Welcome back to The Hobby Wire: the newsletter for collectors, investors, and everyone trying to make sense of this wild hobby.
At the start of each month, we take a step back and look at where the sports card world actually stands. What’s moving the market, what’s on deck, and what’s worth your attention over the next 30 days.
Last month had everything. A nearly $1 million heist, first-time world champions, and a daily fantasy site walking away with three record-breaking rookie cards. And November’s already off to a bit of a rough start.
So what has all of it done to the card market?
Let’s rip in.
Previously on The Hobby Wire…
There was a lot of wax to cover last month. Between Allen & Ginter, Topps Update Baseball, and Heritage Football, we were pretty busy breaking down odds and giving our readers our take on which is worth buying or leaving on the shelf.
We also took a little time to find out which Baseball releases’ base cards and raw base autos hold the most value over time and took a step back to appreciate Josh Allen and figure out if his cards are worth buying while he’s still ringless.
Our giveaway gets the spotlight this month. Every subscriber, free or paid, is already entered. Share your referral link with fellow collectors to earn up to 10 bonus entries through November 30. The drawing is December 1st. By the next State of the Hobby, we’ll have our winner.
Around the Hobby
Congrats to the collectors that shelled out for those multi-million dollar Flagg, Harper & Knueppel RDPAs.
What’s that? The winner for all three was a daily fantasy gambling site looking for a chase in their newly launched repacks?
Great...
PrizePicks revealed it bought the Flagg, and all three cards now headline PrizePicks Packs, its new digital repack product. Packs run from $1 to $2,500, and anything you pull can be shipped to you or sold back on the platform. One’s already gone. A collector pulled the Harper out of a $25 pack on October 30. We’re hoping this isn’t the formula going forward. Someone pulls a big chase card, then sells it at auction only for a big company to scoop it up to put in a repack. Not really much collecting going on there, is there?
October was a very mixed bag for PSA. The good news? Value tier is back. Albeit at its most expensive price ever at $39.99 apiece. Standard and Priority each got 20 days cut from their estimated turnaround times, and the backlog is down to 7.2 million cards.
But some of those finished orders never made it home. On October 13, thieves hit a FedEx truck parked outside PSA’s Santa Ana headquarters and made off with two pallets of graded cards. Police put the haul at nearly $1 million. PSA has deactivated the certs on all 6,451 stolen items, and it’s refunding grading fees and paying “fair” market value without waiting on the investigation.
Lastly, did anyone else try and cop a hobby box of 2026 Topps Chrome Update Baseball yesterday?
We sat in a queue for almost an hour watching the items in our cart go from available to sold out, back to available, back to sold out, back to available, then a reset of our wait time in the queue, back to sold out. This was a lot of people’s story yesterday.
There has to be a better way.
Topps should have done EQL pre-orders for their product that has the biggest chase in the hobby. They’ve done that already for Chrome Update Basketball. Or better yet, maybe give more allocation to our local card shops so that we can buy the wax on release day at MSRP.
Anywho. We’ll get off our soapbox now. Let’s talk sports.
Baseball
For the first time in their 57-year history, the Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions. They swept the two-time defending champion Dodgers in the NLCS, then needed just five games to take down the Rays, ultimately proving that small ball is just as viable an option as any to win it all. Also, having the Cy Young favorite can help a lot.
The World Series MVP now has the hobby’s attention. William Contreras batted .381 and gunned down 4 base runners from behind the plate. His 2021 Topps Chrome Rookie Auto last sold for $57 raw. That’s up 185% since the start of October.
November could see a fast free agency, as teams scramble to get the biggest stars signed before a widely expected lockout when the CBA expires December 1.
2027 World Series Odds
Dodgers — +310
Brewers — +500
Yankees — +700
Red Sox — +1100
Basketball
The NBA season is off to the races. LeBron appears to have made his presence felt in Philly, which is firing on all cylinders to sit on top of the Eastern Conference standings.
