I am not a Mike Schmidt "super-collector", but as owner of more than 200 cards of the Phillies Hall of Fame third baseman, I thought I had seen most of what is out there. Man, was I wrong…

Schmidt cards are one of my frequent eBay searches. While browsing last weekend I came across this head-scratcher: 1972 Puerto Rican Mike Schmidt Sticker. I knew the Phillies sent him to the Puerto Rican League to work on his skills following the 1972 season - but, had never seen, or heard of this "pre-rookie" issue.

The full set contains 231, 2 1/4"x3" stickers, including some for other Hall of Famers: Tony Perez, Orlando Cepedo, Satchel Paige and Frank Robinson. As for Schmidt, only 86 of these stickers appear on the PSA Registry, Mike Schmidt card log - with only 20 (1 “PSA 10), graded 8 or better. Typical issues with the stickers in this set are predictably: worn corners, missing back paper or rips/tears.

Based on a few online auction prices I was able to find, a mid-to-high grade Schmidt sticker will easily cost $1k. An auction by Lelands last month (September 2023) featured one of the PSA '8’ graded stickers, which sold for a final bid of $1,501. And, in 2012, Goodwin and Co. auctioned off the only sticker with a PSA '10' grading label for a whopping $12,936. Needless to say, this one (at a much cheaper price) will be on my radar from here out!