Clayton Kershaw is one of the best pitchers of this baseball generation. He’s amassed more than 3,000 strikeouts to go along with his 222 wins. Throw in three Cy Young Awards, a Most Valuable Player Award and two World Series titles, and you have an impressive career worthy of Cooperstown.
The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher announced his retirement at the end of the season on Thursday.
Despite his stellar resume, Kershaw’s cards haven’t always been highly valuable.
That’s the way it works sometimes in cards — especially for pitchers. Even someone as dominating as Kershaw was in his prime, he didn’t get the cardboard love right away.
Looking at Kershaw’s Card Ladder index, you can see that started to change in 2017, well after he had already won three Cy Young Awards.
There was another jump in 2021, but card prices skyrocketed during the pandemic for just about everyone.
There are a few reasons for the slow climb in his card values. It could be collectors finally recognized what he’s done on the mound. But probably because his card value wasn’t realized — yet.
Sometimes it takes a collector to pivot from the norm to find the next sports card star.
While Kershaw’s card values are much higher now than even five years ago, here are six fun and interesting cards you might consider adding to your collection.
2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Pick Autographs
There are a few different parallels of this card and depending on the rarity, the prices can get high. But this is Kershaw’s top prospect card that collectors have preferred.
2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Parallel Rookie Cards
The Topps flagship rookie card is always going to be one that collectors want to own. Topps has the longest-running flagship product of any company in any sport. The continuity dates back to 1951 (with game cards) and 1952 with what is considered the evolution of modern-day cards.
The Black (numbered to 57) or Gold (numbered to 2008) parallels of the 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights card are highly valuable, especially in high grades, selling for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
2008 Topps Chrome Updates & Highlights
The Chrome rookies were packaged as box toppers in 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Baseball hobby or hobby jumbo boxes. There were 55 players on the checklist, including Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Evan Longoria. While the print run is not known, the full run of Updates & Highlights was generally the lowest of the flagship products.
2008 Topps Heritage Real One Autographs
Heritage has been a staple in the collecting world since 2001. And the Real One Autographs are always incredibly popular. The limited run of autographs can sell for thousands.
2008 Upper Deck Timeline ’93 SP Rookie Card
Kershaw was featured in several Upper Deck products during his rookie year as well. Upper Deck Timeline was fun as it featured unique designs along with throwbacks from Upper Deck’s earlier years including 1993 SP, which is famous for Derek Jeter’s best rookie card. This card won’t break the bank but still has nice value.
2008 Upper Deck Goudey #75 Rookie Card
Another affordable card, this one features a pre-war design. Ungraded, this card can be had for under $20, but high grades carry more value. It’s a fun card with a retro look of a modern star.
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