Is Your Grail Card Closer Than You Think?
We often think high-end cards are out of our reach, but Patrick Imhoff explains how he landed his white whale -- and you can, too!
Each Happy Hobby Sports Card Newsletter For Collectors has a handful of great sports card subjects, helping sports card collectors working with limited budgets!
This Week’s Newsletter Highlights!
⚾🏈🏀🏒 IS YOUR GRAIL CARD CLOSER THAN YOU THINK!?!
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
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⚾🏈🏀🏒 IS YOUR GRAIL CARD CLOSER THAN YOU THINK!?!
Happy Hobbyist Patrick Imhoff shares some insight on a project he’s been working on – and he explains how you can improve your collection greatly in the same manner. Footnotes throughout the article were added by David Gonos.
Grail Card: A card that is highly sought after due to its rarity, high value, or personal significance to the collector. It represents a pinnacle of the collecting pursuit, often involving a long and dedicated search. The specific card that constitutes a “grail” is subjective and varies from collector to collector.
– Google’s AI overview
When I got back into collecting a few years ago, I knew I would always be working on a limited budget and there were some cards that were not in my future. I accepted the fact that because I wasn’t collecting in the early 2000s, cards like Mike Trout1, Alexander Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid were always going to be out of reach. That didn’t mean that I didn’t have a grail card, it just meant that the 2005 Upper Deck Sidney Crosby Young Guns card was never going to be more than a dream.
Or was it?2
Challenge Thrown!
Earlier this year, I saw a video on YouTube from Scottie B Cards3 where he was going after one of his grail cards, a Shohei Ohtani #’d rookie auto card. What was interesting as I watched was that he was willing to sacrifice some of his favorite cards to get this one.
It got me thinking about if I was willing to do the same thing. Was I willing to sacrifice some of the best cards in my collection to go after the Crosby YG? The other question was whether I had enough good cards to make the money I needed to get the card.
Challenge Accepted!
I started doing some research and I determined that I needed to get around $1,000 to get my card, a PSA 9 version of the 2005 Upper Deck Sidney Crosby #201. I was willing to accept SGC as well, and possibly BGS, but PSA was my preferred choice.
I was not willing to buy the card raw, and the minimum grade needed to be a 9. While this card isn’t super rare, there are not a ton for sale at any one time, so timing was everything. Fortunately for me, I was planning to buy no earlier than in the summer and, the Penguins had no shot at making the playoffs, so the card wasn’t going to spike in value for that. (It also helped when Canada took an early exit from World Championship).4
Setting the Rules
Once I had my target number, I set some rules for my sales quest:
Never sell anything that was given to me as a gift from someone else.5
Never sell any of the older vintage cards I had purchased of my other Pittsburgh favorites.6
I wasn’t going to let this quest stop me from continuing to enjoy the hobby, meaning I would continue to buy stuff like I normally do. I didn’t want to just shut down and save up the money, I wanted to use my current collection to get this card.
I was going to be very willing to accept almost any offer on a card, a low offer sale is better than no sale.
I was willing to be patient.
Finding Sacrificial Lambs
Next, I dug through my baseball and hockey card collection to find cards I valued at $10 or more with potential to sell on eBay. I ended up with a stack of about 30 cards I could sell, so I got started with price comps and then listing them on eBay.
Since I mainly sell on eBay, the thing to remember is you lose 13% of profits on each sale and eBay doesn’t just take 13% off the sale price, they include the shipping and taxes to take their cut.
That meant, for me to reach my goal of $1,000, I really needed to make $1,300 in sales.7 I made my first sale toward my goal on March 24, and here are some of the bigger value cards I sold.
2024 Bowman Chrome 1st Auto SGC 9.5 Dylan Crews: $200
2020-21 Upper Deck Young Guns Kirill Kaprizov: $40
2024 Topps Update Black Gold Black /299 Elly De La Cruz: $64
2023 Topps Chrome Image Variation SP SGC 10 Shohei Ohtani: $191
2023 Bowman Draft 1st Refractor Blue /150 Luke Keaschall: $28
2024-25 Upper Deck Young Guns Macklin Celebrini: $708
2021 Bowman Draft 1st Chrome Auto Bubba Chandler: $170
2025 Bowman Chrome 1st Refractor Green Shimmer /99 Josue Briceno: $30
2022 Bowman Draft 1st paper Green /99 Cole Young: $25
2022 Bowman Draft Chrome Mood Ring Superfractor 1/1 Elijah Green: $300
In total, I sold 52 cards between March 24 and June 13 when I hit my magic number, which ended up increasing to $1,200 (or $1,500 in sales).
