Few players in baseball have been better than Freddie Freeman over the last 15 years.
Already an MVP, a Gold Glove winner, an eight-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger, Freeman added World Series MVP and two-time champion to his Hall of Fame résumé following the Dodgers' comeback win over the Yankees on Wednesday night in the Bronx.
Despite all of his on-field success, Freeman has never captured the interest of card collectors at large — until now, at least.
Alongside Los Angeles’ run to the franchise’s eighth World Series win, which includes his walk-off Grand Slam in Game 1, Freeman’s card market has experienced a drastic shift and is likely stronger than ever more than a decade after Topps released his first flagship rookie cards.
According to Card Ladder’s index, which tracks 19 key cards, Freeman’s market value is by far the highest it has ever been, and it is now up 3,011% all-time and 51% over the last year.
Based on sales volume, Freeman’s most popular card over the last year has been his 2011 Topps Base. Data tool Market Movers has tracked more than 960 sales of raw examples, which are up 40% in price over the last 365 days, and nearly 480 sales of PSA 10 examples, which have climbed 102% over the last year.
Just a $96 card a year ago, that 2011 Topps Base PSA 10 has jumped as high as $200 with a recent sale of $194.
Collectively, Freeman’s cards tracked by Market Movers are up 48% over the last 365 days across just over 6,000 sales, while graded cards are up 49% across more than 2,200 sales.
Freeman’s sales volume has seen a massive shift, too, with a 19% increase over the last 365 days, according to Market Movers. That change can largely be attributed to the Dodgers' postseason run, with more than 1,200 of those sales coming in the last 30 days alone.
But while Freeman’s market is currently experiencing a surge — one that could certainly continue in the coming days or weeks — it’s still hard to know if this postseason performance can change overall hobby sentiment.
It’s not uncommon to see players with good — but not great — hobby followings experience a change during strong playoff runs, but few are permanent. This increase in price and volume is good for Freeman, but it still lags far behind many of the hobby’s favorites.
Of the baseball players tracked by Market Movers, Freeman’s 6,000-plus sales ranked 57th over the last 365 days. Among the players with more sales than Freeman are Frank Thomas, who last played in 2008, Max Clark, who has yet to play a game in the majors and Jordan Walker, who was demoted to Triple-A and played just 33 games for the Cardinals in 2024.
Freeman is also far from the most popular player on his own team, with Shohei Ohtani (101k), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (9k) and Mooke Betts (6.8k) all ahead in terms of total sales over the last year.
Freeman’s record sales also lag far behind what many would expect based on his on-field performance.
According to Card Ladder, Freeman’s highest public sale is the $39,600 paid for his 2009 Bowman Chrome Prospects Autographs Superfractor 1/1 PSA 8/DNA 9 in March 2021.
Narrowing to just 2024, the highest sale for a Freeman card is the $16,800 paid for his 2011 Finest Superfractor 1/1 PSA 10 at Fanatics Collect in September.
Betts, for perspective, has a high all-time sale of $123,220, and Ohtani’s is $338,000.
Comparing all-time high sales and sales volume isn’t necessarily the perfect gauge for hobby interest, but it’s a major indicator. The hobby has had more than a decade to decide if a former MVP winner and likely first-ballot Hall of Famer is worth collecting.
There’s no question Freeman’s market has shifted during L.A.’s title run, but how much that change sticks will be something collectors will be watching well into the offseason.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.