ebay slug : 1997-fleer-ultra-david-ortiz
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If you’re in the market for a true David Ortiz rookie card, well, your options are slim to none.
For one thing, the man who would become Big Papi was known to the baseball world as David Arias as he worked his way up through the Seattle Mariners’ minor league ranks in the mid-1990s before a trade sent him to the Minnesota Twins.
Ortiz told his new team pretty much right away that his name was “Ortiz,” but that was a tad too late to catch the card manufacturers as they went about their yearly ritual of jumping the gun on prospects who might be rookies.
And, so, by the time Ortiz made his MLB debut with the Twins on September 2, 1997, collectors already had our hands on the very first big league David Arias cards, if we so desired or so lucked into them during our pack-ripping that summer.
As it turned out, though, “manufacturers” was a bit of an overstatement, as only Fleer jumped into the Arias/Ortiz fray, issuing his RC in both their base product and in the “premium” Ultra set.
Not surprisingly, these cards are pretty much the most popular in their respective sets, with the Fleer pulling mid-three-figure prices in PSA 10 condition and the Ultra topping $1000 most of the time when similarly slabbed.
But if you want to go really premium — read, “expensive” — you can opt instead for the Ultra Gold Medallion Edition of Papi’s rookie card:
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In case you don’t remember, Gold Medallion was an ongoing parallel inserted in Ultra cards starting in 1995 and extending all the way through 2006.
And, while the “gold” on this card is just a flash of foil and there’s not a medallion in sight, these things are pretty scarce, especially by the standards of the day.
As of this writing, PSA has graded only about 220 of the 1997 Gold Medallion cards, regardless of player. Of those, nearly half feature the might-be Hall of Famer … but condition is a bit of an issue.
The most common grade (so far) for the Arias RC is a PSA 8, with PSA 9 and PSA 10 showing up about 20 percent of the time each.
With less than 30 such cards in existence at this point, and with Big Papi’s continuing popularity, it’s not a huge shock that the last slabbed GEM MINT copy to change hands gaveled down for nearly four grand.
If and when the Sawx hero gets the Cooperstown Call, that may just look like a bargain.
One of Big Papi’s ballotmates for the current Hall of Fame election cycle is Barry Bonds. And, while the home run champ continues to struggle with the vote, his cards are still strong sellers. Take a gander at the high-rolling Bonds goodies from the end of 2021:

1997 Fleer Ultra KOBE BRYANT #3 Ultrabilities-Starter MINT PSA 9
![]() | $0.99 ( 1 Bid) End Date: Sunday 04/02/2023 19:46:28 EDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
1997 FLEER ULTRA DEREK JETER
![]() | $1.99 End Date: Sunday 04/02/2023 20:26:15 EDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
1997 Derrick Mason Fleer Ultra NFL Football ROOKIE Card #328 MINT Titans RC
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Sunday 04/02/2023 20:44:39 EDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
1997 Fleer 23KT Gold Ken Griffey Jr. Signature Series, WCG Gem Mint 10 Mariners
![]() | $89.00 End Date: Wednesday 04/26/2023 21:46:42 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
MICHAEL JORDAN 1997 Fleer Skybox Z Force 23KT Gold Card - Graded GEM MINT 10
![]() | $14.95 End Date: Monday 03/27/2023 10:17:45 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1997 Fleer Ultra Dan Marino #3 Miami Dolphins ~ $.99 Ship!
![]() | $0.69 End Date: Friday 03/31/2023 21:31:58 EDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
1997 Fleer Team Leaders #5 Albert Belle With Hat Tab Very Rare Variation
![]() | $14.99 End Date: Sunday 04/02/2023 20:11:51 EDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
1997 Fleer Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Card #687 Benito Santiago
![]() | $0.99 End Date: Monday 04/10/2023 22:33:13 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1997 Fleer Team Leader Die-Cut #4 FRANK THOMAS SP card! WHITE SOX HOF!
![]() | $1.99 End Date: Monday 04/24/2023 01:17:09 EDT Buy it now | Add to watch list |
1997 FLEER ULTRAENCORE RAY ALLEN #265 ROOKIE & 1996 Skybox 63 basketball card
![]() | $1.49 End Date: Sunday 04/02/2023 21:15:01 EDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
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