The most expensive publicly known Tiger Woods trading card sale occurred early Friday morning via auction — albeit with a little help from LeBron James and their shared birthday.
A 2009 Upper Deck Exquisite patch autographed card of Woods and James serial numbered to three sold for $552,000 via Fanatics Collect, which includes the buyer’s premium. The card includes swatches of a James game-worn Cleveland Cavaliers jersey and a Woods tournament-worn golf shirt.
It’s taken nearly five years for Woods’ previous top card sale record to be broken. A 2001 Upper Deck SP Authentic Golf gold autographed rookie card numbered to 100 with a Gem-Mint PSA 10 grade sold for $336,000 on March 8, 2021 via Goldin.
While Upper Deck held exclusive autograph rights for both Woods and James when they signed the card (James now has an exclusive deal with Fanatics), the uniqueness of the card lies in how each inscribed their shared birthday. Woods inked “12/30/75” and James “12-30-84,” with this being the only one of the three cards within the serial numbered set to include this inscription.
Extended bidding for the Premier Auction starts an hour early tonight at 6PM PST 🚨 pic.twitter.com/oAfFZZVF03
— Fanatics Collect (@FanaticsCollect) January 22, 2026
Woods’ top-tier card market has heated up since September 2025. The 15-time major champion tallied his fourth, fifth and seventh most expensive card sales between Sept. 11 and Oct. 2, with sales ranging between $167,000 and $218,000, according to online card sales database Card Ladder.
However, the Woods/James card isn’t even the highest priced James card to sell within Fanatics Collect’s January Premier auction. James’ 2003 Topps Chrome gold refractor numbered to 50 with a PSA 10 grade sold for $1.11 million. Four other copies of this card have ever sold for more ranging from $792,000 to $1.2 million with those occurring between January 2022 and February 2023.
The most expensive public sale for a card of reigning NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander also occurred early Friday morning. His 2024 Panini Revolution Kaboom! Green one-of-one insert card with a PSA 10 grade sold for $432,000, more than $200,000 higher than the previous top mark for an SGA card.
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