The Story of the Stephen Strasburg Superfractor
The infamous 2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects Stephen Strasburg one-of-one Superfractor has already had four owners and sold for a combined $37,446. It was also the main highlight of an entire sports card set - 2010 Razor Rookie Retro. With such a storied history, it's easy to forget just how young the card still is.
The story of the Stephen Strasburg Superfractor rivals that of any card produced in the modern era. It was originally pulled May 12th, 2010 by collector Leo Kim. Shortly thereafter it was sold on eBay for $16,043 to Robert Power. The second owner of the card appeared on various media outlets and even suffered a rash of threats and negative feedback from other collectors. Power chose to have the card graded, which caused more uproar when Beckett gave the off-centered card a 9.5 when many felt it deserved a lower grade. Power then later sold the card for $21,403 to Brian Gray, owner of Razor Entertainment, who used it to market the company's 2010 Razor Rookie Retro product and made it available in packs once again.
The story isn't over yet. Collector Devin Grant opened his second pack of Rookie Retro at his local shop, Peninsula Sports Cards, and hit the jackpot of his collecting career by pulling the Superfractor.
Grant has chosen to sell the card but instead of keeping all the profits, he created a website to raffle the card off. However, California's state laws led to the cancellation of the raffle and the refund of participant's raffle tickets.
Browse our archive of past Stephen Strasburg News Coverage:
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Related Topics: Baseball Cards: Guides
Randy Gaa | Jun 24, 2011 | Reply
What a great story! You really did your homework to put this all together. An interesting read about an interesting card. Great work, Jeremy!
Jeremy Brannon | Jun 24, 2011 | Reply
Thanks for the great comments.
As a Strasburg collector I think I would have had a hard time letting that card go :-). I think he is bringing our hobby alot of positive attention and look forward to seeing how much the card brings in.
ericg581 | Jul 5, 2011 | Reply
Something has changed with the raffle, probably due to state taxes. Now the website says that tickets will only be sold within California. It goes on to mention that you can mail in checks for tickets but I am assuming this is for California only.
Mike Smeth | Jul 6, 2011 | Reply
Thanks for the update. I wonder what that means for people who have already purchased tickets?