Rory McIlroy cards aren’t in plentiful supply
By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor
With Rory McIlroy winning the PGA Championship this weekend, some collectors might have rushed to see what kind of cards they can get of the young golfer.
Perhaps an autograph that have sneaked into a product. Or even an event-worn shirt. At the very least, just a card listing his accomplishments – which are piling up quickly.
No. There’s none of that. In fact, there’s just one licensed card and a handful of others.
Part of the reason is the lack of golf products in recent years. Upper Deck hasn’t had a dedicated set to golf since 2005. However, 2012 SP Authentic Golf is scheduled to be released at the end of August (but without McIlroy on the checklist).
Upper Deck had included a number of golfers in its Wide World of Sports and Goodwin Champions products over the last couple of years. But, none of the two-time Major winner.
There are about a dozen of McIlroy’s auctions for cards currently on eBay. The earliest coming from a 2009 unlicensed set – as are most of the cards of him on eBay.
The most popular of the cards is a 2011 Sports Illustrated for Kids. The cards are available as either uncut where nine athletes from multiple sports are on a perforated sheet. Or the card can be bought separately. It’s actually the only licensed card of McIlroy’s.
With his recent success and ranking as the world’s top golfer, perhaps we’ll see him on another trading card soon.
Susan Lulgjuraj is the editor of Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazine. You can email Susan here with ideas, comments and questions. Follow her on Twitter here.
Beckett slabbed an unlicensed “art” card???!!!??? Very disappointing, to say the least.
Most serious hobbyists already know, but casual collectors need to be made aware of all those homemade cards being sold on eBay that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. I can kind of accept “art” cards, to some extent, being sold as original works or art, although I think even that is skirting the licensing issue, at best – and they certainly shouldn’t be slabbed as legitimate issues. Would you slab a drawing I made on notebook paper?
Not sure if people are aware, but you can actually buy programs (also being sold on eBay) to make your own trading cards at home. All you need is a decent computer and printer and some good quality paper and a paper cutter. Many people just download images & logos easily found on the web and use them to make cards that they then sell for inflated prices on eBay, promoting them as “limited issue” or “promotional” sets limited to 25 or 10 copies, or even 1-of-1s.
As someone who buys boxes of Ace Authentic tennis cards and sells excess singles on eBay, it’s frustrating to see fully, officially-licensed cards sell for a buck or two while unlicensed junk often sells for $20 or more.
This article should have carried a warning not to buy any of the cards pictured, except the SI for Kids issue. And slabbing a homemade card? Should never happen. That only leads uninformed collectors to believe it’s a legitimate issue, which it isn’t. Shame on Beckett Grading for doing that.
SI For Kids cards aren’t exactly licensed either.
SIFK is it! We all know how Tigers SIFK did. Same exact situation. SIFK being release years before an unlicensed card was avalible. Now the Tiger SIFK costs almost as much as his 01 SPA Auto rookie /900 when in a 9.5 slab. If Rory keeps it up, his SIFK will be K’s in the not to distyant future. The problem is, finding one that brings a good grade. Very tough card to find in great shape. But that’s part of the chase! Good stuff!
UD of Leaf will get Rory eventually. Question is, who will get him first? The first to pull him in will sell out thier cases in a New York minute!