eBay's Top Selling Athletes & Pokémon Cards for February
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If you only took a quick look at the February 2026 Gemrate report, you might have missed a few key storylines, like how a One Piece card is now a top-three graded card among the TCG category. That's big, since that space has been heavily dominated by Pokémon cards forever.
New data is out highlighting collectibles market sales on eBay, with key movers and shakers in both sports and Pokémon sales. If you track these markets closely, you probably know the main storylines, like how Ohtani and Jordan continue to dominate in the sports world. But there are many other key market trends at play highlighting the shifting momentum across sports and Pokémon.
Baseball Breakout
Baseball is and will forever be a staple, especially for American collectors. As the February grading report showed, Shohei Ohtani is the current baseball darling. For February eBay sales, Ohtani cards generated an incredible $11 million, up 34% from January. While Ohtani is No. 1 right now across all sports, there are many other baseball players gaining momentum among collectors.
Konnor Griffin saw his sales surge to $1.5 million, up 146% from the previous month, while Roman Anthony climbed 112% to just shy of $1 million. Iconic veterans like Mickey Mantle ($2.6 million) and Aaron Judge ($1.9 million) continued to hold significant collector interest.
Baseball’s rich history with dozens of established stars to choose from, plus a new crop of rising players, shows the market is still very active for both legacy cards and emerging talent.
Basketball Highlights
Basketball players dominated the high end of the list, grabbing six of the top 10 overall eBay sales spots. Players with the highest sales volumes were MJ (#2), Cooper Flagg (#3), LeBron (#4), and Kobe (#5). Victor Wembanyama (#6) and Stephen Curry (#9) also finished among the top 10.
Players who saw sales volume increase last month include Kon Knueppel (+19%), Cooper Flagg (+6%), and Michael Jordan (+11%). On the flip side, a lot of the legends and present-day greats saw sales numbers slip, including Luca Doncic (-28%), Steph Curry (-18%), Kobe Bryant (-16%), and LeBron James (-13%).
It will be interesting to keep an eye on Kobe Bryant sales in March, after the insane 83-point performance by Bam Adebayo, which overtook Bryant for the 2nd most points scored in an NBA game.
Drake Maye Drops and Jack Hughes Goes Nuclear
Numerous big-name football players saw significant incremental sales cuts compared to January, including Drake Maye (-50%), Caleb Williams (-48%), Bo Nix (-47%), and Josh Allen (-27%). However, a few football players saw a nice bump in sales volume, including Patrick Mahomes (+26%) and Jaxson Dart (+36%). Tom Brady took a minor 2% dip, but with three fewer days in the month it's more or less a wash relative to January.
However, the biggest winner in February was hockey’s Jack Hughes, who posted a remarkable 1,427% increase in month-over-month sales volume. That insane surge was by far the biggest pop by any player in any sport for February among players with at least $100K in eBay sales.
OG Pokemon look steady
Unlike the sports card category, Pokémon cards remained strong and steady without any of the crazy swings seen in the sports card market. Among the top 30 Pokémon by sales volume, the most volatile card was Dragonite, with $1.4 million in sales and a 27% gain for the month. Charizard led all Pokémon card sales with $11.7 million (+4%), but Pikachu wasn't far behind with $9.6 million (+8%).
Other characters like Gengar ($3.2 million), Umbreon ($3.1 million), and Mewtwo ($2.6 million) also performed well. While Dragonite was one of the top performers, Venusaur also did well, with $1.2 million in sales and up 21% month over month.
Observations and Takeaways
February demonstrated a mix of stability and surprises. Baseball and basketball continue to do very well among sports card collectors, with rookies seeing the biggest gains in momentum.
The Pokémon’s market, meanwhile, remained robust and considerably less volatile. Top-tier Pokémon as well as some mid-range characters saw meaningful increases with muted losses. For collectors, it’s a reminder that the market constantly shifts, rewarding attention to trends and emerging talent.
2026 is already off to a blazing start, with record sales across Pokémon and modern baseball cards. The next few months could determine if this year is the best year ever for collectibles. For now, all the data looks like this year will be one for the record books.
Conor is a life long sports card enthusiast who started collecting in the early ’90s, inspired by hometown heroes like Larry Bird, Paul Pierce, Tom Brady, and David Ortiz. Like many ’90s hoops fans, he also started building (and continues to build) a modest Michael Jordan collection.