Popularity of Tebow’s debut minor-league card ‘just amazing’

JACKSONVILLE — When card collector Kevin Reid recently bought a box of 2017 Topps Pro Debut Series baseball cards from Jacksonville Sports Cards, the odds were stacked against him. What he hoped to find was only in one in every 505 packs.

But as luck would have it, on the second pack he tore open, there it was — Tim Tebow’s debut minor league card.

“I knew about the card and I knew how rare it was,” Reid said Wednesday. “I didn’t have any idea of what it was selling for at the time, which is kind of amazing for a card. I mean there are autograph cards and game used — usually those go for a lot of money.”

“This is just a base card of Tebow,” Reid added. “Base card means there’s nothing really special about it except for the rarity, but the popularity of Tim Tebow is just amazing.”

After finding the card, Reid was able to easily sell it for $300.

Following a three-year stint with the NFL, Tebow, the 29-year-old former Nease High star and Heisman-winning Florida quarterback, has turned his attention to baseball. He currently plays for the Columbia (S.C.) Fireflies of the Class-A South Atlantic League, a New York Mets affiliate.

Despite Tebow’s immense popularity, the value of his baseball card continues to surprise collectors and dealers. In his 40 years of working in the industry, Frank Bray, owner of Jacksonville Sports Cards, said he hasn’t seen anything like it.

“His regular card is selling between $200 and $300, and he could be out of baseball next year,” Bray said. “Everybody just likes him; his cards are being bought up all over the country and online. People are calling us, looking if we have any. We sold out all the boxes of the Pro Debut and could only get three more boxes. It’s sold out because everyone wants a shot at it. It’s incredible.”

“Tebow, even if he never swung another bat or threw another football, is always going to be popular just because of the type of person he is, the type of Christian he is,“Reid said. ”He’s got plenty of football autographs out there, but this is his first baseball card and baseball has a long tradition of rookie cards and players’ first cards and a lot of people picked up on that with Tebow.”