Welcome to The Hobby Wire — a newsletter for collectors, investors, and everyone in between.
Each month, we take a step back and look at where the sports card world stands—what’s been moving the market, what’s on deck, and where collectors should be paying attention. Let’s rip in.
As of September 25th, PSA has raised their prices and turnaround times. The move had mixed receptions amongst collectors. We broke it down and gave our opinion here.
PSA Raises Prices...Again
Looks like there was something to last week’s smoke. After a week of rumors, PSA did in fact raise their prices as of September 25th. But not only have prices for their grading services gone up as high as an additional $5, but they’ve increased turnaround time as well.
There’s growing theory that we may be reaching the point where wax is becoming too expensive. We’re two months after the release of 2025 Topps Chrome Baseball and we can still see cases worth of blasters on the shelves of your local Target. The breaking community has seen some change as well with it becoming harder to fill group breaks of specific products. Many are starting to lean more into singles auctions, which unlike breaking, is actually booming. Mike Gioseffi, on his podcast “Sports Card Nonsense” talked about this phenomena in greater detail earlier in the month.
Football Heat Check
Entering Week 5, we’re starting to see some separation amongst the good and the bad in the NFL. The Bills and the Eagles, to no one’s surprise, remain the top teams in the NFL. The Colts are a different story. They won their first three games with Daniel Jones at the helm and the hobby is starting to take notice. His 2019 Silver Prizm Rookie card has gone from an average price of $86 in the preseason to recent sales of around $250!
A team that has completely fallen off since last season are the Baltimore Ravens. They haven’t had the easiest schedule to start — facing the Bills, Lions and Chiefs. But the defense has surprisingly been pretty bad too. Collectors still think the team will turn things around after their 1-3 start as there seems to be no negative impact on the card sales for both Lamar Jackson or Derrick Henry.
Now that we’re 4 weeks in, we can also start to get a sense of which rookies are worth collecting as officially licensed NFL cards start to come out this month. Raiders RB Ahston Jeanty was beginning to look like a bust for the first three weeks. However, it looks like he’s finally figured it out after his monster 3 Touchdown game against the Bears last Sunday. With performances like that, he’ll continue to be in the conversation of best rookie to chase in this year’s product.
Takeaway: Four weeks in, the Bills and Eagles look like steady hobby anchors while the hot start from the Colts has Daniel Jones cards on the rise. Baltimore is struggling on the field, but collector confidence in Lamar and King Henry hasn’t wavered. With licensed rookie cards now hitting shelves, Ashton Jeanty’s breakout has him leading the early chase.
MVP Odds Check:
Josh Allen — +100
Justin Herbert — +550
Patrick Mahomes — +650
Welcome to October Baseball!
The book has closed on another regular season in the MLB. Season awards are essentially locked with the only one that’s too close call being Aaron Judge or Cal Raleigh for AL MVP. Playoff teams are locked in as well with the Dodgers still as the odds-on favorite to win it all. If you’re looking for a quick flip opportunity, this would be the time. Watch as much of the wild card round as you can and see if you can spot who the most locked-in players are. Anyone can be a superstar when October comes around. While it’s a risky game to play, it can really pay off if you buy into a player like Anthony Volpe and he puts on a show in the ALCS.
In September, Clayton Kershaw announced that he’ll be putting in his retirement papers when this season is over. Fans are getting one last glimpse of one of the greats in the game during his final playoff appearances. In September, pre-announcement prices for his base Topps Updates & Highlights Rookie Card sat at around $557. Today, his recent sales are averaging closer to $645. Hall of fame flips are tricky. This probably isn’t the time to buy a Kershaw card given the recency of his retirement announcement. We’d expect a dip in pricing during the five year lull between retirement and his inevitable enshrinement.
Takeaway: The MLB regular season is wrapped, with the Dodgers entering October as favorites. Playoff runs create prime flip windows, so keep an eye on players you think can pop. Kershaw’s retirement has given his rookie prices a short-term bump, but long-term buyers may want to wait until prices drop a year or two out.
MVP Odds:
NL
Shohei Ohtani — -50000
Kyle Schwarber — +1600
AL
Aaron Judge — -330
Cal Raleigh — +250
CY Young Odds:
NL
Paul Skenes — -50000
Christopher Sanchez — +1400
AL
Tarik Skubal — -20000
Garrett Crochet — +1200
We’re so Close to Basketball Season, You Can Sniff It.
