Mark David McGwire, nicknamed “Big Mac”, is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who played primarily for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals. He is best known for breaking the single-season home run record in 1998 when he hit 70 home runs, surpassing Roger Maris’s previous record of 61 set in 1961. McGwire’s home run feats in the late 1990s helped revive interest in baseball after the cancellation of the 1994 World Series due to a players’ strike. His powerful home runs made him one of the most popular players in baseball during the late 1990s home run boom.
McGwire’s popularity and fame led to a huge surge in interest and demand for his rookie baseball cards from the 1980s. Many fans and collectors wanted McGwire rookie cards to have pieces of memorabilia from his record-breaking seasons. On online marketplaces like eBay, McGwire rookie cards from Topps, Donruss, and Fleer began selling for much higher prices than just a few years prior. While a mint condition 1984 Topps McGwire rookie card may have sold for around $20 in the early 1990s, by 1999 they were selling for over $100 on eBay as collectors rushed to acquire pieces of sports history.
The surge in prices and demand for McGwire rookie cards on eBay was truly unprecedented. Nearly every day there were multiple auctions ending with final sale prices well over the average for other star players from the same era. The sheer volume of McGwire card auctions on eBay also increased dramatically. Whereas most star players from the 1980s may have only had a handful of rare rookie cards listed on eBay on a given day, it was not uncommon to see 20 or more Mark McGwire rookies available during the height of his home run chase in 1998.
The prices continued rising even after McGwire broke the single season home run record. Rare parallel or autographed versions of his rookie cards began regularly selling for over $1000 each on eBay. For example, in November 1998 a PSA Gem Mint 10 graded 1984 Donruss Mark McGwire rookie card sold for an astounding $3250 after 23 bids. At the time, this set an auction record for any McGwire card on eBay. It showed just how much collectors were willing to pay to own pieces of one of the most famous baseball seasons ever.
Not all eBay sales of McGwire rookie cards during this time were legitimate. There was also a rise in forgeries being sold, as unscrupulous sellers attempted to take advantage of the hype and cash in. Reports of fake autographs, tampered cards being resubmitted to grading companies to achieve higher grades, and outright reproductions being passed off as the real thing began circulating among collectors. This led grading companies like PSA and Beckett to take extra precautions when handling McGwire cards to avoid being duped.
The demand continued into the 2000s, though prices leveled off a bit after McGwire retired following the 2001 season. They remained well above where they were in the early 1990s pre-home run chase era. Then in 2010, McGwire admitted to using steroids during his playing career including during his record-breaking 1998 season. This doping confession damaged McGwire’s reputation and led to a backlash among fans and collectors. As a result, prices of his rookie cards crashed on eBay. In the span of a few months, $1000 cards were suddenly selling for $200 or less.
It seemed collectors no longer wanted to be associated with pieces of a tarnished achievement brought on by performance-enhancing drugs. Over the next few years, McGwire rookie cards continued to decline in price to the point that common versions were selling at the same price level they commanded in the early 1990s before the home run chase. Rare autographed and graded cards took the biggest hits, losing over 80% of their peak values from the late 90s. For example, that 1984 Donruss PSA 10 rookie which sold for $3250 in 1998, was selling for under $500 a decade later.
In more recent years McGwire’s reputation among fans and in the hobby has begun rehabilitating itself. He has owned up to his mistakes, worked as a hitting coach, and is now regarded as one of the best pure hitters in baseball history regardless of the steroid era context. As a result, demand and prices for his rookie cards have started inching back up on eBay. While they may never reach their late 90s peaks, common McGwire rookies from the mid 1980s routinely sell in the $50-100 range today. High-grade versions or autographed cards can reach $300-500. So while a tarnished legacy hurt card values for many years, the passage of time and McGwire’s work since retirement have seen collectors once again warmed to one of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history.
