3 Essential Jerry Rice Cards
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How often can you really point to an athlete and definitively state: "He's the best of all time" without it sounding like a major exaggeration? It happens all the time. Listen to any sports radio show during any given week and you're likely to hear the phrase at least once. And then comes Jerry Rice - and almost everyone agrees it's not a load of B.S. How good was he over his twenty seasons, how about holding the records for receiving yards, receiving touchdowns and most receptions, all of which will probably never be broken. A 3-time Super Bowl champ. How's that for greatest of all time?
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Any discussion about Jerry Rice's football cards starts with his 1986 Topps rookie card. The green borders make this a nightmare in terms of condition sensitivity. Centering was also a common problem with this release. Finding a gem-mint copy will require a bit of luck - they practically don't exist! There's just 63 of them out there in the wild. A PSA 9 will set you back around $2,000.00.
What's not to love about this on-card autograph? There are many Jerry Rice auto cards out there, but what makes this one special is a great shot of Rice and a call-back to his MVP performance in Super Bowl 23, when the 49ers defeated the Bengals in Miami. It's just nice to look at, and a PSA 9 copy can be had for under $500.00.
Anyone who grew up or collected in the 90's knew this set. Probably made most popular through the Michael Jordan. The most difficult of the set is the green version with just 15 copies of each player. The red version seen here made up the rest of the 150 and even mid-grade copies run in the neighborhood of $20,000.00 - they are ridiculously condition sensitive.
Brian Hough became a fan of the hobby by opening packs of 1986 Donruss and 1987 Topps baseball with his dad and little brother. He has been writing about the collectibles industry for years, initially as a price guide editor for Tuff Stuff Magazine, which was a monthly sports magazine focused on sports cards and collectibles, particularly known for its price guides and checklists, that initially launched in April 1984.