With preseason starting this week and season tipoff around the corner, there hasn’t been much news to report in the basketball world as teams and players prep for the start of the season. The biggest story to come out of the NBA this month has been the accusation that Steve Ballmer and the Clippers may have used a third party company to circumvent the cap and pay Kawhi Leonard more than they were allowed to when he made his decision in 2019 free agency. The NBA is currently in the middle of an investigation that will either prove or disprove these allegations.
At the moment, there isn’t really much of an impact for collectors here. Kawhi Leonard’s cards don’t move like they used to when he was the newly crowned prince of the Spurs. Where this story does get interesting is if Ballmer and the Clippers are found to be guilty of circumventing cap rules. Adam Silver and the NBA will have to come down hard on the franchise and, historically, violating cap rules has equaled to a loss of future draft picks. For the hobby, this could mean the Clippers become one of the cheaper teams in future team breaks for basketball products without any significant rookies in the checklist.
The biggest news for Collectors by far has to be that this is the season Topps/Fanatics begins their exclusive ownership of the NBA trading card license. All 2025-26 Topps Basketball products will finally have league-branded elements such as team names and logos. As a result, Panini is planning to stop making new basketball cards all together. For the past couple of years, they haven’t been able to issue autographs of the sports biggest stars. Now there cards will be unlicensed as well, any future product would be virtually worthless in comparison.
Takeaway: With the season about to tip off, there isn’t much to report that relates to the hobby. The biggest takeaway — if you collect licensed product only — is that you’ll need to start buying Topps Basketball products.
MVP Odds Check:
Nikola Jokic — +220
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — +250
Luka Doncic — +380
Upcoming Wax Releases
If you like football cards, this month is gonna put a big hole in your wallet.
2025 Panini Black Football - 10.08.25
2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball (Mega Boxes) - 10.08.25
2024 Panini Flawless Football - 10.09.25
2025 Panini Impeccable Football - 10.15.25
2025-26 Upper Deck Series 1 Hockey - 10.15.25
2025 Donruss WNBA - 10.16.25
2025 Topps Holiday Baseball - 10.22.25
2024 Panini Eminence Football - 10.23.25
2025 Panini Phoenix Football - 10.29.25
2025 Panini Certified Football - 10.29.25
2025 Topps Baseball Update Series - 10.29.25
2025 Panini Prizm WNBA - 10.30.25
2025 Panini Absolute Football - 10.31.25
2025-26 Topps Basketball - TBD October
Watchlist Check-In
The Hobby Wire isn’t really in the business of frequent buy/sell alerts. However, from time to time, we may make the occasional pick. Accountability is everything to us. So, whenever we do decide to highlight an athlete we think is worth looking into, we’re going to track their season long progress here. Good or bad. Be on the lookout for a recommendation or two around the midway point for NFL and definitely before the NBA season tips off!
*Our standard price comparison will be Prizm/Refractor versions of athlete’s chrome rookie cards since those are the most accessible to collectors of all price points.
Collector’s Corner (Recommended Reads & Watches)
Here are some articles/videos around the hobby and the sports we follow that caught our eye.
Kings of Cardboard - Chasing Majors
5 Fast Tips for Prospecting Bowman 1st Cards - Happy Hobby Sports Cards Newsletter for Collectors
Baseball Today - Podcast with Chris Rose & MLB Veteran Trevor Plouffe
Thanks for Reading!
That’s it for this month’s State of the Hobby. Now it’s your turn: jump into the comments and let us know what you think — which storylines you’re watching, how you see the market moving, and what you’d like us to track going forward. Your feedback will shape how we cover the hobby from here on out.
If you enjoyed this edition, be sure to subscribe to The Hobby Wire. In addition to our monthly State of the Hobby, we’ll be dropping 2–3 posts each week with player spotlights, collector insights, product reviews, and market trends to keep you plugged into what’s happening right now in the hobby.
We’ll be back with more hobby chatter next month—until then, the floor is yours.
— The Hobby Wire Team
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 alt.xyz & 130pt.com.
Any odds mentioned were derived from DraftKings Sportsbook.