Business & Government

It’s in the Cards: Someone Will Cash In on Aaron Judge’s Record Home Run

October 4, 2022 • By Andrew Ramspacher, fpa5up@virginia.edu Andrew Ramspacher, fpa5up@virginia.edu

A small stack of baseball cards in sealed plastic cases

Aaron Judge baseball cards have “probably doubled or tripled” in value over the course of this baseball season, according to Jeff Prillaman, the CEO of Cavalier Cards. (Photo by Erin Edgerton, University Communications)

On display toward the back of Cavalier Cards sports memorabilia shop off West Rio Road in Charlottesville is a shelf featuring, arguably, the hottest name in sports.

Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees on Tuesday evening broke a tie with Roger Maris, a former Yankee, for the all-time American League single-season home run record.

Maris’s 61 homers in 1961 had stood alone for six decades as the mark to beat in the American League – and, many baseball purists would argue, in Major League Baseball history. Judge moved past Maris on Tuesday when he led off a game with the Texas Rangers by belting homer No. 62 over the left field wall at Globe Life Field.

The top six home-run seasons in MLB history belong to three National League players, led by Barry Bonds’ 73 homers in 2001. The purists argue that all six seasons were tainted by allegations of steroid use, and that Maris’s 61 homers were the legitimate record entering this season.

Judge, on pace to pass Maris for a chunk of the second half of this season, has been firmly in the spotlight for a while now. College football games over the last two weekends have been interrupted to show Judge’s at-bats. The New York Times website has a special “Aaron Judge’s Pursuit of History” tab.

Jeff Prillaman stands in his shop in front of shelving units and multiple sports jerseys hanging on the wall

Jeff Prillaman, a UVA alumnus, has run Cavaliers Cards sports memorabilia shop in Charlottesville since 1991. (Photo by Erin Edgerton, University Communications)

At Cavalier Cards, where University of Virginia alumnus Jeff Prillaman has been the CEO since its founding in 1991, a smattering of autographed Judge cards is presented prominently for any walk-in customer.

That’s not an accident.

UVA Today on Monday caught up with Prillaman to discuss the worth of Judge’s record-setting home run ball and the controversy surrounding this historic chase.

Q. Estimates for the worth of a Judge record-setting home run ball go into the millions. What goes into the process of determining that value?

A. All of these things are auction items. All of them are 1 of 1s, where there’s not another one, and you compare the prices.

You take something like Tom Brady’s last touchdown pass (before he unretired) – that football just went for like $500,000. That’s your starting point for something like an Aaron Judge record ball. But then you have to consider he’s a Yankee, it’s baseball versus football, this is one of the most coveted single-season records in existence. But is Barry Bonds’ 73 home runs the actual home run record, even though it’s tainted?

Prillaman holds a baseball card in a plastic case

A signed Aaron Judge card is one of the many on display of the Yankees slugger at Cavalier Cards. (Photo by Erin Edgerton, University Communications)

You consider all of that, and, yeah, I could easily see his ball fetching seven figures. My gut is it’ll fall a little short, but all you need is two people who want to battle it out on the same day in an auction.

Q. While Judge has chased the American League home run record this year, the National League and Major League record is 73, set by Barry Bonds in 2001. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, during an epic home run race in 1998, finished with 70 and 66 home runs, respectively. Bonds, McGwire and Sosa have now all been linked to taking performance-enhancing drugs during their big years. Does the steroid narrative devalue their memorabilia?

A. Yes, point blank. A McGwire rookie card went from being a $10 to $15 to $20 card up to maybe a $200 during that (1998) season. You can get those same cards for $10 or $15 today. You can get a decent Mark McGwire Topps Olympic card from 1985 for, let’s just say, $20 to $30, something like that. Sammy Sosa rookie cards, you can get for $4.

They were so much more during their home run chase. Steroids, while it might be accepted in football, in baseball, you’re cheating the game and there’s something to be said for that. In baseball, enough purists exist where it’s considering cheating the game.

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Q. Meanwhile, Judge has a “clean” reputation with no steroid red flags. How are his cards selling?

A. Most Judge cards have probably doubled or tripled in value over the course of 2022. His rookie season, when he set the rookie record for home runs, his cards were hot then. They got a little bit warm last year when he had a pretty solid season. But this year, they came out at a decent price and they’ve just been slowly creeping up.

We haven’t seen a huge spike because it’s just been slow and steady over the course of the year.

Q. Should a fan catch the record-setting home run ball, what would you advise they do with it: give it back to Judge/the Yankees, keep it for themselves, or sell it?

A. It depends on who you are. The ball is a lottery ticket, so what is your position in life? If I’m making six figures, I take a different tack than if I’m there with my family and I got to put two kids through college. Then, I’m taking it to one of the major auction houses and it brings you what it brings you.

The interior of the shop includes a glass display case full of cards and other memorabilia, as well as hanging jerseys and shelves of football helmets

Prillaman’s shop, located off West Rio Road, is home to a variety of unique sports collectibles. (Photo by Erin Edgerton, University Communications)

If I’m a little more affluent, then I would want Judge to keep that ball and he would decide whether he puts it in the Hall of Fame or not.

Q. Could you make a trade with the Yankees?

A. The Yankee organization could give that person something like box seats for the next five years. You could trade it for something. You could say, “I want team-signed baseballs, I want used bats and all that.” But you’re not going to get anything near $1 million. You’re going to get $50,000.

Even a Judge uniform from this season, signed by him, it would be almost as special in a sense. But, then, there’s only one ball and there’s 40 uniforms. But the uniform is something that would still probably fetch $50,000 to $75,000 to $100,000, something like that.

Q. The Yankees, as the American League East division champions, are headed to the playoffs as major contenders. Should they win the World Series, what would that do to the value of a Judge record home run ball?

A. I think it tacks on a little bit, but not a huge premium. I mean, this is an individual accomplishment, not a team accomplishment.