Darvish’s dominance against Yanks speaks volumes
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary
He’s been a star overseas, he’s a millionaire many times over and, heck, he’s even already been on the cover of Beckett Baseball before playing an official MLB game.
But Yu Darvish‘s gem on Tuesday night — 10 strikeouts in eight-plus scoreless innings for a 2-0 win over the New York Yankees — meant one thing.
He’s truly arrived.
The same can be seen on his cardboard, though he’s not exactly been cheap as all of his certified autographs that are presently available are of the needle-in-a-haystack variety and limited to just 25 copies. In other words, they weren’t cheap to start with. But now?
“While most of his basic cards are selling strong within price guide ranges,” said Beckett Baseball Senior Market Analyst Brian Fleischer, “good luck finding a Darvish certified autograph for under $500.”
Darvish’s newest autograph — and first that is not a redemption — is from 2012 Gypsy Queen. A copy of the card sold on eBay Friday morning for $850. A second sold on Thursday night for $900. With those — and more — sales in hand, the card will debut on the Beckett Sports Card Monthly Baseball Hot List at No. 8 in the next issue. (Need a Darvish checklist or OPG? Click here.)
These are prices on par with his 2012 Topps Tribute and Museum Collection autos — cards from products with much-higher pricetags per pack.
“His 2012 Topps Tribute autograph continues to hover around $1,000, while his 2012 Topps Museum Collection autograph has been selling around $800,” Fleischer said.
Meanwhile, the Texas star’s first Rookie Card — a short-printed card in Gypsy Queen — is a hot seller, too, selling for as much as $200.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
Look for prices to fall on the Gyspy Queen base card.
Also, Yu Darvish autograph cards will get more affordable since the later issues will be
more plentiful. You can get autographs of future HOF, perfect game throwing, 2 time cY
award winner, Roy Halliday for a fraction of Yu, not to mention Nolan Ryan, etc.
Still, I expect that his cheapest this year will still be around the $200 range because
of overseas interest.
I don’t see Darvish autos getting any cheaper because they will always be driven by the Japanese market, not the American market. The demand will stay big while the supply will dry up quickly.
For 200.00 I think I will pass on that another 100.00 and you can get a Nolan Ryan rookie card or a nice graded Joe Montana rookie card. Ive spent a lot of monry prospecting before remember Brian Taylor?
i not sure, we mite get the same thing as we did with Ichro, he sign some the first year and then, not very much,. i remember reading a few years back where Yu wasn’t even thinking about MLB, he was happy playing in Japan, but the money talked i guess, so i don’t know how much he will sign. i think only time will tell on this point. but the overseas intrest will keep the price higher i think,