1987 Barry Bonds PSA 10 Rookie Card Sells for Record Price
In this story:
Even though Barry Bonds is six years away from his next chance to enter the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the lack of a plaque in Cooperstown hasn’t negatively impacted the value of his baseball cards.
Bonds’ PSA 10 1987 Donruss (#361) rookie card sold for a record price in a Jan. 18 eBay auction, fetching $458. According to Card Ladder, the card, of which 1,994 have been graded a PSA 10, sold for $150 on Jan. 23, 2025, a 205-percent increase in value year over year.
As of Sunday, Card Ladder verified 11 sales of the PSA 10 Bonds Donruss card in January, averaging $405 per transaction. Those sales include two eBay fixed price sales ($450 on Thursday and $425 on Friday) that came within $33 of the record-setting sale.
RELATED: The Essential Barry Bonds Baseball Cards
Bonds’ Card Ladder index is up more than 46 percent year over year. The upward trend in Bonds’ value means the Donruss card isn’t his only PSA 10 rookie card in high demand.
A $1,000 sale of a PSA 10 1987 Topps Bonds rookie card (#320) set a new record for Bonds' flagship rookie card, according to Card Ladder, which began verifying Bonds’ online card sales in 2004. A PSA 10 O-Pee-Chee version of the 1987 card (pop. 39) sold for $31,500 at auction through Heritage Auctions on Saturday, marking the second-highest Card Ladder-verified sale on record.
RELATED: Would You Rather: 1987 Topps Bonds RC vs. 1992 Fleer Update Kent RC?
Bonds’ 1987 Fleer (#604) rookie card, sold for $569.99 (eBay fixed price sale) on Jan. 18, didn’t set a record for the card (pop. 1,293). Still, it's topped only by 13 Card Ladder-verified sales from 2004 (when Bonds was named National League MVP for the fourth consecutive season) and four from the pandemic sports card market boom in 2021 (also Bonds' last year on the Baseball Writers Association of America Hall of Fame ballot).
Bonds’ card values shot up ahead of the Hall of Fame’s Contemporary Era Committee vote on Dec. 7. While Bonds’ former San Francisco Giants teammate, Jeff Kent, was elected to the class of 2026 by receiving 14 of a possible 16 votes, Bonds was one of four players on the ballot who failed to receive at least five votes.
Falling below the five-vote threshold means Bonds isn’t eligible for inclusion on the Contemporary Era ballot in 2028. His potential induction into the Hall of Fame won’t be put to a vote until 2031, pushing the next possible enshrinement year for Bonds, Roger Clemens (354 career wins and a record seven-time Cy Young Award winner), Gary Sheffield (509 career home runs) and Fernando Valenzuela (1981 Cy Young Award winner and National League Rookie of the Year) to 2032.
Baseball’s all-time leader in home runs (756), a seven-time MVP, 14-time MLB All-Star selection, eight-time Gold Glove winner and the only player in MLB history to hit at least 500 home runs and steal 500 bases (514), Bonds’ links to the possible use of performance-enhancing drugs have clouded his Hall of Fame candidacy. Bonds fell off the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot in 2021 after receiving 66 percent of the vote, which fell short of the 75 percent requirement for induction on his 10th ballot.
RELATED: The Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1987 Topps
Nevertheless, Hall of Fame voters’ reluctance to let Bonds in hasn’t caused baseball card hobbyists to shy away from pursuing his most iconic and important cards.
-1f9b5aba42acf122a9de17edfe18f6ad.jpeg "Jeff Howe")
Jeff Howe is a sports writer with over two decades of professional experience contributing to ESPN.com, Rivals.com and the Sporting News, among other publications. He currently reports on the Texas Longhorns for “On Texas Football” after covering the Longhorns for 247Sports and CBS Sports. His hobby journey started when he was 6 years old, hanging out at his dad’s card shop and collecting cards alongside his two brothers.