A potential $15 million+ LeBron James true rookie vertical auto Logoman 1/1 card is still somewhere out there. Let the chase begin! 

Lots of sports-card-soup ingredients going on here when you add in the “horizontal” and “vertical” in the card description. And while I’ll never own that card, I do have a serious question for y’all: there are two cards in this scenario, both of them are 1/1 and have the same exact attributes (Upper Deck, rookie, auto, Logoman) except one is horizontal and one is vertical; what makes the vertical version “more valuable” than the horizontal?

It’s that we just all decided that it is, right? There’s no real other reason why, right? I get the whole “ugh, I have to turn the card sideways to look at it and I would rather pay more money than to not have to move my hand 90 degrees every once in a while…” I totally get that. I’m as lazy as the next guy. 

But at what price? Is that laziness worth $10 more? $100 more? $1 million more?! I totally get why vertical Kaboom!’s are more valuable than horizontal. The print runs and rarity dictate the costs. I’m just not fully sure why this holds true for 1/1’s. 

It’s because we’re lazy, right? You don’t have to tell me…but, just blink twice if that’s the reason. 

Alright, let’s get through a couple of quick-hitters this week, shall we?

This 1/1 Benjamin Franklin autograph sold for $1 million less than it should have sold for. No way this isn’t a $1 million card.  

Don’t look now but we’ve officially hit the run-up-to-the-World-Cup buying season for soccer cards. According to ALT, over the last 90 days soccer has seen a 20+% increase in sales and nearly 11% increase in the last 30 days. The only collectible set that it trails during that timespan? Pokemon cards, of course. 

The beauty of soccer, if you’re looking to sell some of your cards during the World Cup frenzy the ones in most demand are, of course, the “big five”: Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Rinaldo, Lamine Yamal, and Lionel Messi. We love when the market stays consistent. 

Here’s a mind-blowing headline: Former Blue Jays all-star Josh Donaldson says his trading card collection is worth $35 million. 

And the kicker is that he mostly only collects basketball cards. Wild. 

As they say, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than be…apathetic. This 2018 Yasiel Puig Topps Now card that you could have had for free using Topps points (back in the day) or paid less than $8 for will now cost you around $4,000 to buy. A Yasiel Puig card?!

On the back of the card is a photo of the legendary Kobe Bryant, sitting in the stands celebrating Puig’s home run. The card has a print run of just 466 cards and there are only 11 PSA 10’s in existence. Which is why it’s sitting on eBay with a $4,000+ price tag. 

Really, that Max Dowman Topps Now debut rookie card with a print run over over 77,000 cards is not where you’re going to “cash in” on. It’s the dumb Yasiel Puig kind of cards that no one wants…until everyone wants them! 

Speaking of Kobe Bryant… One of my favorite things in the hobby is when a card catches fire and doubles in price, with absolutely no real logic behind it. 

Take this 1996 UD3 Hardwood Prospects Kobe Bryant card, for example. About a month ago you could get this card in a PSA 10 for under $600. Then, for some reason, the card shot up all the way up to around $1300 in a few week’s time. 

Why? No idea. It’s not a rare Kobe card. It’s not a low pop card - there are over 2,200 PSA 10s. It just took off. And a small part of me feels like you guys are all in cahoots and didn’t tell me about it, like that whole Gamestop thing where you guys never told me about the stock until I was the one left holding the bag. 

Hey, next time give me a heads up, please?

Speaking of Topps Now (that’s not a smooth transition since it’s two blurbs ago, but…)… I bought this killer Topps Now card. I have no idea who Joe Hendry is. None at all. And no idea what is happening in that photo. 

However, the image on the card plus caption - especially because I don’t know what’s going on and who that is - just makes me so happy. 

It’s written as a lune. A lune? Yes, basically an American version of a haiku with a 5-3-5 syllable pattern. 

I love it so much.

Munetaka Murakami’s market is booming. Why? Well, because chicks dig the long ball. He’s on pace, as they say, to hit over 60 home runs this year as a rookie. Wild. 

Also, this is cool. It’s less about a little kid hitting a 6-figure Superfractor and more about his reaction. It’s like when you were a kid and your parents surprised you with a trip to Disney and they were like “read what it says… read it… what’s that word…” with a camera in front of your face and you’re just like “oh, cool.” 

I think the last time there was a horse racing & jockey trading card set was the 1993 Jockey Stars Trading Cards set, which was a 220-card set of, well, jockeys and horses. The set’s not all that rare, but maybe it’s time we got a new horse set? I’m not talking about throwing a few cards in Allen & Ginter checklists, but legit jockey and horses cards. 

This is where I would tell you to buy a Cherie DeVaux rookie card as she just became the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby this past weekend. But, see, you can’t. Let’s go Panini - we need horse racing cards!