Freddie Freeman’s 2011 Topps rookie in PSA 10 sold for about $70 to $75 in August 2024. After his World Series MVP, copies sold for $185 to $200+ (SI Collectibles, Nov 1, 2024). Two years later, it’s $178.65 (SportsCardsPro, read Oct 27, 2026).
My rule
Sports events do drive up market price for cards depending on how that player is doing, but usually corrects short term.
That’s my view, and Freeman is the best recent test of it.
Do World Series performances raise card prices for good? The short answer
Short answer
The peak usually doesn’t last. Freeman’s best sales came in the days after the series ($185 to $200+, SI Collectibles, Nov 1, 2024). By the end of December 2024, SportsCardsPro’s PSA 10 value was down to $109.50 (SportsCardsPro month-end guide, read Oct 27, 2026). That part fits my rule.
The floor is the exception. The PSA 10 never went back to its pre-series $73, and it has climbed to $178.65 since. So Freeman’s spike corrected, but the card ended up worth more than twice its Sep 2024 value, and more than it was in Jan 2024 ($112.25).
That matters right now. The Brewers beat the Rays 4-1 in Game 5 on Oct 28 to win the World Series, the first title in franchise history. Their catcher, William Contreras, was named World Series MVP. He went 8-for-21 with four RBIs and threw out four of nine runners trying to steal (MLB.com, Oct 29, 2026).
What happened to Freddie Freeman’s rookie after his 2024 MVP?
Here’s the 2011 Topps #145 PSA 10, by SportsCardsPro’s month-end value (read Oct 27, 2026) unless noted:
| Month | PSA 10 |
|---|---|
| Jan 2024 | $112.25 |
| Sep 2024After sliding most of the year | $73.00 |
| Late Oct to Nov 1, 2024Sales, most of them Buy It Now (SI Collectibles) | $185 to $200+ |
| Oct 2024 | $119.99 |
| Nov 2024 | $129.07 |
| Dec 2024 | $109.50 |
| Oct 2026 | $178.65 |
Source: SportsCardsPro month-end guide, . The late Oct to Nov 1, 2024 row is eBay sales, per SI Collectibles, Nov 1, 2024.
The last 30 PSA 10 sales, Aug 31 to Oct 25, 2026, ranged from $147.50 to $214.99 (eBay sold listings shown on SportsCardsPro, read Oct 27, 2026).
The raw card moved the same way. It was $8.31 in Sep 2024, $15.99 in Oct 2024, and it’s $15.25 today (SportsCardsPro, read Oct 27, 2026). It nearly doubled and stayed there.
The SGC 10 tells a different story. Five SGC 10 copies sold on Oct 30 and 31, 2024, for $80 to $150. The 20 SGC 10 sales from 2025 and 2026 shown on SportsCardsPro ranged from $56 to $175, and SportsCardsPro’s SGC 10 value today is $104.99 (SportsCardsPro, read Oct 27, 2026). Same card, same top grade, and that slab came back down closer to what my rule predicts.
What are William Contreras’s cards doing after his World Series MVP?
His 1st Bowman auto in PSA 10 is up 106% since the end of September. His base rookies are flat. All prices are from SportsCardsPro, read Oct 29, 2026. Sep 2026 values are SportsCardsPro’s month-end guide.
2018 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autograph (BCPA-WCO)
| Grade | Sep 2026 | Oct 29 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw | $23.60 | $56.72 | +140% |
| Grade 9 | $39.99 | $84.98 | +113% |
| PSA 10 | $96.98 | $199.60 | +106% |
Source: SportsCardsPro, . Sep 2026 is the month-end value. Oct 29 is the current value, not month-end. Change is the Oct 29 value over the Sep value, minus 1.
Recent sales (eBay sold listings shown on SportsCardsPro, read Oct 29, 2026):
- Raw sales ran $24.00 to $44.99 from Oct 11 to 13, then $49.00 to $110.00 from Oct 23 to 27. The three raw sales on Oct 28 and 29 were $69.99, $75.00 and $78.00.
- PSA 9 sold for $29.00 to $75.00 from Sep 3 to 17. It sold for $130.00 on Oct 28 and $125.00 on Oct 29.
- PSA 10 sold for $175.00 on Sep 2, $200.00 on Oct 6, $229.99 on Oct 13 and $275.00 on Oct 25. No PSA 10 sale after Oct 25 was listed when I checked.
2021 Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph (RA-WC)
| Grade | Sep 2026 | Oct 29 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw | $15.00 | $22.54 | +50% |
| Grade 9 | n/a | $28.05 | n/a |
| PSA 10 | $75.00 | $88.60 | +18% |
Source: SportsCardsPro, . Sep 2026 is the month-end value. Oct 29 is the current value, not month-end. Change is the Oct 29 value over the Sep value, minus 1.
Recent sales (same source and date):
- Raw sales on Oct 28 and 29 were $40.00 and $49.00. In September they ran $14.00 to $27.00.
- PSA 10 sold for $94.99 on Sep 2, $113.61 on Oct 19 and $169.95 on Oct 25.
