Beckett Fall Down Go Boom! | Topps Chrome Duplicates AGAIN?! | & More Sports Card News!
A comprehensive Sunday sports card news episode covering major industry issues including Beckett's website collapse and infrastructure overhaul, duplicate Topps Chrome serial numbers discovered at DC Sports 87, and record-breaking sales across vintage and modern cards with prices ranging from hundreds of thousands to over $12 million.
Summary
The episode opens with the host covering accumulated news from the past 10 days while he was away. A major focus is Beckett's unexpected website shutdown on September 9th with minimal warning, citing infrastructure improvements. The site remained offline for about 7-10 days, with users redirected to a maintenance page on amazonaws, before Beckett reopened submissions via JotForm rather than their standard website. The host and others speculate about potential data breaches or catastrophic maintenance errors, though the company has not disclosed the exact cause.
A significant problem emerged with duplicate Topps Chrome 2025 Wemby red refractor cards, with multiple copies sharing the same serial numbers appearing at DC Sports 87. DC Sports initially claimed ignorance but later withdrew three auctions and flagged the account for future review. The host discusses whether these are manufacturing defects from Topps or potentially counterfeit cards, noting that DC Sports' explosive growth (130,000 cards weekly) may make quality control impossible.
The episode extensively covers record card sales, including a 1957 Topps Hank Aaron PSA 9 that sold for $165,000 (up 300% in 8 months), a 1995 SP Top Prospects Michael Jordan auto that fetched $625,000, and most notably a Michael Jordan Finals game-worn jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals reaching $12 million. Other notable sales include a Shohei Ohtani rookie at $390,000 and a Kirby Puckett signed rookie PSA 7 Auto.
The host criticizes analyst Darren Rovell for inconsistent commentary on card market valuations, noting that Rovell questioned a $5,000 Shohei Ohtani rookie while accepting a $40,000 Jim McAndrew rookie without scrutiny. Issues with PSA grading are discussed, including a Magic Johnson card where the PSA slab broke, and the host praises PSA for successfully reholder and re-grading a 1994 Upper Deck Mantle-Griffey Jr. card from old PSA DNA labels to modern holders.
The episode covers various positive market developments including Ken Griffey Jr.'s 1989 Upper Deck rookie becoming the first card to exceed 200,000 estimated graded copies, newly discovered 1952 Topps packs certified by BBCE, and Olympic-related cards like Jack Hughes' golden goal autograph. The host discusses the growth of non-sports cards, particularly noting that 1990 Topps Simpsons Bartman cards have appreciated dramatically, with PSA 9s selling for $2,000 compared to $200 just months earlier.
The host also highlights eBay's improvements in showing actual sale prices for best-offer items, discusses various collection highlights like JT Canadian's Bill Harris rainbow collection, and covers emerging product lines including Wendy's Sonic the Hedgehog cards and NFL debut patch cards. Throughout, the host emphasizes the industry-wide challenges of incompetence and rapid growth overwhelming quality control systems.
About this episode
For Auction Wire, use code HERO: https://auctionwire.ai/ For a free month at Card Ladder, use code HERO: https://app.cardladder.com/signup?via=HERO For The Pennysleever, use code HERO: https://www.thepennysleever.com/discount/HERO In today's Clearing The Bases, I talk about Beckett's website going down and now taking submissions through Jotform, the appearance of Topps Chrome duplicates again, some amazing auctions, and more sports card, memorabilia, and collectibles news! If you want to support my channel, you can sign up for a $2/month membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRfWi9L4EOSYtXoW_nc-X-g/join Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/junk.wax.hero/ And Twitter: https://twitter.com/JunkWaxHero79 My eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/usr/mikejwh #sportscards #tradingcards #baseballcards
Key Insights
- Beckett shut down their website on September 9th citing infrastructure improvements, but remained offline for 7-10 days and eventually reopened submissions through JotForm rather than restoring their normal website, with users speculating about undisclosed data breaches or catastrophic maintenance errors
- DC Sports 87 discovered duplicate Topps Chrome 2025 Wemby cards with identical serial numbers, and when confronted admitted they cannot individually check cards from their 130,000 weekly inventory from thousands of customers, suggesting either manufacturing defects or intentional counterfeiting
- A 1995 SP Top Prospects Michael Jordan card with PSA 6 body and PSA 10 autograph sold for $625,000, which the host found inexplicably expensive and requested explanation from viewers
- A Michael Jordan Finals game-worn jersey from Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals reached $12 million in bidding with only one initial bid of $10 million, marking what the host believes is the highest price ever for a used sports garment
- Darren Rovell criticized a $5,000 Shohei Ohtani rookie as the market getting out of hand, but accepted a $40,000 Jim McAndrew rookie as sensible despite McAndrew's modest 37-53 career record, demonstrating inconsistent analysis
- PSA successfully regraded a 1994 Upper Deck Mantle-Griffey Jr. certified autograph card from old PSA DNA labels to modern holders, resulting in a PSA 8 Auto 10 grade, demonstrating positive service quality
- Ken Griffey Jr.'s 1989 Upper Deck rookie card became the first sports card to surpass 200,000 estimated copies across four major grading companies, with the host predicting significantly more copies will eventually be graded
- 1990 Topps Simpsons Bartman cards have appreciated dramatically, with PSA 9s now selling for $2,000 compared to approximately $200 just months earlier, indicating explosive growth in the non-sports card market
Topics
Transcript
[0:01] Good morning and happy Sunday to everyone. This is an extremely powerful and expansive episode of " Clearing the Bases." I didn't have it last week because I was away. Uh , I'm not going to go into everything from last week, because a lot of it has already been, uh, covered ad nauseam. So things like updating the list of completed work from PSA, starting at $60 as standard. I won't talk about it. But I remembered a lot of things from last week that, uh , I didn't have time to cover. [0:31] Which I still find interesting. Recording this Saturday morning. I'm going to a wedding this afternoon and will be there until the evening. So…
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