Caitlin Clark Makes More History, Highlighting Key Trends in Sports Collectibles

Professional Sports Authenticator—commonly known as PSA, one of the largest and most well-known collectibles grading companies—has released data on the kinds of cards collectors sent to them for grading in 2024.

Caitlin Clark, who has had a historical 2024, made even more history in this department, becoming the first female basketball player in PSA history to crack the top 10 in most graded cards.

Clark, who ranked sixth among all basketball athletes, only narrowly missed out on the overall top 10. Behind her in the rankings of top-collected female athletes were Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, JuJu Watkins, and Cameron Brink. Overall, women's basketball cards were sent in for grading by hobbyists at a rate 10 times higher than what PSA graded in 2023. Among other sought-after rookies, she ranked highly, with a higher volume than Paul Skenes, who was a major riser in the MLB side of collectibles.

Non-basketball athletes in the top-10 of women's sports were Alex Morga (soccer), Katie Ledecky (swimming) and Serena Williams (tennis).

Per PSA, here are the top-10 athletes in terms of volume of cards graded in 2024:

Half of the list of overall top athletes returned to the top 10 from 2023: Ohtani, Jordan, Bryant, James and Griffey. After four NFL players made the top 10 last year, only two made it in 2024.

Other top basketball players included Brandon Miller, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, and Shaquille O'Neal. Basketball was the biggest riser, with a 77% year-to-year jump in grading volume. Hockey and football trailed at second and third overall in growth.

Wembanyama highlighted international athletes graded by PSA with 407,000 cards after just under 28,000 in 2023. It was a huge year for Wembanyama in the hobby, with him even highlighting the debut of one high-end Topps product, Mercury.