OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (WDAF) — Patrick Mahomes trading card values are soaring. According to Barrons.com, just last week a Mahomes signed rookie card sold for $861,000!
A Kansas City collector has a small stash that might be able to top that.
Scott Neal has been collecting since he was a kid. He owns The Baseball Card Store in Overland Park and hosted a Panini card signing with Mahomes in June of 2018, several months before the superstar ever threw his first touchdown pass for the Chiefs.
Neal said he didn’t know exactly what he had. Mahomes signed cards and footballs for Neal and more than 100 Chiefs fans that day. No one would have predicted how much that merchandise is worth now.
Collectors have never seen anything like it.
“In a sports card market I’ve seen Bo Jackson hit town, and he was exciting, but Patrick Mahomes has outdone them all. Trying to find a piece of autographed memorabilia is very difficult,” Neal said.
Especially those limited-edition Mahomes signed rookie cards.
“A lot of these cards, there were less than 99 made. Some of them there were less than 10 made, like the gold prism,” Neal said. “Some of them actually have the serial number on the front where there’s only 25 of that card made.”
It was late summer 2018. Neal remembers the very day he started seeking more cards in an effort to get ahead of the pack of collectors he knew would soon come running.
“The first game in San Diego they won. Then Mahomes went to Pittsburgh and we won. He went up and down the field like I’ve never seen before, and I said, ‘I got to buy every Patrick Mahomes card I can find. This guy’s going to do it for us,'” Neal said. “During that game I got on the internet and started buying Patrick Mahomes cards.”
Neal has a signed football and program from the Chiefs victorious Super Bowl IV. He has one hundred-year-old Ty Cobb cards. He has Mickey Mantle and Lou Gerhig, Babe Ruth, Wilt Chamberlin and Michael Jordon. Hall of Famers who are retired or even dead for decades.
None as valuable as a phenom with only three years of professional football under his cleats. All of those legends together couldn’t buy one of those special Mahomes cards.
“Never in my life. I just never thought any card would ever do this. The escalation in value has never been seen before,” said Neal.
The question is: Do you sell now while the market is red hot, or to wait on the assumption that Mahomes becomes a Hall of Famer? The answer: either way, it’s a gamble.
Thankfully, Neal doesn’t just deal in priceless Mahomes rookie cards. He has Mahomes trading cards priced at three dollars for the frugal collectors. And last year’s Super Bowl trading card packs for only $20.
His shop is steeped in Royals and College memorabilia too and he’s looking for more. So if you cleaned out your closets, attics and basements during last year’s Shelter in Place orders, Scott Neal might just make you an offer.
By the way, Neal obviously doesn’t keep his most valuable memorabilia in the store. Those things are holed away in an undisclosed location, and sometimes available for viewing on his eBay site or Facebook page.
