Former United States Women’s National Team star Mia Hamm is back to breaking records after her rookie card sold for $34,440 this weekend.
The 1992 rookie card nearly doubled the previous record for the most expensive female sports card, per ESPN. Hamm’s rookie card is from a 1992 edition of SI For Kids, appearing in magazines across the country following her first FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance in 1991. The previous record for a female sports card belonged to Alex Morgan, whose rookie card reportedly sold for $16,000.
Hamm is a worthy record holder of the most expensive card for a female athlete. She scored 158 goals in 276 caps for the USWNT from 1987-2004, winning two Olympic gold medals and two World Cups. Hamm held the record for most international goals scored until 2013, and she now sits third on the all-time list behind Abby Wambach and Canadian striker Christine Sinclair.
“It validates that there’s a legitimate market for women’s sports,” Goldin Auctions founder Ken Goldin told ESPN. “Four years ago, soccer was not considered by most [trading card] people in the United States. “But two of the five highest-priced items in this auction were soccer-related [and] then you have Mia Hamm up there, too.”
Sports card sales have seen a boom in recent years. Tom Brady’s rookie card set a new record in June, with the card selling for $3.1 million. Brady broke his own record with the sale, topping a $2.25 million rookie card bid in April
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