Wayne Gretzky is widely regarded as the greatest hockey player in history after his stellar career in the NHL and at the international level. The 65-year-old Canadian, who is nicknamed “The Great One,” didn’t just raise the stakes on the ice during his career but also off it.

It was just at the start of this month when one of the 1979-80 Topps #18 Wayne Gretzky rookie cards of the legendary forward, with a Gem Mint 10 grade, came into the news.

“First $10,000,000+ hockey card?! 🤯” wrote Instagram account Trove (@findyourtrove) in the caption of their video post for the aforementioned trading card of Gretzky, on July 1.

Digital creator Frank Hrelja featured in the clip, in which he narrated the entire story behind why it has been valued so highly.

Firstly, Hrelja called it the “greatest hockey card ever” before stating that the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) has graded over 12,000 of them since 1979.

But, according to him, only two of these Gretzky’s cards have received a PSA Gem Mint 10 grade in the last 47 years, and one was already sold for $1.2 million in August, 2022.

After that, Hrelja mentioned that the PSA currently doesn’t have the Certification Verification of the other Gretzky card on its website, meaning that it’s “no longer valid.”

The POP report on the website notes that there is only one Gem Mint 10 grade card of the Canadian in existence, seemingly making the other one absolutely worthless.

Although it isn’t the case, according to Hrelja, because the owner of this other 1979-80 Topps #18 Wayne Gretzky rookie card took the risk to get it authenticated with the Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) and the James Spence Authentication (JSA).

The process of taking it out of the PSA slab before re-slabbing it into the CGC x JSA was conducted “in a controlled environment, and with professional oversight,” as per the report from CGCCards.com.

It meant that this card received both the CGC Gem Mint 10 grade and the JSA Auto 10 grade, “making it the Top Pop in the CGC Cards Population Report.” Since the owner had Gretzky to autograph and write his jersey number “99” on this card in a pristine condition, it is currently valued at more than $10 million, as per Trove in their Instagram post.

This 1979-80 Topps #18 Wayne Gretzky rookie card will be on display along with a few others during the Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in New York City from July 16 to 19.

Why have Wayne Gretzky’s rookie cards generated such a high valuation?

The rookie cards of Wayne Gretzky have been valued and sold for millions of dollars long after his retirement due to his stellar career in the sport of hockey.

During his 20 seasons in the NHL from 1979 to 1999, Gretzky amassed a whopping 2,857 points (894G / 1963A) in 1,487 games while playing for the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, and the New York Rangers. With such incredible numbers, he is still on top of the standings for most points and most assists in the history of the league.

He won the coveted Stanley Cup title four times in five seasons from 1984 to 1988, during his much-heralded Dynasty Years at the Oilers. He could have become a five-time Cup winner in a row if Edmonton hadn’t lost to the state-rival Calgary Flames from Alberta in the Conference Final in seven games in 1986.

With his incredible performances on the ice, Gretzky was also honored with many of the top league awards, as per NHL.com. He earned the Hart Memorial Trophy for the most valuable player and the Ted Lindsay Award for the most outstanding player, both for the NHL regular season, nine times and five times, respectively.

The 65-year-old also clinched the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs two times in his playing days.

During his international career, Gretzky secured the Canada Cup three times for Team Canada as a player. He went into the Hockey Hall of Fame shortly after retiring from the sport in 1999 before getting inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000.

Is Wayne Gretzky the greatest hockey player in your opinion? Share with us your thoughts in the comments section.

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Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason