Pop Report: Baseball Cards Surge As PSA Ups Grading Volume

In this week’s PSA Pop Report from GemRate, we see PSA pick up the pace on its overall output and a massive spike in the number of baseball slabs coming in. Read below for the latest details on what PSA was up to last week.

Overall Trends

Grading volume by PSA last week was 166,351 items – which is an increase of 16% compared to the prior week. This was the highest volume week for PSA since mid-July (7-day peak of ~228,000 reached on July 13th).

The main five sports noted below outpaced overall activity with 19% increase collectively.

From a category perspective:

• Baseball saw the biggest spike with a 39% increase in activity week over week. 
• Basketball and football also saw healthy increases of 11% and 20%, respectively.
• Hockey continues to show consistent signs of growth on its smaller base. 

The mix of the top 50 players (and characters) graded during the period were as follows:

26 – Basketball

12 – Baseball

9 – Football

3 – TCG

Note: Soccer had 4 players in the top 50 last week that dropped out.

Below you’ll find a list of the top players graded for each category:

An important consideration is what to make of this list. In the current situation where fears of junk slabs dominate the hobby, ranking high on this list likely is negatively correlated with price as that signals a meaningful number of slabs could move into the market in the near future. However, under normal circumstances, it could potentially be a leading indicator of positive price correlation as the list more accurately represents forward looking activity (i.e. bets being placed on players) and price potential.

Basketball:

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• Top 10 players remains the same for the second straight week
• No moves bigger than 1 spot
• UP: Zion Williamson, Luka Doncic, Tyler Herro
• DOWN: LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Trae Young

Baseball

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Ken Griffey Jr, Mike Trout, Kyle Lewis, Ronald Acuna Jr, Juan Soto
• DOWN: Fernando Tatis Jr, Bo Bichette, Yordan Alvarez
• OUT OF TOP 10: Jasson Dominguez

FOOTBALL

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• No change to the top 4
• UP: Josh Allen, Kyler Murray, Clyde Edwards-Helaire
• DOWN: Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts
• OUT OF TOP 10: Russell Wilson

SOCCER

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Mason Greenwood, Jadon Sancho, Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, Serge Gnabry
• DOWN: Kylian Mbappe, Christian Pulisic, Ansu Fati
• OUT OF TOP 10: Kevin de Bruyne

Note: Hockey and soccer lists are more volatile because grading activity is lower. Much smaller moves in grading activity can have a big impact on these lists.

HOCKEY

Top 10 Most Graded Players & Top Graded Card (during the 1-week period)

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Manon Rheaume, Jack Hughes, Kirby Dach, Bobby Orr
• DOWN: Sidney Crosby, Alexis Lafreniere, Steve Yzerman

Note: Hockey and soccer lists are more volatile because grading activity is lower. Much smaller moves in grading activity can have a big impact on these lists.

Data in the Sports Card Investor Pop Report series is provided by GemRate. Follow GemRate on Instagram and Twitter for more on the latest cards graded by PSA.

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