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Ditka’s Rookie Card Sold 48 Times the Day He Died and the Graded Prices Haven’t Come Back Down
Nov 02, 2026
Nov 02, 2026
Collectibles
Photo By USA TODAY SportsOct 29, 1989; Chicago, IL, USA; FILE PHOTO; Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka talks to quarterback Jim Harbaugh (4) and tight end Thornton (80) against the Los Angeles Rams at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Photo By USA TODAY Sports
Photo By USA TODAY Sports
On October 8, one copy of Mike Ditka’s 1962 Topps rookie card changed hands, a PSA 4 that sold for $429.99. On October 9, the day his family announced the Bears legend had died at 86, 48 copies sold.
That count comes from Card Ladder’s sales records, which pull completed sales from eBay, Fanatics, Goldin, Heritage, and other marketplaces. With autographed copies, reprints, and cards flagged as altered removed, the records show how collectors reacted to losing the man who played on the Bears’ 1963 championship team and later coached them to their only Super Bowl.
The rush itself lasted about a day. What it left behind is more interesting: graded copies of the rookie are still selling well above their old prices, ungraded copies have slipped back, and a cheaper Ditka card from his playing days hasn’t slowed down at all.
A Month of Sales in One Friday
Before October 9, the Ditka rookie was a steady, quiet card. Card Ladder logged 148 sales over the previous six months, a little under one a day. In the 30 days before his death, he produced 25 sales worth a combined $10,854.
October 9 alone produced $29,620 in sales of that one card, close to three times the previous month’s total.
How those cards sold matters as much as how many. Forty-seven of the 48 went through fixed-price listings or accepted offers, and only one was an auction. Buyers mostly paid the asking prices sellers set before the news broke, clearing out whatever happened to be listed that morning.
Graded Copies Kept Their Gains
Collectors send vintage cards to grading companies like PSA, which rate condition on a 1-to-10 scale, and that number drives the price. The Ditka rookie trades heavily in the middle grades, where copies show their age but hold together.
| Grade | Apr 9 to Oct 8 | Oct 9 | Oct 10 to 26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA 4 | $347 (14) | $525 (6) | $600 (3) |
| PSA 5 | $615 (9) | $775 (4) | $750 (3) |
| PSA 6 | $896 (5) | $1,000 (5) | $1,320 (3) |
| Ungraded | $188 (67) | $303 (16) | $177 (11) |
A PSA 4 copy had a median sale price of $347 in the six months before his death. On October 9, the median was about $525. The three PSA 4 copies sold since then went for $549, $600, and $620.
One grade up, PSA 5 copies had a pre-death median of $615 and have sold for $690, $750, and $860 since the rush. Three PSA 6 copies sold afterward for $1,274, $1,320, and $1,785, against a prior median of $896. Three sales per grade is too thin to call any of these a new floor. They do point the same way, though. None of the nine graded sales since October 10 came in below its grade’s pre-death median.
The PSA 4 price was also climbing before any of this. From last summer through early April, the median PSA 4 sale was about $295, so part of the jump to $600 started well before October.
Ungraded Copies Already Gave It Back
Raw copies, the ones never sent in for grading, followed a different path. Their median price went from $188 in the six months before his death to $303 on October 9, then dropped to $177 across the 11 sales since.
Ungraded vintage cards range widely in condition, so their median bounces around more than a single grade’s does. Even so, the pullback fits what collectors have long described about price spikes after a player dies. Sports Collectors Daily, for one, has written about a signed baseball whose average price ended up lower six months after the signer’s death.
The Cheaper Card Is Still Moving
Ditka’s 1963 Topps card sits at a much lower price point. Ungraded copies sold for a median of $18 in the six months before his death, at about one sale every two days.
| Period | Sales | Per day | Median ungraded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 9 to Oct 8 | 104 | 0.6 | $18.00 |
| Oct 9 | 51 | 51 | $23.50 |
| Oct 10 to 26 | 45 | 2.6 | $27.50 |
That card got its own rush, with 51 sales on October 9. Unlike the rookie, it never really returned to its old pace. Card Ladder shows 45 sales from October 10 through October 26, about 2.6 a day, which is more than four times the rate it held all spring and summer. The median ungraded price over that stretch is about $27.50, up roughly 50 percent.
For plenty of Bears fans, a $20 to $30 card from Ditka’s playing days is the realistic way to own a piece of him, and the sales log suggests that’s where interest has lasted longest.
What the Next Few Weeks Will Show
Two weeks of data can only say so much, and most grades of the rookie have just a handful of sales since the rush. The next several PSA 4 and PSA 5 results will show whether $600 and $750 hold up.
Through October 26, the rookie was selling about 1.5 times a day, nearly double its pre-death pace. The 1963 card was selling at more than four times its old rate.
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Patrick grew up in Chicago’s Bridgeport and Garfield Ridge neighborhoods before moving to the Western Suburbs of Chicago before eventually relocating to the Las Vegas area with his family in 2023. He started with Bleacher Nation in 2021 and has spent time as a Staff Writer and on the Chicago Blackhawks beat. He is currently a writer and editor at Bleacher Nation covering the Chicago Bears and the NFL at large and the author of the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Patrick is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).