Lessons Learned
Here are a few lessons I learned along the way:
It is not easy to let go of cards you have collected and pulled. The two that hurt the most were the Bubba Chandler Auto and the Elijah Green 1/1 Superfractor.
It is super cool when you realize that a card you bought for $30 can later sell for $170! Thank you, Bubba Chandler! Being a Pirates fan finally paid off!9
Timing is everything. Delaying listing a card by just one week can cost you lots of money. Once the market gets saturated, prices drop quickly.
Always keep your eye on the prize and ask the hard questions. Would I rather have an Elijah Green prospect card and hope/pray he gets to the big leagues or put the money towards the HOF hockey icon. (Thanks to David Gonos for helping me keep that in perspective as I debated the Elijah Green sale.10 )
You will value your cards more than the person making the offer, meaning it might be lower than you want, but it could also be the only chance you get at making a sale.
The best time to sell a numbered prospect card is the day they are getting called up. If you wait, they may struggle and get sent back down, tanking your sale price.
Recalibrating My Sights on a New Goal!
So, now that I have my “grail card,” what is next? Here are a few more cards I would like to go after:
Marc Andre Fleury Young Guns
Roberto Clemente 2nd- or 3rd-year card
Mario Lemieux RC upgrade (I currently have an SGC 7, but I would like an 8 or higher.) 11
Willie Mays card
Hank Aaron card
I am in no rush to chase these cards, mainly because I do not have much left of value to sell. For now, I will remain content opening some early ‘90s Upper Deck Baseball and Hockey wax.
I would encourage all my #HappyHobby friends to not be afraid to chase after your “grail card,” it may be closer than you think!
Congratulations, Patrick Imhoff! We want to know in the comments – which grail card will you decide to chase!?!
⚾ BASEBALL CARD TRIVIA!
Send me the answer to this question – you could win this free card from me: 2025 Topps Heritage Bryan Woo Blue Sparkle High Number SP #494!
This baseball card has two currently retired players on it, from the same year/Topps set as their true rookie cards, and they combined for 7,367 hits, 820 home runs, 3,018 RBI, and 3,334 runs scored in their careers. What card is it?
Email your answer to gonoscards@gmail.com and you can win this 2025 Topps Heritage Bryan Woo Blue Sparkle High Number SP #494 card! Rather than take the first person who answers it right, I’m going to do a random drawing of all the people who answer this question before midnight, Friday, July 11. The winner will be announced in the July 17 newsletter.
From June 26 newsletter: Which year is the first design that Topps chose to not have a white border (not including the 1953 or 1954 sets, which had a white border on three sides)? Prize: 2018 Topps Francisco Lindor Topps Throwback 1977 Topps Football #108 card! Rather than take the first person who answers it right, I will do a random drawing of all the people who answer correctly before midnight, Friday, July 4. The winner will be announced in the July 10 newsletter.
From June 19 newsletter: Topps Gold parallels started being numbered to the year they were manufactured in what year? Answer: 2001. Prize: 1986 Topps Pete Rose Record Breaker #206 card. Winner:
-- Congrats! Shoot me your shipping address!
Coming Next Week!
⚾🏈🏀 HOW TO SAVE SEARCHES ON EBAY – AND WHY!
🏈⚾🏀 SPORTS CARD TRIVIA!
***Important Card-Collecting Articles on DavidGonos.com***
Connect with David Gonos on:
Email me: mailto:gonoscards@gmail.com
Have a #HappyHobby!
Podcast Music: "I dunno" by grapes - 2008 - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (3.0)
This is called “foreshadowing” for a future article!
If this does indeed end up being a dream, we are going to be so ticked off.
Never heard of 'em.
My guess is Penguins fans and Canadians alike didn’t like this hip-check.
That’s a great point — gifts from others can not be sold. Also, while we’re on the subject, I’m not a fan of people wearing real sports team jerseys with their own name on the back — unless it was a gift from a loved one. In that case — that’s a pretty awesome gift!
That 1976 Topps Duffy Dyer PSA 9 is safe!
Does that math math?
Now that I know your “No offer too low” rule, I missed out on snagging this one! Haha!
That’s what I thought about being a Rays fan when Wander Franco finally got called up. Yoiks.
Glad I could help!
I know a chubby Tampa Bay Lightning fan who will be happy to buy your castoff Super Mario RC slab! His name rhymes with Schmavid Schmonos!
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Excellent article Patrick, and a must read for anyone aiming to level up their collection and score that ultimate card!
Great story and way to go getting your GOAT card.