A young Texas Rangers fan holds up a card of his favorite player, Corey Seager, to show Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford during Topps Hobby Rip Night on February 22, 2025 at Rip Valley in Phoenix. (Photo by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Today’s sports card market looks different than it did during its inception, when cards were tucked into cigarette packs.
Leo Petrangelo and his family walk out of Rip Valley after visiting the shop. Card collecting has been a popular hoppy that started in the late 1800s.
Leo Petrangelo looks at sports cards in the case at Rip Valley. Cards can cost 10 cents or $10,000 depending on uniqueness and condition. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Left: Leo Petrangelo and his family walk out of Rip Valley after visiting the shop. Card collecting has been a popular hoppy that started in the late 1800s. Right: Leo Petrangelo looks at sports cards in the case at Rip Valley. Cards can cost 10 cents or $10,000 depending on uniqueness and condition. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Many card shops host events for the community. In late February, Rip Valley card and memorabilia shop hosted Topps Hobby Rip Night, which featured rip cards, the opportunity to mingle and a collection of athletes, including Texas Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford and infielder Josh Jung, Cincinnati Reds pitchers Rhett Lowder and Chase Burns.
Left: A young Texas Rangers fan talks and rips packs of sports cards with Texas Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford and third baseman Josh Jung during Topps Hobby Rip Night on Saturday, February 22, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona at Rip Valley. Center: Josh Jung, Texas Rangers outfielder, holds up his signed big card from Topps 2025 Series One during Topps Hobby Rip Night on Saturday, February 22, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona at Rip Valley. Right: Young sports fans rip packs during Topps Hobby Rip Night on Saturday, February 22, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona at Rip Valley. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Young collectors worked their way around the room, looking for their favorite cards.
“Brewers,” Leo Petrangelo said. “Brice Turang is my favorite on the Brewers.”
Leo Petrangelo looks through sports jerseys at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Rip Valley, which opened just over two years ago in Downtown Phoenix, is among many shops that popped up after the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were looking in new directions for things to do and places to spend their money. In fact, seven of the 10 most expensive sports card sales happened between 2020 and 2022. The most expensive was a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle that sold for $12.6 million in August of 2022. Although the market peaked in 2022, it remains strong.
Boxes of $1 cards of all sports at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona.
Single packs of Topps Chrome Cosmic, Topps Chrome NFL, Bowman Chrome U, and Topps Chrome UFC at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Left: Boxes of $1 cards of all sports at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. Right: Single packs of Topps Chrome Cosmic, Topps Chrome NFL, Bowman Chrome U, and Topps Chrome UFC at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Shops including Rip City offer a variety of products, from single packs of cards priced as low as 10 cents, smaller blaster boxes, hobby boxes, top loaders to protect cards and even memorabilia such as jerseys and hats. Some fans just come to hang out or catch a game on one of their TVs.
A 1948 Leaf card of Billy Johnson graded as a PSA 1 at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona.
Blaster boxes of products like Topps Chrome, Bowman Draft and NBA Hoops at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Left: A 1948 Leaf card of Billy Johnson graded as a PSA 1 at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. Right: Blaster boxes of products like Topps Chrome, Bowman Draft and NBA Hoops at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
The sports card market started as a way for companies, mainly tobacco, to market their products. Beginning in the late 1800s, these companies would insert cards of baseball players, national flags, wild animals and a variety of other figures in their cigarette packs.
These days, the value of a card is influenced by the condition it is in. Collectors also look for numbered cards, which means the life of the card had a short print run.
Chase Burns, Cincinnati Reds pitcher, hands out packs of sports cards to fans during Topps Hobby Rip Night on Saturday, February 22, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona at Rip Valley. (Photo by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Many of today’s cards, including one of Topps’ main products, Topps Chrome, feature different color cards that correspond to a print run.
A 2020 Panini Prizm and 2017 Panini Rookies and Stars of Patrick Mahomes at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona.
A 2017 Panini Prizm and 2020 Panini Select of Devin Booker both graded a PSA 10 at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
Left: A 2020 Panini Prizm and 2017 Panini Rookies and Stars of Patrick Mahomes at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. Right: A 2017 Panini Prizm and 2020 Panini Select of Devin Booker both graded a PSA 10 at Rip Valley in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photos by Giuliano Moller/Cronkite News)
The lower the number, the more valuable the card is, since fewer of them exist. Another thing that can make a card more valuable is the number of the card matching the player’s jersey number or the color of the card being a “color match,” meaning it matches the color of that player’s team.
While the look of the sports card market has changed, the passion of its fans hasn’t.
Giuliano Moller expects to graduate in spring 2026 with a bachelor’s degree in sports journalism. Moller has covered ASU athletic and NASCAR for Blaze Radio Sports.