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- Damn the (Collectible) Torpedoes
Well, Collectors, that didn’t take long.
After the Yankees clobbered 15 home runs in their opening series, Topps released a NOW card featuring Jazz Chisholm Jr. holding a torpedo bat, the new physicist-designed lumber taking over the MLB debate scene to start 2025.
It certainly got us wondering, how much would the original torpedo bat, or the one Chisholm is holding on the card, go for if it ever hit the auction block?
Padres star Jackson Merrill has impressed with his consistency on the field, but his autograph is another story. Collectors have noticed drastic variations in his signed cards, ranging from a simple “J” scribble to more detailed signatures with his uniform number. Merrill admitted to The Athletic that he prioritizes speed when signing thousands of cards, reserving better signatures for special items. His attitude toward autographs has drawn criticism, especially after a box of unsigned cards linked to him was found in a trash compactor—a mistake, he says, not intentional. Despite the controversy, demand for Merrill’s cards is soaring, with recent sales topping $15,000.
Jackson Merrill's autographs. That's it. That's the tweet.
Spent 2 minutes looking on eBay and found 8 different variations 🧐
— kasey (@kaseymcdd)
11:28 PM • Jan 14, 2025
March set new records for both transaction volume and card grading, suggesting an upswing in the hobby. Data company, Card Ladder tracked over $300M in sales (up from $247M in February), with eBay leading at $240M, followed by Fanatics Collect and Goldin. Grading activity also surged, with GemRate reporting nearly 2M cards processed—a 13% increase year-over-year. Combined with six $1M-plus sales already this year, the market appears to be in its strongest run since the pandemic.
A routine shipment to a COMC facility took a dangerous turn when an employee opened a box of baseball card binders contaminated with methamphetamine. After immediate exposure, the worker reported feeling ill, prompting a building evacuation and a HazMat response. Police revealed that the drug was scattered throughout the binder pages, with larger concentrations deeper in the package. Authorities are now investigating the source of the shipment and have identified the sender’s address.
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eBay is launching a new option allowing buyers to have eligible trading cards (raw, non-autographed cards priced at $250+ with at least two images) graded by PSA directly at checkout. The service eliminates extra shipping steps, reducing handling risks and expediting turnaround times. After purchase, sellers send the card to eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee service before it’s forwarded to PSA for grading. Once graded, the card is shipped to the buyer, with no returns allowed on PSA-graded items.
StockX is introducing a new Verified Seller program which allows approved resellers to ship directly to buyers, bypassing the platform’s authentication centers. This initiative aims to provide faster delivery, with express ship orders arriving in 3-6 business days, about half the time of typical StockX transactions. The program, currently in its pilot phase, will only make up less than 1% of StockX’s volume but could reshape the resale platform’s logistics.