Michael Jordan, Shohei Ohtani, and George Costanza Lead eBay Searches
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If you’ve been scouring the internet for Michael Jordan cards this summer, or simply marveling at some of the unbelievable prices they’ve sold for, you’re in good company.
Two decades after he last donned that iconic royal blue and gold Wizards jersey, the NBA’s GOAT topped eBay’s athlete search rankings in August, with interest in “His Airness” jumping by 20% from July.
Those eyeballs on Jordan singles, lots, sets, and wax translated into millions in sales on the biggest online marketplace last month, including a $900,100 price tag on a factory-sealed 1986-87 Fleer box, signed and inscribed “Rookie Card Box 1/1” by the five-time MVP himself.
A total of 22 MJ eBay listings topped $50,000, and five crossed the $100,000 mark, highlighted by a pair of six-digit purchases of his 1984 Star #101 rookie cards in MBA and PSA slabs, plus a BGS 8.5 2000 Upper Deck Pros & Prospects jersey auto, numbered to 23, which garnered 89 bids and ended at $134,100.
And that, of course, is only part of the story of Jordan’s continued hobby dominance, with his Card Ladder index growing 13% and top auction houses posting massive results during the month. Most notably, a 1997 Metal Universe Precious Metal Gems in a BGS 8 slab on Alt set an all-time record for the highest publicly sold Jordan card at nearly $1.5 million.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that No. 23 (and 45) was the most in-demand, most talked-about and highest-selling athlete, but he wasn’t the only big name repeatedly typed into eBay's search bar last month.
Ohtani’s Orbit
As Shohei Ohtani continues to pile up accolades and rewrite the record books, he’s cemented his place as one of the hobby’s defining modern superstars.
Despite a dip from his career-high power production and injuries that have kept him from pitching since early July, the four-time MVP trailed only Jordan in eBay traffic and saw an 11% rise in his Card Ladder index in August.
Four different slabbed Ohtani rookie-year signed cards topped $50,000 on eBay, led by a BGS 9.5 2018 Topps Heritage Real Ones Autograph, hand-numbered 63/69, which brought in $105,200 to close out the month. And those were hardly the only cards of the two-way phenom attracting big-money attention.
While it’s nowhere near the $11-million sale of his 2025 Topps Chrome Dual Logoman Auto on July 30, which was the third-highest public sale of all time, Ohtani’s 2025 Topps Dynasty Gold Logoman in a PSA 9 slab reached $1.14 million in a Fanatics Premier auction on August 28.
With Ohtani expected to return to the Dodgers lineup in time for the postseason, there's no doubt collectors will be watching... and bidding.
Serenity Now!
On August 27, the Yankees paid tribute to their former assistant to the traveling secretary with the team’s third annual George Costanza bobblehead giveaway. The first 18,000 fans, many of whom waited hours outside the stadium despite weather delays, received a bobblehead depicting the front-office legend in a Yankees jacket and holding a calzone, a nod to the famous Seinfeld episode.
For the rest of us, Festivus arrived early when some of those fans listed their commemorative figures on eBay, a few before even having them in hand. Searches for “George Costanza bobblehead” jumped more than 700% month over month, with multiple keepsakes going in the $75 range and as high as $115 in the days surrounding the promotion. It doesn’t appear that any were traded for Tyler Chicken.
Lakers Legends Keep Winning
Kobe Bryant's place near the top of any collectibles list isn’t anything new, and a 20% spike in searches for his name definitely tracks. “The Black Mamba” has been a hobby sensation since the day he put on a Hornets hat on Draft Day, with collectors and flippers alike continuing to chase everything from his base rookie cards to his rarest ‘90s inserts that have reached what were once unthinkable levels.
A raw 1997 SkyBox Premium Rubies, numbered to 50, pulled in $300,000 on August 26, well above the $226,500 paid for a PSA 8 just two months earlier. And almost exactly a year before that, another copy in the same grade sold for $122,000, which, in hindsight, looks like an absolute bargain.
The bigger surprise has been the ascent of Bryant’s former Lakers teammate. No, not Horace Grant, though with the way ‘90s cards are trending, it might just be a matter of time.
Interest in Shaquille O’Neal on eBay soared by a whopping 170%, making him the fifth-most popular athlete on eBay in August, with his Card Ladder index jumping 43.89% over the same time span. As for which of the big man’s cards were (and are) on the rise, the answer is pretty much all of them: high-end parallels, base cards, lower-end inserts. Just take your pick.
Rookie Watch
Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg, Topps’ 2025 cover athlete, ranked fourth in total searches and saw the highest month-over-month volume change (30%) of any basketball player outside of O’Neal.
Flagg’s higher-end rookie parallels have already become among the most expensive in the modern era, with three separate 1-of-1 superfractors selling between $182,000 and $288,000 in August alone.
The reigning Rookie of the Year isn’t quite in Wemby territory yet, but with a multimillion-dollar bidding war brewing for his one-of-one debut patch, he’s starting to at least knock on the door.
When 21-year-old top prospect George Lombard Jr. jumped from the minors into the Yankees lineup on August 4th and proceeded to launch the ball into the left-field seats for his first major-league hit, searches for the N.Y. shortstop spiked by more than 840%.
From the day of his call-up through the end of the month, nine of his 2024 Bowman autos and parallels reached at least $10,000, while his 2026 Bowman Chrome Prospect Auto Superfractor in a PSA 9 slab commanded $18,000.
With no NFL games of consequence played in August, the hype train was in full swing for four of the top picks in April’s Draft. Searches for autographs of Tennessee wide receiver Carnell Tate, who finished the preseason with no catches on six targets, were up 410% from July, while searches for Cowboys first-round safety Caleb Downs, before his terrific regular-season debut, spiked 380%.
Rounding out the list were Jeremiyah Love (+230%), who flashed in limited preseason action before an ankle injury, and Fernando Mendoza (+210%), the Raiders’ No. 1 pick who might want to keep his helmet handy with only Kirk Cousins ahead of him on the depth chart.
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Alex Kramers is a Florida-based sportswriter who has covered the NBA and NFL since 2009. He served as a Sacramento Kings reporter and digital media coordinator from 2012-2014 and has written regular feature stories for the team's website. He has also covered the Miami Dolphins for DolfansNYC, and has produced content for publications including HOOP Magazine and Orangetheory Fitness. An avid sports-card collector since childhood, he has amassed one of the biggest Mitch Richmond collections in the world, and seeks out Florida Panthers cards and memorabilia with his son.