Card of the Day — Cardboard Police

September 16, 2026

1971 O-Pee-Chee #45 Ken Dryden — the Most PSA 10s of Any Card in the Set, and He Still Gems Below the Set's Own Rate

No card in the 264-card 1971-72 O-Pee-Chee hockey set has more PSA 10s than card #45. Not Bobby Orr, who appears three times. Not Gordie Howe. Not Guy Lafleur's rookie, the most-submitted card in the set. The leader is a goaltender who had played six...

Card of the Day Hockey Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0324 Misdemeanor

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September 14, 2026

1969 Topps Planet of the Apes #38 The Search! — Tied for the Most PSA 10s in the Set, and More Than Half Its Slabs Stopped at Eight

Four copies of this card have graded PSA 10. The entire 44-card set has produced fifty-six, and no card in it has produced more than four. 1969 Topps Planet of the Apes is a 44-card set of stills from the 1968 film, each one captioned in a red scrol...

Card of the Day Topps Vintage Non-Sports

CASE #0321 Misdemeanor

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September 13, 2026

1960 Topps #148 Carl Yastrzemski — One PSA 10 in 11,640, and More Graded Copies Than the Set's Mantle

Eleven thousand, six hundred and forty copies of Carl Yastrzemski's rookie card have come back from PSA with a straight numeric grade. Exactly one of them is a PSA 10. It is the only Gem Mint example in sixty-six years, and PSA uses a photograph of i...

Card of the Day Baseball Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0318 Misdemeanor

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September 09, 2026

1966 Topps Batman #1 The Batman — the Most-Submitted Card in the Set, and It Has Never Graded a 10

Card No. 1 of the 1966 Topps Batman Black Bat set is the most-submitted card in it, and PSA has never graded one a 10. Not once in 2,085 holders. The set around it has produced 71 PSA 10s across its other cards. The card everybody sent in has none. ...

Card of the Day Topps Vintage Non-Sports

CASE #0315 Misdemeanor

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September 08, 2026

1962 Topps #17 Mike Ditka RC — Zero PSA 10s in 1,273, and Only Four Nines in Sixty-Four Years

PSA has put 1,448 copies of Mike Ditka's rookie card in holders. Not one of them is a Gem Mint 10, and the entire top of the population is four Mint 9s. The 1961 Rookie of the Year got card #17 in the 1962 Topps set — a black-bordered design that ha...

Card of the Day Football Topps Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0312 Misdemeanor

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September 05, 2026

1977 Topps #50 Mike Haynes RC — Nine PSA 10s in 823, and Forty-Eight of the Nines Are Qualified

PSA has put 918 copies of this card in holders since 1977. Nine of them are Gem Mint 10s — and the scan PSA publishes on its own CardFacts page is one of the nine, cert 18955654. The 1977 Topps set gave card #50 to a rookie cornerback who had just i...

Card of the Day Football Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0309 Misdemeanor

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September 04, 2026

1962 Topps Mars Attacks #1 The Invasion Begins — One PSA 10 in the Entire 55-Card Set, and It Isn't This Card

PSA has graded 22,294 copies of the 1962 Topps Mars Attacks set. It has awarded exactly one Gem Mint 10 — and it is not this card. Card #1, The Invasion Begins, is the opening frame of the most notorious story ever told on cardboard: a Martian in a ...

Card of the Day Topps Vintage Non-Sports

CASE #0306 Misdemeanor

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September 03, 2026

1966 Philadelphia #31 Dick Butkus RC — One PSA 10 in 1,723, and More Qualified 8s Than Clean 9s

PSA has put 2,048 Dick Butkus rookie cards in holders. Exactly one of them is a PSA 10. Nine more are straight PSA 9s — and forty-four copies earned a PSA 8 with a qualifier attached, which means the defect-flagged 8s outnumber the clean 9s by nearly...

Card of the Day Football Vintage Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0302 Misdemeanor

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September 01, 2026

2006 Topps #334 Devin Hester RC — 366 PSA 10s in 661, and the Card Calls Him a Cornerback

The last four football cards to run in this slot produced twelve PSA 10s between them. This one produced 366. PSA has assigned a straight grade to 661 copies of the 2006 Topps Devin Hester rookie, and more than half of them came back a 10. The car...

Card of the Day Football Topps Hall of Fame Rookie Card

CASE #0299 Misdemeanor

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August 31, 2026

1999 Pokémon #4 Charizard 1st Edition — 123 PSA 10s in 5,375, and the Scarcest Print Grades the Cleanest

PSA has assigned a straight grade to 5,375 copies of the 1999 1st Edition Charizard, and 123 of them came back Gem Mint 10. The same grader has handled the Unlimited printing of the identical card 102,437 times — and the scarcer card is the one that ...

Card of the Day Pokemon Grading Card Prices Non-Sports

CASE #0296 Misdemeanor

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the cardboard chronicle

Tagged: Card of the Day

1971 O-Pee-Chee #45 Ken Dryden — the Most PSA 10s of Any Card in the Set, and He Still Gems Below the Set's Own Rate

1969 Topps Planet of the Apes #38 The Search! — Tied for the Most PSA 10s in the Set, and More Than Half Its Slabs Stopped at Eight

1960 Topps #148 Carl Yastrzemski — One PSA 10 in 11,640, and More Graded Copies Than the Set's Mantle

1966 Topps Batman #1 The Batman — the Most-Submitted Card in the Set, and It Has Never Graded a 10

1962 Topps #17 Mike Ditka RC — Zero PSA 10s in 1,273, and Only Four Nines in Sixty-Four Years

1977 Topps #50 Mike Haynes RC — Nine PSA 10s in 823, and Forty-Eight of the Nines Are Qualified

1962 Topps Mars Attacks #1 The Invasion Begins — One PSA 10 in the Entire 55-Card Set, and It Isn't This Card

1966 Philadelphia #31 Dick Butkus RC — One PSA 10 in 1,723, and More Qualified 8s Than Clean 9s

2006 Topps #334 Devin Hester RC — 366 PSA 10s in 661, and the Card Calls Him a Cornerback

1999 Pokémon #4 Charizard 1st Edition — 123 PSA 10s in 5,375, and the Scarcest Print Grades the Cleanest