Notes: Big Show Weekend; eBay Brady Sales Boom; Beckett Seeks Graders; “The Base Burglar”
Dallas Card Show in McAllen, TX.
There are three large sports card shows taking place this weekend. It’s been a long time–a really long time–since the hobby has had multiple three-day shows on the same weekend.
The Dallas Card Show returns to the Watters Creek Convention Center in Allen with 450 tables and a roster of autograph guests that includes Doc Gooden, Earl Campbell, Darrell Evans, Bill Madlock and Michael Gallup.
The Chantilly Show returns with CSA setting up shop at the Dulles Convention Center, just outside Washington, D.C. No autographs there, but a good sized list of dealers in an event that’s typically very well attended.
Midwesterners will gather at the St. Louis Show, a 125 table event at the Machinist’s Hall in Bridgeton, MO.
All three shows open Friday afternoon and run all weekend.
Since January 1, eBay users have spent a lot of money on Tom Brady stuff.
Company data shows over $45 million in sales of Brady cards and other memorabilia associated with the quarterback have changed hands on its platform over that time frame.
The sales came from over 48,000 different sellers, who have sold a total of nearly 270,000 items–over 230,000 in Trading Cards and another 33,000+ through the Fan Apparel and Souvenir subcategory.
Not surprisingly, the biggest day of sales was on February 7, the day Brady earned his seventh Super Bowl ring. Over 12,000 Brady items were sold that day. The day after the game, another 7,824 were purchased.
A total of 47 listings sold for $50,000 or more. All of them were rookie cards except for one, which was a Brady/Patrick Mahomes dual autograph 1/1 card from 2019 Panini Flawless, graded 9.5 by Beckett.
On all but three days since the Super Bowl, at least 1,000 Brady-related items have sold on eBay each day. Not a lot of people can say they were all that confident of another Brady win when the playoffs began. eBay says only 733 Brady items were sold on January 7.
There are currently over 127,000 Brady listings in the category.
If you think you can grade sports cards as good as anyone, consider yourself in high demand. Every major grading company is looking to hire right now. PSA has added dozens of employees since the first of the year, SGC has been building its workforce and yesterday, CSG announced a grading seminar at which they’ll scope out potential new hires.
Beckett, too, is hoping to bring in new graders. They’re looking to add full- and part-time employees to work at their Dallas headquarters to address the continued growth and interest in the hobby.
Applications are being accepted for graders and verifiers. You’ll need “a firsthand knowledge of the trading card industry, strong organization and problem-solving skills and a meticulous mindset,” according to a company press release.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Beckett since 2000 and have never seen as much growth and excitement in the industry,” said company president Jeromy Murray.
What’s the story behind that photo on Brian Hunter’s 1999 Topps card?
Who better to tell it than Hunter himself, who once swiped 20 bases in a row without being caught. Hunter is now a grandfather and, it turns out, a big fan of baseball cards.
MLB.com caught up to him.
