The inclusion of Barry Bonds on the Contemporary Baseball Era player ballot has reignited the debate over the polarizing slugger’s Baseball Hall of Fame candidacy while helping his baseball card values maintain their rise.
According to Card Ladder’s player index, Bonds’ card market is up more than 81 percent year over year. Amid the surge, the price of Bonds’ PSA 10 1986 Fleer Update (#U-14) extended rookie card (XRC) reached an all-time high on Saturday.
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An eBay auction ended at 7:17 p.m. ET with a winning bid of $735. Verified by Card Ladder, the sale was $10 more than the card’s (population of 1,423) previous record price of $725 in an eBay auction on Feb. 15, 2021.
The 1986 Fleer Update XRC isn’t the most well-known or most valuable Barry Bonds rookie card, but it sold for an all-time high on Saturday, Nov. 15. A PSA 10 copy of the card (#U-14) sold for $725, breaking the previous record from 2021 by $10. | Card Ladder
Even before it was revealed that Major League Baseball’s all-time home run leader (762) was one of eight players placed on the Hall of Fame’s Committee Era ballot, some of Bonds’ most iconic cards sold for prices rivaling those of the sports card hobby’s explosion, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the 39 PSA 10 copies of Bonds’ 1987 O-Pee-Chee (#320) rookie card sold for $24,359 on Sept. 24. The second-highest sales price Card Ladder is surpassed only by a $31,200 winning bid in a PWCC (now Fanatics Collect) auction on May 19, 2022.
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Heritage Auctions sold a PSA 10 1986 Topps Traded Tiffany (#11T) Bonds XRC (population 454) for $14,030 on Oct. 24. That marked the third-highest sale of a PSA 10 Topps Traded Tiffany Bonds rookie card, a price topped by two Card Ladder-verified sales in February 2021.
Card Ladder has verified only four sales of a PSA 10 1987 Topps Tiffany (#320) Bonds rookie card (population 301) with a higher price tag than a $4,200 eBay sale on Aug. 15. According to the card’s sales history recorded and verified by Card Ladder, the only sales higher than the one three months ago occurred in early 2021.
The 1986 Topps Traded set contains arguably the most recognizable Barry Bonds (#11T) card from early in his career. Like his other key cards, the PSA 10 1986 Topps Traded Bonds XRC is on fire, recently crossing the $700 threshold for the first time since 2021. | Card Ladder
The most recent eBay auction for a PSA 10 1986 Topps Traded (#11T) Bonds XRC, which has a population of 5,113, ended on Saturday with a winning bid of $710. Arguably the most recognizable card from the early years of Bonds’ career, the Saturday transaction was the first of a PSA 10 Topps Traded of more than $700 since March 3, 2021, according to Card Ladder.
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A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time all-star who owns Major League Baseball’s single-season home run record (73 in 2001), Bonds needs 75 percent of the votes from the 16-member committee to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2026.
Under the cloud of controversy regarding Bonds’ suspected use of performance-enhancing drugs, the eight-time Gold Glove winner wasn’t voted into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Bonds dropped the ballot off after failing to garner the 75 percent of votes required for induction in 2022, his 10th and final year on the ballot (Bonds appeared on 66 percent of the voters’ ballots).
Barry Bonds addresses the fans after being inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame at PNC Park on Aug. 24, 2024. | Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images
The results of the Contemporary Era committee’s vote will be revealed on MLB Network on Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Along with Bonds, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, 2000 NL MVP Jeff Kent, 1985 American League MVP Don Mattingly two-time NL MVP Dale Murphy, all-star sluggers Carlos Delgado and Gary Sheffield and pitcher Fernando Valenzuela (a six-time all-star who won the NL Cy Young Award and was named NL Rookie of the Year in 1981) are on the Contemporary Era ballot.
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