Aaron Judge baseball card sells for record $5.2M

ANKARA

A unique baseball card of New York Yankees star Aaron Judge has sold for $5.2 million, setting a record for the most expensive modern-day baseball card, media reports said on Thursday.

Fanatics Collect said it brokered the private sale of the 2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Superfractor card, which is signed and described as a one-of-one collectible, according to NBC News.

The buyer and seller requested anonymity, the company said, according to the outlet.

The previous publicly known record for a modern baseball card sale was $3.936 million for a one-of-one 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Superfractor card signed by Mike Trout.

A card featuring Shohei Ohtani sold for $3 million in December, the report said.

The Judge card was released four years before the player’s official rookie cards and surged in value after it last sold for $324,000 at a Fanatics Premier auction in 2022.

“We’re incredibly honored to have brokered this record-breaking deal and to be part of such a momentous moment in hobby history,” NBC quoted Fanatics Collect as saying.

According to Card Ladder, the most expensive sports card ever sold remains a Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant dual autograph NBA Logoman patch card that sold for $12.9 million on Aug. 23.

A 1952 Topps card of Mickey Mantle ranks second after selling for $12.6 million in 2022.