Josh McDaniels Football Card Up 3,500 Percent in Value
By Tracy Hackler
10/23/2009 9:36:25 AM
Long before Denver Broncos rookie head coach Josh McDaniels started winning games, Rocky Mountain hearts and league-wide respect this season, the 33-year-old maverick was a cocky-looking quarterback and kicker for McKinley High School in – of all places – Canton, Ohio.
And he’s got an obscure-yet-burgeoning football card to prove it.
The card, a virtually valueless afterthought for the better part of 15 years, made a rare appearance on the secondary market earlier this month – and sold for $26, four times its current value at the time and a staggering 3,500 percent more than it was worth just nine months ago.
Hailing from the 1995 Ohio High School Big 33 set, McDaniels’ first and only football card was worth just 75 cents in January before ascending to $3, and then to $5, as one of the most gifted young coaches in the NFL finalized his meteoric rise from New England assistant to the league’s youngest head coach at the time of his hiring in Denver.
All he’s done since then is trade away the club’s franchise quarterback, engage in a highly publicized spat with franchise receiver Brandon Marshall, turn the perpetually pedestrian Kyle Orton into an MVP candidate and direct the Broncos to a shocking 6-0 start.
As a result, his card’s new Beckett value as of Friday morning is $30.
“The fact that this little-known card has appreciated so substantially literally overnight is a tribute to the remarkable job McDaniels has done so far in Denver,” says Dan Hitt, Beckett Media Senior Market Analyst. “Most people around the country expected 2009 to be a down year for the Broncos; instead, they’re the surprise team of the league with more victories than the rest of the AFC West combined.”
McDaniels’ so-good so-soon success quickly has turned one of his only legitimate collectibles into a must-have memento with an upwardly mobile price tag. The hardest part for would-be collectors is waiting for copies of the relatively scarce card to surface.
Promotional sets have been an annual part of the Big 33 Football Classic– a high school all-star game between blue-chippers from Ohio and Pennsylvania – since 1991. But what started as nothing more than a keepsake almost 20 years ago has turned into something much more collectible.
“The cards were given as souvenirs to the players, their families and the fans and were not necessarily intended to be chased by football card collectors,” Hitt says. “But collectors began to catch on in the latter half of the 1990s as some of the players from these early sets,like Marvin Harrison and Curtis Martin, made it big in the NFL.
“By the new millennium many collectors and dealers were purchasing extra sets directly from the game’s promoter, making those slightly easier to find than the sets issued in the 1990s.”
For what it’s worth (which is a lot more than it used to be), McDaniels’ new $30 gem is comparable to keystone 1991 Big 33 cards of Martin and Harrison (valued at $40 each) and Larry Johnson’s from 1998 ($20). Ben Roethlisberger’s card from 2000, at $80, is the most valuable in the entire history of the series.
Of course, if McDaniels keeps this up, even that might look like chump change by season’s end.
| Posted
10/23/2009 5:14:24 PM |
HeritageKing
Total Posts:
204
Member Since: 9/3/1999
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This is news?
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| Posted
10/23/2009 6:08:59 PM |
Tracy Hackler
Total Posts:
328
Member Since: 9/24/1998
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To many folks it absolutely is news.
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Tracy Hackler
Publisher
Beckett Media
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| Posted
10/23/2009 8:24:14 PM |
darinamundson
Total Posts:
82
Member Since: 12/17/2001
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I read the article and enjoyed it. Last time I checked, this is a website dedicated to sports and entertainment collectibles and merchandise. This story is not just about the obscure card, it is about the coach, and about the great start that Denver has had. And I should should know about great starts, I live in Minnesota.  (Pittsburgh is going down sunday, but I wouldn't bet the house on it) |
Minnesota Sports Fan. Love the Twins and Vikings.
Bring Back Brett!!
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| Posted
10/24/2009 12:33:32 AM |
rastronomicals
Total Posts:
19
Member Since: 11/19/2001
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Straight baseball over here.
I don't collect football and I'm not even much of a fan of the game.
I didn't even know Denver was 6 - 0. But still I found the article interesting and noteworthy
I would imagine that most visitors to the site would find a card that had doubled in value five times in less than a year of some interest, as well
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Collecting the Houston Astros since 1989
Collection loaded entirely into my Organize
25,000 different in my Haves . . . . and 25,000 in my Wants
3,200 Traders, though they're mostly Astros
http://www.astroland.net
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| Posted
10/24/2009 1:09:46 PM |
RiceLynnEvans75
Total Posts:
3,194
Member Since: 12/22/2005
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What other venues/auctions went into valuing this card at $30?
I find only this one that ended at $26 in the completed items search. With such a small number to go off of with giving this card a BV, are we now going to be able to see cards with a S/N of 25> get a BV? I see more of them end on ebay than this card has had.
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"You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership."
"The ego is not master in its own house.”
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| Posted
10/24/2009 3:12:06 PM |
naturalbornkiller
Total Posts:
202
Member Since: 6/4/1997
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for those bashing this article
its more intersting than 80 percent of chris olds post
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| Posted
10/26/2009 9:13:16 PM |
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RiceLynnEvans75
Total Posts:
3,194
Member Since: 12/22/2005
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Will there be an answer to my question or will it go ignored?
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"You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership."
"The ego is not master in its own house.”
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| Posted
10/26/2009 9:42:11 PM |
Tracy Hackler
Total Posts:
328
Member Since: 9/24/1998
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You will not go ignored. I'll have Dan Hitt address the issue tomorrow. A little patience and I'll get back to you.
Thanks.
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Tracy Hackler
Publisher
Beckett Media
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| Posted
10/27/2009 4:15:52 AM |
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RiceLynnEvans75
Total Posts:
3,194
Member Since: 12/22/2005
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Great, thanks!
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"You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership."
"The ego is not master in its own house.”
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| Posted
10/29/2009 4:09:00 PM |
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RiceLynnEvans75
Total Posts:
3,194
Member Since: 12/22/2005
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Is it safe to say that he's on vacation or will this not be answered. I am curious because if this one card is being valued this high based on one sale and being the only one on ebay for the past however long, why aren't the cards SN'd to 25 getting a BV when they sell all the time? I've seen two '09 Finest Red Refractor Dustin Pedroia SN'd /25 on ebay in the same month.
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"You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership."
"The ego is not master in its own house.”
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| Posted
11/2/2009 11:26:41 AM |
dhitt
Total Posts:
89
Member Since: 1/21/1997
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You may have noticed that we've been adding pricing for more and more mainstream cards with print runs at or under 25. That's our goal, just as long as market information is stable enough and consistent enough to allow an accurate gauge of value. We're not there yet in getting everything priced from recent years with those levels of print runs but we'll continue to price more of it.The McDaniels card is slightly different since it's a card that we've normally priced. It's not terribly scarce, i.e. there are many more than 25 out there. But we're not too likely to get a consistent flow of sales information to deny raising the value of the card to that of the most recent sale. Our previous price level was clearly too low and this recent sale we feel sets a new price level that is likely to be reasonably stable.
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