Every sport has its iconic rookie cards. For baseball it might be the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr, while basketball has the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan, and hockey collectors chase the 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky. These cards all have the same things in common. They are the first professional card appearances for the players they depict, they feature an all-time great player, and because of that, they are expensive. The equivalent rookie card for lacrosse fans is the 2007 Sports Illustrated for Kids Paul Rabil.
The lacrosse card market has only recently entered the lexicon of serious card collectors due to yearly releases only occurring since 2021. In 2007, Rabil, a midfielder out of Johns Hopkins, had his first trading card released following his second National Championship. The midfielder would go on to win multiple Major League Lacrosse championships, and MVPs, set the all-time points record for pro field lacrosse, and become the first lacrosse star to break into the mainstream via the use of YouTube and social media channels. He was called lacrosse’s “first million-dollar man” in 2017 by the New York Post. He also is co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League. With the lacrosse card market beginning to heat up and gain popularity, this 2007 Sports Illustrated for Kids card became the premiere rookie card in a rapidly expanding market.
Not all rookie cards are created equal. For collectors, a rookie card preserved in perfect or near perfect condition is of the utmost value. While there are a number of reputable and reliable grading services, PSA stands above the rest when it comes to market value. Within the hobby, PSA is recognized as the standard and what people want. Collectors can send their rare cards to PSA, and have them returned encased in hard plastic, with a label that has the card details and a grade on a scale of 1-10. A PSA 10 is the hardest grade to achieve, most desirable, and results in the highest values for a given card. According to the PSA Population Report, there are 326 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie cards that grade as a perfect 10. There are currently only five examples of Paul Rabil’s rookie card that have graded PSA 10. That means that there are just five of these Rabil rookie cards known to the world that have a perfect grade from PSA.
The scarcity of these Rabil 10’s is due in part to how they were issued. Unlike the Jordan or Gretzky rookies which came in traditional card releases, the Rabil rookie came out of the Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine. In 1986 you could head to your local card store, by a pack of Fleer basketball cards, and you had a chance at Jordan. There were no packs of lacrosse cards in 2007, so acquiring the Rabil rookie card in mint condition was much more complicated. Anyone who has ever read a Sports Illustrated for kids has likely seen the sheet of nine perforated cards that are included in each issue. The card appeared as part of a 3x3 grid forming a page in the magazine. To be removed, a card was torn from perforated edges. These cards are often found with a number of quality control issues, primarily related to centering. The perforated edges, along with the thinner card stock, make them extremely susceptible to damage. One “hanging chad” on the card, meaning just one little perforation that isn’t perfectly torn, and the PSA 10 is out the window. Careful removal of the card is necessary in order to maintain the perfect edges required for a PSA 10.
In the image, the Rabil card is in the middle row, closest to the magazine binding. It may seem like nothing, but this location also makes the PSA 10 that much harder to get. Cards closest to the binding are more likely to be bent or creased. When delivered, the magazine may have been folded to fit into your mailbox, and that might be all it takes to ruin a PSA 10 card. It’s that fragile.
Until October 2024, one collector held four of the existing perfect Rabil rookie cards. He now holds all five after a trade that will make waves in the lacrosse card world. But this was not your everyday one for one swap. This trade was more of a treasure hunt that goes back over 100 years into the history of lacrosse.
Brad Ledwith had long coveted the fifth Sports Illustrated for Kids Rabil PSA 10. But the card belonged to Todd Tobias, who was understandably reluctant to part with his piece of lacrosse history. Tobias and Ledwith have been friends for several years. They initially connected on Lacrosse X/twitter and then met for the first time in-person at a youth box lacrosse tournament in San Diego. Knowing that Ledwith had collected sports cards as a youth, Tobias gifted him with a 2019 Parkside MLL set. The friendship and Ledwith’s interest in lacrosse cards both grew quickly after that, and though they live in different areas the two stay connected via social media, youth lacrosse tournaments and San Diego Seals games.
