Graded baseball cards refer to sports cards that have been professionally analyzed and given a grade by one of the major third-party authentication and grading companies. There are a few large companies that do baseball card grading such as PSA, BGS, SGC and HGA. These companies analyze factors like the centering, edges, corners and surface quality of the card to determine its condition. They then assign each card an official grade on a numerical scale, usually from 1 to 10, with 10 being flawless Mint condition.
Receiving a professional grade helps ascertain the condition, quality and value of a card more objectively. Grades provide a standard that collectors can rely on when buying or selling cards. Raw ungraded cards leave more uncertainty about the condition since conditions vary personally from collector to collector. A professionally graded card removes this ambiguity and standardizes the assessment of quality. Potential buyers can easily understand a card’s grade without having to do their own manual inspection.
There are subtle differences in the grading scales used by each company as well. For example, PSA is generally considered the most rigorous and hardest to achieve high grades from. Their scale tops out at a Mint 10, while BGS allows ultra high-end cards to potentially grade above a traditional 10 at levels like Gem Mint 10.5 or prismatic ranks. SGC and HGA have recently started to gain more popularity as well for offering lower submission costs in some cases compared to the “Big Two” of PSA and BGS.
The top modern rookie cards or legendary vintage cards that grade ultra high near perfect grades are exceptionally rare and valuable. Trophy graded cards like a Mickey Mantle rookie PSA 9 or Babe Ruth 1914 Baba BGS 8.5 can be valued in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Even more common vintage or modern cards can see a substantial increase in value depending on their assigned grade. A 2019 Topps Inception Mike Trout rookie auto in a BGS 9.5 could be worth far more than the same card in raw condition or in a BGS 8.
While increasing a card’s value, the grading process involves costs and fees to consider. Companies charge submission rates with higher structured tiers based on turnaround times desired like economy, standard or express services. Additional insurance may be purchased for cards sent of higher value as well. Together, these can add up to be a fairly sizeable cost if submitting large bulk submissions of cards. As an example, it might cost $15-$30 total or more to have one average card graded in a standard 30 day service with a value typically starting around $50-100 raw. For higher end cards, the grading fees are negligible compared to the increased value received from an official designation of quality.
Graded baseball cards offer collectors a definitive and industry-standard assessment of a card’s condition through professional third-party authentication and grading. While involving submission costs that must be accounted for, receiving an official grade opens cards up to a broader high-end market of certified collectors and significantly enhances pricing and liquidity potential based on the assigned numerical grade. As the hobby continues to boom in popularity, professionally graded cards remain an integral part of collecting at all serious levels.
