Welcome to Sports Cards Insider for April 27th, 2022 – FREE Edition.
Each week we give you the scoop on undervalued, mispriced and hidden gems in Alternative Investing.
Let’s go!
Sports Cards in 2022
Firstly, as a reminder, here’s my view on sports cards sectors for 2022.
Bullish on:
-All soccer, especially vintage
-Vintage basketball
-Vintage football
Bearish on:
-Hockey, except for ultra blue-chip
-Golf
-Tennis
-Modern basketball
Unfortunately, there isn’t much to say for this section. It’s the same as last week, and the week before it… and the week before it. Sports cards have been flat for pretty much all of this year.
Two things to note about this week’s CardLadder’s reports besides the aesthetically-pleasing Red on the Left, Green on the Right design they’ve gone for (mostly):
The high-end index continues to slide. This was the last holdout of positivity as lower and mid-range cards slid in early 2022. This could mean the whales have finally given up.
The racing index continues to climb, and they’ve finally added Max Verstappen (and Charles LeClerk) cards to the dataset. I’m actually really bullish on Verstappen relative to Lewis Hamilton. He *might* be the Nadal to Hamilton’s Federer.
That said, I’m still not convinced about F1.
Has Formula 1 peaked in the US?
— Wyatt Cavalier (@itiswyatt) April 26, 2022
Also, there’s only one state where Max Verstappen is more popular than Lewis Hamilton.
See if you can guess which one before expanding the second image. pic.twitter.com/KKSc4Z9Pv4
Last Week in Sports Cards
Fractional secondary markets
The single Lewis Hamilton card on Rally continues to make noise as it races around the competition, and it’s now Super Wildly Overvalued.
The Big Three (baseball, basketball, and football) were all positive, while soccer, boxing and wrestling were taken to the mat.
This Week
Assets dropping on marketplaces
Just three sports cards dropping this week on fractional marketplaces:
Wax Box Basket (2x) 1980 Topps Basketball
- Market Cap: $67,750
- Inferred Value: $56k
- Date: 4/27/22 on Collectable
- Our View: [INSIDERS ONLY]
‘17 Flawless Shield Signatures RPA 1-of-1 Patrick Mahomes
- Market Cap: $1,990,000
- Inferred Value: $612,000
- Date: 4/28 on Collectable
- Our View: [INSIDERS ONLY]
Tiger Woods 1996 SI for Kids BGS 10
- Market Cap: $55k
- Inferred Value: $62k
- Date: 4/29/22 on Rally
- Our View: [INSIDERS ONLY]
‘03 Fleer Tradition Crystal Trio BGS 9.5 #’d /50 LeBron | Wade | Melo
- Market Cap: $70,370
- Inferred Value: $24,000
- Date: 5/1on Collectable
- Our View: [INSIDERS ONLY]
Auctions
Goldin’s got another auction on! What’s noteworthy this month?
I filtered by superfractors, and these are the top three results by bid value. They beat out baseball, basketball and… well, everything else.
There are some wild things going on here:
- Lewis Hamilton is almost 50x relative to the comparable Verstappen card. If you look at the base or refractors from the same set, Hamilton has the edge on Verstappen but by no more than 2x. I suspect part of the issue is that the Hamilton card is the man himself, while Verstappen’s is the view of his vehicle (there’s one of each for both drivers in the set).
- It might be down to his recent injury, but many view Pedri as a generational talent at Barcelona. He’s been compared to Messi and Zidane. If any of these comparisons are even a little bit accurate (and this injury isn’t a sign that he’s reaching Haaland-esque burnout), then this card could be a huge bargain.
Lots more of the usual stuff in the auction. I’ll be watching this Walter Payton rookie, the Bumblebee Dwayne Johnson card, this unopened box of 1986 Fleer NBA (possible Jordan rookie cards), and this Jackie Robinson rookie.
Not a sports card, but I can’t mention the auction without noting they’ve got a 1951 Jackie Robinson game-used jersey that’s currently sitting at $3.5m.
