Most Valuable Baseball Cards of All Time

Baseball cards are a billion-dollar industry today, and the rarest baseball card is worth millions.

Baseball cards started with humble beginnings. Some of the earliest ones were cigarette package inserts, used both to promote the brand and prevent the star of the package, the cigarettes, from being crushed. Now, baseball cards are a billion-dollar industry.

So search your house. Even today, people still find old, rare and expensive baseball cards. Maybe you’ll discover one of them and become a millionaire.

These are the most valuable baseball cards of all time.

50. 1951 Bowman Willie Mays

psacard

Price: $93,412.50

Year sold: 2007

Bottom line: Baseball cards are some of the most valuable collector’s items in history. Yet compared to some of the other million-dollar cardboard masterpieces on this list, $90K sounds like a pittance. But consider that a sale of a PSA 9 1951 Bowman Willie Mays rookie card occurred in May 2007.

What would it sell for today?

PSA estimates the same Mays would run about a half-million today. A PSA 9 Mickey Mantle rookie card from the same set sold for $750,000 in April 2018 (more on it later), so this is a card well on its way to a cool million.

Note: We used PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), the world’s most trusted third-party sports card grading and authentication company, as the key source for this story. They grade on a 1-10 scale. A “1” denotes a card in “Poor” condition, while “10” is considered “Gem Mint.” As you’ll see on this list of most valuable baseball cards, a card’s condition means everything for its value. The prices we included are from the year the card was sold.

49. 1969 Topps Reggie Jackson

1969 Topps Reggie Jackson card is worth money

psacard

Price: $115,242

Year sold: 2012

Bottom line: This is a card that even another major leaguer was thrilled to own. Two-time All-Star Dmitri Young once boasted what was widely considered to be the finest collection of PSA 10 baseball rookie cards in the hobby. But in a firmament that included perfect Clemente, Aaron and Rose rookie cards, among other Hall of Famers, Young prized his PSA 10 Topps Reggie Jackson rookie card above all.

Jackson slugged 563 home runs over the course of his Hall of Fame career, winning over Young and countless millions of kids with his charisma and booming bat.

Young broke up his collection in May 2012, and Mr. October’s rookie card, the only PSA-graded Gem Mint 10 in the world, came through in the clutch for $115,242.

48. 1909 T204 Ramly Walter Johnson

1909 T204 Ramly Walter Johnson baseball card is worth money

psacard

Price: $132,000

Year sold: 2018

Bottom line: Inaugural Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Walter Johnson actually has a rookie card in the famed 1909 T206 set, but the T204 Ramly is considered rarer.

“The Big Train” won 417 games and is considered by some to be the most dominating hurler in baseball history. Fellow player Ty Cobb said Johnson’s fastball “looked about the size of a watermelon seed and it hissed at you as it passed.”

A PSA 8 T204 Ramly Johnson punched out $132,000 in a January 2018 auction.

47. 1954 Topps Ernie Banks

1954 Topps Ernie Banks baseball card is expensive

psacard

Price: $142,836

Year sold: 2012

Bottom line: Ernie Banks was the star attraction of consistently underwhelming Chicago Cubs squads through the 1950s and ’60s. Despite smacking 512 home runs over an illustrious 19-year career in Chicago, Banks still holds the major league record for most games played (2,528) without a playoff appearance.

Regardless, the love for “Mr. Cub” hasn’t waned. A PSA 10 1954 Topps Banks rookie card sold for $142,836 in May 2012. It would fetch much more than that today.

46. 1914 Cracker Jack Ty Cobb

psacard

Price: $144,000

Year sold: 2018

Bottom line: Cracker Jack has been around pretty much as long as America’s Pastime.

The molasses-flavored, caramel-coated snack was immortalized in baseball lore by 1902’s “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Even today, fans are still singing “Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack!” at every game.

Cobb drove pitchers nuts over three decades. Ninety years after his retirement, his career .366 batting average is still tops for all Major League Baseball players, past and present.

A PSA 8 1914 Cracker Jack Cobb turned up $144,000 in a February 2018 auction.

45. 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Orange Refractor Autograph Mike Trout

$2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Orange Refractor Autograph Mike Trout card$

nelson0727 / ebay

Price: $186,580

Year sold: 2019

Bottom line: While the biggest bucks usually have been forked over for vintage cards, Mike Trout is a special case. The 27-year-old has comparable numbers to Mays, Mantle, Williams, DiMaggio, Aaron, you name it, up to this point in their respective careers. It’s no stretch to say that the Los Angeles Angels superstar is already an all-time great.

In March 2017, a Beckett Grading Services (BGS) 9.5 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Orange Refractor Mike Trout rookie card, autographed and limited to 25 serial-numbered copies, netted $186,580 in March 2019. A BGS 9.5 is the equivalent of a PSA 10.

41. 1909 T206 John McGraw (Tie)

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Price: $192,000

Year sold: 2018

Bottom line: Almost a quarter-million T206 cards have been evaluated by PSA, but just 13 have earned a Gem Mint 10 grade.

John McGraw attained rarified company himself. The second-winningest manager in major league history with 2,763 wins, “Little Napoleon” was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.

A PSA 10 1909 T206 McGraw commanded $192,000 in September 2018.

41. 1948 Leaf Warren Spahn #32 PSA Gem Mint 10 192 (Tie)

1948 Leaf Warren Spahn #32 PSA Gem Mint 10 192 baseball card

psacard

Price: $192,000

Year sold: 2018

Bottom line: The 1948 Boston Braves pitching rotation was headlined by Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. After them? A newspaper editor coined the phrase, “Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.”

Spahn would pour it on over a long and illustrious career, winning 363 games. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.

A PSA 10 1948 Leaf Spahn rookie card sold for $192,000 in April 2018.

41. 1903 Breisch-Williams E107 Christy Mathewson (Tie)

1903 Breisch-Williams E107 Christy Mathewson card

Heritage Auctions

Price: $192,000

Year sold: 2019

Bottom line: Pitcher Christy Mathewson had a legendary reputation. It was so great he was one of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s first five inductees, along with Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson.

The 373-game winner’s plaque at the Hall reads: “Matty was master of them all.”

As rare a rookie card as there is, only five copies of the Mathewson rookie have been graded by PSA or SGC. Also part of the first major baseball card set of the 20th century, a SGC 50 1903 Breisch-Williams E107 Mathewson was won for $192,000 in a February 2019 auction.

41. 1948 Bowman Yogi Berra (Tie)

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Price: $192,000

Year sold: 2017

Bottom line: Perhaps better known today for his quirky Yogisms — for example, “baseball is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical” — Yogi Berra was also a 15-time All-Star and 10-time world champion. The popular New York Yankees catcher was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

A PSA 10 1948 Bowman Berra rookie card went for $192,000 in May 2017.