Could Roman Anthony Cards be 2026 Hobby Investments?
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Roman Anthony spent almost exactly three months in the majors in 2025. After being called up on June 9, 2025, Anthony went on to hit .292 with eight home runs and 32 runs batted in before being sidelined September 3 with an oblique strain. While the Boston Red Sox outfielder played just under three months, he still finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.
The injury slowed his play on the field, but it hasn't slowed his market in the trading card industry. Could this be a sign that Anthony is going to be this year's baseball hobby darling?
The Highest Roman Anthony Sale
One big sign that a big market jump is on the horizon for Anthony is a recent sale. According to Card Ladder, Anthony's highest documented sale occurred about a week go on February 19, 2026. His Bowman 1st Chrome Red Refractor (numbered to five and graded a PSA GEM Mt 10 with an autograph grade of 10) went for $93,000 on auction with Fanatics Collect after 57 bids.
For reference, another autographed red refractor of the same grade sold for $69,000 five months earlier on September 2, 2025, a day before he went on the injured list that ended his season. According to Card Ladder, the sale was a private transaction. That's a nearly 35% increase and he hasn't even been on the field again since his oblique strain.
Grading of Roman Anthony Is Up
The second sign of a growing Roman Anthony market comes from his graded cards, specifically looking at his first Bowman Chrome prospect card. According to Gem Rate, in the last 30 days Anthony is the most graded player out of that set, and by a wide margin. Anthony has 167 graded cards from that set, ahead of the second-most graded player in Junior Caminero.
The next three after Caminero are all within 10 copies of each other: Spencer Jones (28), Justin Crawford (21), and Sebastian Walcott (16).
The other factor in Anthony's positive market trajectory is his track record. Along with hitting .292 last season in the majors, over the last three seasons in the minor leagues he's averaged a .283 batting average, 14 home runs, and over 50 runs batted in. Baseball Reference is projecting him to bat .282, hit 11 home runs and drive in 40 runs. As a leadoff hitter that stat line would be desirable to anyone in the league.
Card collectors love to speculate. And with his performance history, and his success in his brief time in the major leagues in 2025, it is not surprising that his market is quickly growing and that there's a good chance he'll be the one to chase throughout 2026.
After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 2008, Cole worked as an advertising copywriter until shifting to print journalism a few years later. Managing three weekly newspapers in the Dakotas, Cole won numerous awards from the North Dakota Newspaper Association including Best of the Dakotas and, their top award, General Excellence. He returned to collecting in 2021 and has since combined his passion for writing with his love of cards. Cole also writes for the Sports Cards Nonsense newsletter and has made guest appearances on multiple sports card collecting podcasts including Sports Cards Nonsense, and the Eephus Baseball Cards Podcast. IG: coleryan411 X: @colebenz