On Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, Mike Ditka's family announced that he had died at 86 (ABC7 Chicago). That same day, 48 copies of his 1962 Topps #17 rookie sold for a combined $29,620. That is close to three times the card's total for the previous month, according to a Bleacher Nation analysis of Card Ladder sales records by Patrick K. Flowers. Collectors checking 1962 Topps Mike Ditka rookie value now want to know what happened after the rush. Here is the short version. Graded PSA 4, 5 and 6 copies have sold at or above their pre-death medians so far, though on very few sales. Ungraded copies have fallen back to where they started.
Timeline
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Apr. 9 to Oct. 8, 2026: 148 sales in six months, a little under one a day. In the 30 days before the death, 25 sales totaled $10,854 (Bleacher Nation, Card Ladder data).
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Oct. 8: Bleacher Nation: "On October 8, one copy of Mike Ditka's 1962 Topps rookie card changed hands, a PSA 4 that sold for $429.99."
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Oct. 9: The family announced the death. 48 copies sold for $29,620.
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Oct. 10 to 26: Sales returned to a normal pace. Bleacher Nation recorded nine graded sales at PSA 4 through 6 and 11 ungraded sales.
What the Oct. 9 spike was
Bleacher Nation found that 47 of the 48 Oct. 9 sales were fixed-price listings or accepted offers. Only one was an auction. So sellers set the asks and buyers clicked buy-it-now. Competitive bidding didn't drive the volume. In the article's words, "The rush itself lasted about a day."
This matters for anyone pulling comps. A death-day sale shows what one impatient buyer agreed to pay against a seller's ask that day. It isn't price discovery. Treat Oct. 9 sales as outliers when you value a copy.
Grade by grade: before, during and after
The medians below come from Bleacher Nation's analysis of Card Ladder records. Those records combine completed sales from eBay, Fanatics, Goldin, Heritage and other marketplaces. The table note reads: "Excludes autographed, reprint and altered copies." The percentage column is our own math from those medians.
| Grade | Median, Apr. 9 to Oct. 8 | Median, Oct. 9 | Median, Oct. 10 to 26 | Sales, Oct. 10 to 26 | Post-rush vs. pre-death | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | PSA 4 | $347 (14 sales) | $525 | $600 | 3 | about +73% | | PSA 5 | $615 | $775 | $750 | 3 | about +22% | | PSA 6 | $896 | $1,000 | $1,320 | 3 | about +47% | | Ungraded | $188 | $303 | $177 | 11 | about -6% |
Bleacher Nation also published the individual post-rush graded prices, without dates:
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PSA 4: $549, $600, $620
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PSA 5: $690, $750, $860
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PSA 6: $1,274, $1,320, $1,785
Collector grades held, with caveats
Bleacher Nation's headline finding: "None of the nine graded sales since October 10 came in below its grade's pre-death median." That is a better result than many collectors would expect after a death-day rush.
Be careful how much weight you put on it. Each grade has three sales in the post-rush window. Bleacher Nation itself says that is too few to call any price a new floor. One more soft sale at PSA 5 or PSA 6 could move the median a lot.
PSA 4 also needs context. The grade was already rising before October. Bleacher Nation writes: "From last summer through early April, the median PSA 4 sale was about $295." The article doesn't say which summer it means. Either way, the PSA 4 median had already climbed to $347 for Apr. 9 to Oct. 8, so some of the move to $600 started before the news.
A cross-check from eBay
Sportscardhunt lists dated, eBay-only sold prices for the card (page marked "Updated Nov 3, 2026"). It summarizes them as "Recent sales 7 on eBay in 90 days · $333.28, $3,995". The page doesn't show a year on the dates, but they fall inside its stated 90-day window:
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Oct. 12: PSA 8, $3,995
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Oct. 12: PSA 2, $333.28
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Oct. 14: PSA 5, $860
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Oct. 16: raw, $415
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Oct. 17: raw, $350
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Oct. 18: PSA 5, $690
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Oct. 18: PSA 6, $1,274
Three of these (PSA 5 at $860 and $690, PSA 6 at $1,274) match prices on Bleacher Nation's post-rush list, so the two sources support each other. If you are building your own comps, these dated sales are a reasonable place to start. The two raw sales at $350 and $415 sit well above the $177 ungraded median. That fits how widely raw condition varies on a 1962 card.