Lakers have given Luka the keys and he’s flooring it. 37.7 points per game, 8.2 rebounds, 7.3 assists with the Lakers sitting at 5-2 at the time of writing.
Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks are making themselves heard to start the season. Beating some very good teams in the Heat, Thunder, and Rockets.
But with Flagship Basketball dropping in two days, the only thing the hobby cares about right now is how the rookies are doing.
AJ Dybantsa is putting up a respectable 18 points per game in his first two games after his injury. Cam Boozer’s averaging a double-double and a key piece to this juggernaut Grizzlies team. Caleb Wilson, averaging 21.2 points per game, is showing everyone how he might have actually been a steal going 4th overall.
Lastly, the Warriors finally look like they have a succession plan in place when Steph Curry decides to hang them up. Yaxel Lendeborg, much to our surprise, is already looking like a key piece to this Warriors team with a PER of 21.5.
We’ll be keeping our eye on those rookies listed above.
2026-27 could be a decent rookie class after all.
2026/27 NBA Championship Odds
San Antonio Spurs — +290
OKC Thunder — +450
76ers — +850
Knicks— +1000
MVP Odds
Victor Wembanyama — +190
Luka Dončić — +260
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — +390
Rookie of the Year Odds
Cameron Boozer — +210
Caleb Wilson — +350
Yaxel Lendeborg — +350
AJ Dybantsa — +700
Football
Looking at the NFC West, the 49ers are doing what we all thought the Rams would.
6-1 at this point in the season largely due to some brilliant work under center by Brock Purdy. Since the start of the season, Purdy’s Silver Prizm is up 59% in a PSA 10.
In the AFC, we have the only QB with better odds than Purdy for the MVP race. Let’s all take a step back and appreciate the greatness that is prime Josh Allen. He just became the Bills all-time TD passer and is now the NFL leader all-time in QB rush TDs.
Allen’s Silver Prizm has only sold once during this season, for $15,000. A PSA 10 has a very low population. Collectors are smart to hold on if they have one.
2026 MVP Odds
Josh Allen — +140
Brock Purdy — +425
Joe Burrow — +425
Trevor Lawrence — +850
Offensive Rookie of the Year
Carnell Tate — +475
Denzel Boston — +600
Jonah Coleman — +700
KC Concepcion — +750
Defensive Rookie of the Year
Arvell Reese — +220
David Bailey — +300
Jacob Rodriguez — +450
Sonny Styles — +700
Upcoming Wax Releases
Here’s what’s hitting shelves this month (assuming you can get past the queue):
2026 Topps Cosmic Chrome Baseball — 11.04.26
2026 Topps Heritage Football Mega Boxes — 11.04.26
2026-27 Topps Basketball — 11.05.26
2026 Topps Museum Collection Baseball — 11.11.26
2026 Topps Pro Debut Baseball — 11.18.26
2026 Topps Chrome Football — 11.18.26
2025-26 Topps Five Star Basketball — 11.19.26
2025-26 Topps Stadium Club Basketball — 11.25.26
2026 Topps Chrome Update Baseball First Day Issue — 11.27.26
Release dates sourced from Steel City Collectibles and are subject to change.
Collector’s Corner
(Recommended Reads)
A few articles from around the hobby caught our eye this month.
Thanks for Reading!
That’s a wrap on this month’s State of the Hobby. Jump into the comments and tell us what you’re watching, how you’re reading the market, and what you want us to dig into next.
Your feedback shapes how we cover this thing. See you next month.
— The Hobby Wire Team
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Disclaimer: The content in The Hobby Wire is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Commentary, analysis, and opinions on sports cards, rookies, and the hobby are not financial, investment, or professional advice. Collectors should always do their own research before buying, selling, or trading cards. Market values are volatile and can change rapidly—past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Unless specified, all pricing references are based on the Prizm/Refractor parallels of an athlete’s Chrome rookie card, with prices from market movers, alt.xyz & 130pt.com.
Any odds mentioned were derived from DraftKings Sportsbook, unless otherwise specified.