal.”

Proietti’s purchase broke the card’s previous record price of $54,576, which it fetched in 2017.

PICTURED: New York Yankees rookie shortstop Derek Jeter at a news conference after being named the American League winner of the Rookie of the Year Award in 1996. Jeter's rookie card just sold for a whopping $99,100 – most ever for a modern baseball card. https://t.co/Nlpy4nneXn pic.twitter.com/W7XDxwqeom

— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) May 25, 2018

In card parlance, PSA measures the verified condition of the card, with 10 being the best. A PSA 10 card is in mint condition. So even if you found one buried in a box, it would likely not be PSA 10, unless it was still unopened in the pack.

The values drop off significantly with lower PSAs. For example, the same Derek Jeter rookie card with a PSA of 8 can be acquired for just $908. But still, that’s not chump change.

ESPN reported that 8,308 of those Jeter rookie cards have been graded with a PSA of 8, 560 with a PSA of 9, and only 22 with a PSA of 10.

Do you think this baseball card was worth the price?

While Proietti new card is the highest-valued modern-day baseball card, it still trails several cards in two other sports.

Earlier this year, a Tom Brady rookie card sold for $250,000 at auction, and in 2016, a LeBron James rookie card went for $312,000. Another Brady rookie card sold for more than $100,000 this year.

This might be a good time to remind folks to hang on to the rookie card of budding Yankees superstar Gleyber Torres.

Can Gleyber Torres make an immediate impact for the #Yankees, will rookie card keep rising? #gleybertorres https://t.co/07AakzyQXD pic.twitter.com/g6oDwdR4QE

— fivecardguys (@fivecardguys) February 6, 2018

The second baseman is off to a historic start in his rookie season, with nine home runs on the year — including one in four straight games — and a .333 batting average.

It's Gleyber Torres, not Aaron Judge, who is the #Yankees next Derek Jeter https://t.co/pzp8DLEfYX

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) May 23, 2018

You never know, he could be the next Jeter.

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Tags:

MLB, New York Yankees

Dave Kovaleski

Contributor, Sports

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Dave is a lifelong sports fan who has been writing for The Wildcard since 2017. He has been a writer for more than 20 years for a variety of publications.

Dave has been writing about sports for The Wildcard since 2017. He's been a reporter and editor for over 20 years, covering everything from sports to financial news. In addition to writing for The Wildcard, Dave has covered mutual funds for Pensions and Investments, meetings and conventions, money market funds, personal finance, associations, and he currently covers financial regulations and the energy sector for Macallan Communications. He has won awards for both news and sports reporting.

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Massachusetts

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English

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Sports