Raw copies gave the bump back
The ungraded median went from $188 before the death to $303 on Oct. 9, then $177 over the next 11 sales. Bleacher Nation doesn't say why. It does note that the pullback fits a pattern collectors have described after a player's death. It cites a Sports Collectors Daily example of a signed baseball whose average price was lower six months after the signer died.
Our read, which is analysis and not a sourced finding: a raw 1962 card carries real condition risk. Buyers who weren't caught up in the news had little reason to pay a premium for an unknown grade. The spread of raw prices on eBay shows how much depends on the individual copy.
The cheaper Ditka followed a different path
Ditka's 1963 Topps #62 second-year card behaved differently, according to Bleacher Nation. Before the death, it sold ungraded at a median of $18, about 0.6 sales a day. It sold 51 times on Oct. 9. From Oct. 10 to 26, it traded about 2.6 times a day at a median of about $27.50, roughly 50% higher. At that price point, demand has stayed elevated more clearly than it has for the raw rookie.
Asking prices are not sales
Sports Collectors Digest (Don Muret, Oct. 22, 2026) reported that Ditka rookie cards listed on eBay, Amazon and other sites "ran from $300 on the low end to a high of $20,000 for a PSA Grade 8 card." Those are asks. The one PSA 8 sale in the Sportscardhunt eBay data closed at $3,995 on Oct. 12. SCD also found signed reprints offered at $150. A reprint is not the 1962 Topps card, and the Card Ladder figures above exclude them. One identifying detail from SCD: Ditka wears No. 82 on the rookie card, before he switched to 89.
Context at the top of the census
SI Collectibles (Cole Benz, Oct. 9, 2026) cites Card Ladder for a PSA 9 that sold for "$207,525.66 on June 21, 2025 at Goldin Auctions." Citing PSA's cert lookup, SI says that grade "has a population of just four, with none graded higher." Most collectors won't be buying at that level, but it shows the range of the card. In a June 2025 SI Collectibles report, Dylan Brown counted nearly 1,200 PSA-graded copies, including 54 PSA 8s and 193 PSA 7s. Those are June 2025 figures, not current ones. They still show that the supply sits in the mid grades, where the comps above come from.
What to do now
Buyers. Use the Apr. 9 to Oct. 8 medians as your baseline. Check recent dated sales like the ones above against them. Don't anchor on Oct. 9 fixed-price sales or on the high asks still listed. Expect few comps at any single grade. A PSA 4 to 6 that sells near the post-rush prices is in line with recent sales so far. That doesn't mean it is cheap.
Sellers of PSA 4 to 6. Post-rush prices have held so far. They rest on three sales per grade, though, and PSA 4 was already rising before the news. If you want to sell, current results support pricing near the post-rush sales. Don't assume buyers will chase higher asks.
Raw holders. Raw copies have already given back the spike. Whether grading makes sense depends on how confident you are in the likely grade and what you would net after costs. The PureGrail card grading break-even tool compares your net proceeds raw versus graded using the fees, shipping and sale prices you enter. It does not predict grades, look up current prices or forecast returns. You will need to supply realistic comps for the grade you expect.
Method note
The grade medians, sale counts, totals and post-rush price lists come from Bleacher Nation's Nov. 2, 2026 analysis of Card Ladder records. We did not access Card Ladder ourselves and don't have individually dated Card Ladder sales. The pre-death window is Apr. 9 to Oct. 8, 2026. The post-rush window is Oct. 10 to 26, 2026. Bleacher Nation's table covers PSA 4, 5, 6 and ungraded only. For other grades, the only post-death sales cited here are the eBay results on Sportscardhunt. Every post-rush graded figure rests on three sales.
Related reading
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Inside the Rookie Class on the 2026-27 Topps Flagship Basketball Checklist
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What to Chase in 2026 Topps Heritage Football Before Release Day
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The 2026 Topps Update Rookies Worth Chasing, and the Ones to Skip
Sources
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Sportscardhunt: Mike Ditka Rookie Card Value: 8 Most Valuable Cards
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SI Collectibles: Top 3 Cards in Honor of the Late Mike Ditka (Cole Benz, Oct. 9, 2026)
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ABC7 Chicago: Legendary coach, Hall of Fame TE Mike Ditka dies at age 86 (Oct. 9, 2026)
This article contains AI-assisted content and has been reviewed in our editorial workflow.
DISCLAIMER: PureGrail articles are for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing on this site constitutes financial, investment, or legal advice. Collectibles are speculative assets and values can decrease significantly. Always conduct your own research before buying or selling. Past price performance does not indicate future results.
