Pop Report: Pokémon Rises, Major Sports Fall in Latest PSA Returns

PSA graded 226,739 cards last week which was flat compared to the prior week. In specific category news, Pokemon saw a massive bump in graded volume to make up for small declines across most major sports.

Read this week’s Pop Report from GemRate for the latest news on PSA’s grading trends.

From a category perspective:

• It was a big week for Pokemon at PSA – which spiked over 50% compared to last week. As a result, all the major sports with the exception of hockey saw declines compared to the week prior.

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

19 – Baseball

13 – Basketball

9 – TCG

6 – Football

1 – Golf

1 – Hockey

1 – Tennis

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:

• UP: Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, LaMelo Ball, Allen Iverson
• DOWN: LeBron James, Ja Morant, Kevin Durant
• OUT: Zion Williamson, Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry

BASEBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Ken Griffey Jr, Mike Trout, Bo Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Randy Arozarena
• DOWN: Fernando Tatis Jr, Derek Jeter
• OUT: Luis Robert, Bo Bichette, Kyle Lewis

FOOTBALL

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes II, Peyton Manning, Deion Sanders, Joe Montana, Mac Jones
• DOWN: Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa 
• OUT: Jalen Hurts, Jordan Love, Justin Jefferson, Trevor Lawrence

SOCCER

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

Noteworthy moves:

• UP: Lionel Messi, Youssoufa Moukoko, Neymar Jr., Alex Morgan, Jude Bellingham
• DOWN: Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Pedri
• OUT: Jadon Sancho, 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: Kirill Kaprizov, Sidney Crosby, Sergei Fedorov, Eric Lindros, Joe Sakic 
• DOWN: Connor McDavid
• OUT: Pavel Bure, Alexis Lafreniere

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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