Base rookies, raw
| Card | Sep 2026 | Oct 29 | Recent sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Topps #390 | $1.44 | $1.37 | $0.99 to $1.504 sales, Oct 28 |
| 2021 Topps Chrome #51 | $1.49 | $1.69 | $1.49 to $1.993 sales, Oct 27 and 28 |
| 2021 Bowman Chrome #38 | $1.69 | $1.78 | $0.99 to $9.996 sales, Oct 28 |
Source: SportsCardsPro, . Sep 2026 is the month-end value. Recent sales are the eBay sold listings shown on SportsCardsPro.
Graded base rookies barely trade. The last PSA 10 sale SportsCardsPro shows is Oct 6, 2022 for the Topps #390, Nov 19, 2023 for the Topps Chrome #51 and Dec 25, 2022 for the Bowman Chrome #38.
Contreras vs Freeman so far
Two things stand out. Most of the auto’s jump came before Game 5. And so far the money is going to his autographs, not his base rookies.
Compare that to Freeman. His PSA 10 rookie went from $73.00 at the end of Sep 2024 to $119.99 at the end of Oct 2024, up 64%, and his raw rookie went from $8.31 to $15.99, up 92% (SportsCardsPro, read Oct 27, 2026). Contreras’s PSA 10 prospect auto is already up more than that. His raw base rookies aren’t. They’re different kinds of cards, a prospect auto against a flagship base rookie, so this is a rough comparison.
Which Contreras card is his real rookie?
His rookie cards are from 2021. SportsCardsPro marks his 2021 Topps #390, 2021 Topps Chrome #51 and 2021 Bowman Chrome #38 as rookie cards. His 2021 Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph is from the same year.
The 2018 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autograph is a prospect card, not a rookie card. SportsCardsPro doesn’t mark it as a rookie, even though some sellers put “RC” in their titles. Sellers list it as his 1st Bowman Chrome auto, and it’s where most of the money is.
Why do some spikes hold and others fade?
The price data shows what happened, not why. Here’s what’s different about Freeman, and none of it is proven by the numbers:
- He wasn’t a one-series story. He was already an 8-time All-Star with a 2020 MVP (SI Collectibles, Nov 1, 2024).
- The 2011 Topps #145 is his flagship Topps rookie, not a short-print or a niche insert.
- Most of the climb came in 2025 and 2026, more than a year after the series. Something besides the MVP run is likely behind that, and the data doesn’t say what.
- The PSA 10 held and the SGC 10 didn’t, which suggests buyers paid up for the PSA slab specifically.
Contreras isn’t a one-series story either. MLB.com says he’s been worth 18 fWAR in the four seasons since the Brewers traded for him, second among catchers only to Cal Raleigh (MLB.com, Oct 29, 2026).
Most rookie cards go the other way. My rookie card study tracks 137 rookies month by month, and the median raw rookie was down 52% a year after its first priced month (SportsCardsPro, read Oct 27, 2026).
Should you sell your Contreras cards into the MVP hype?
If you’re going to sell, Freeman says sell early. His best sales came within days of the final out. Two months later, the PSA 10 value was $109.50, down from $185 to $200+ sales (SI Collectibles, Nov 1, 2024. SportsCardsPro, read Oct 27, 2026).
Contreras’s series ended Oct 28. His 1st Bowman auto in PSA 9 sold for $130.00 that day and $125.00 on Oct 29, up from $29.00 to $75.00 in early September (SportsCardsPro, read Oct 29, 2026).
Build selling fees into your math. Article #1 cited an Arch Manning PSA 10 eBay sale where fees came to 25.1% of the price (@MorgenHatton on X, Sep 30, 2026).
If you’re keeping the card because you like the player, the hype doesn’t change anything. Skip the math.
Should you buy now or wait until the offseason?
Freeman’s cheapest month after the series was Dec 2024 at $109.50 (SportsCardsPro, read Oct 27, 2026). SI’s writer said on Nov 1, 2024 that he’d “wait for the hype to die down.” Buyers who waited paid less than buyers in the first week.
But waiting only worked out that well because Freeman kept climbing for two years. That was a bet on his career, not on one series. Contreras is 28 (MLB.com, Oct 29, 2026). Buying his cards now is a bet on the rest of his career, not on one October.
My rule says wait for the correction. Freeman says the correction may not take the price all the way back.
How I got these numbers
- Month-end values are SportsCardsPro’s price guide, which is built from completed sales. They are estimates, not individual comps.
- Individual sale prices come from the eBay sold listings SportsCardsPro shows on each card’s page.
- Dates read: Freeman’s were read Oct 27, 2026 and Contreras’s were read Oct 29, 2026. Contreras’s October figures are SportsCardsPro’s current values on Oct 29, not month-end.
- Grade 9: SportsCardsPro’s grade 9 value covers any grader’s 9. The grade 9 sales quoted here are PSA 9s.
- Left out: parallels, a 1/1 and a third-party slab that showed up in the sold lists.
- SI’s figures: the $70 to $75 and $185 to $200+ figures are SI’s eBay sold read from Nov 1, 2024.
- Caveat: one player is a case study, not a pattern.