Tobias is an avid collector of lacrosse and AFL memorabilia/cards, and his collection of unique artifacts is ever growing. He keeps an eBay watch list of items to add to his collection full of unique pieces of history from both lacrosse and the AFL. Tobias’ watch list spanned nearly the entirety of documented lacrosse card history, with items from the 1880’s when lacrosse cards first hit the market, to modern cards from the past few seasons.
In late September, Ledwith received an early morning text message from Tobias with an offer that gave Ledwith a chance to finally acquire the fifth perfect Rabil rookie card. The terms of the trade were simple, yet challenging. Tobias sent Ledwith his eBay watch list with a message. Find a way to acquire all these items, and Ledwith would have his final Rabil rookie.
The deal would only be for every single item on Tobias’s watch list. If Ledwith could acquire all of them except one, there would be no deal. It was all or nothing. Some of the items were listed as auctions, others had Buy It Now pricing, some accepted offers and others did not. The first item on the list was an auction that would end an hour after Ledwith received Tobias’s challenge, so he had to make a decision and act quickly.
While most of the pieces are from the lacrosse world, Tobias also had an eye on one piece of football history. A postcard from the 1960s featuring the then AFL Kansas City Chiefs at the old Municipal Stadium which was torn down in 1976. The card also featured Hall-of-Famer Len Dawson commanding the huddle.
The first item on the lacrosse portion of Tobias’ list was a set of trade cards from the 1880s featuring cartoonish illustrations of lacrosse in one of its earlier forms. The set contains six different cards, the images of which were used to advertise many different products during the period. This set is among the earliest cards ever to feature lacrosse.
The second item is an original cabinet card of the 1885-86 Montreal Lacrosse Club. Notable in lacrosse history not only for claiming the 1885-86 World Championship, but for also being the home club of Dr. George Beers, who is credited with writing the first set of rules for the modern lacrosse game, including among other things the size of the field, the size of the goal and the goal crease, and the use of a rubber ball.
Todd’s wishlist then jumps forward about 100 years. Moving into the 1970’s, Todd sought a ticket stub from the 1971 Lacrosse National Championship game held at Hofstra, where top-seeded Cornell defeated Maryland 12-6. This game is known as the first modern NCAA National Championship game. It was a game full of firsts. It was the first NCAA title win for legendary coach Richie Moran. Al Rimmer, the first Canadian born NCAA recruit, scored six goals for Cornell in the contest.
As if three rare pieces of lacrosse history were not enough, Tobias’ watchlist included three modern lacrosse cards and a handful of unopened sets. The first was an SGC-graded 1/1 auto rookie card of Athletes Unlimited lacrosse star and National Champion, Ally Mastroianni. Mastroianni was an All American and Midfielder of the Year at North Carolina, and won a gold medal with Team USA at the recent World Box Lacrosse Championships. It was the first box lacrosse championship to feature a women’s competition.
Next came two PLL cards. The first was a 2021 Championship Series Josh Byrne parallel rookie card numbered to 5, followed by a 2021 First Edition Danny Logan 1/1 rookie card. Even though Byrne was drafted in 2017, this set was his first appearance on lacrosse cards of any kind, so the 2021 card is considered his rookie card. Byrne is one of the game’s most exciting players, winning the NLL MVP last season while winning his second straight title with the Buffalo Bandits. He is also regarded as one of the best attackmen in the outdoor game, and the best player on the Carolina Chaos. Logan is a young SSDM who played for Team USA in the 2023 Lacrosse World Championship and the 2024 World Lacrosse Box Championship. In his four years as a PLL pro, he has won SSDM of the Year three times. Last came five unopened 2021 Topps Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse sets, all of which contained base sets, parallels and autographs. This is the first ever complete trading card set dedicated to women’s lacrosse, and features many of the sport's biggest stars.
The cumulative value of the items Tobias received, just under $3,000, is the most ever paid for a PSA 10 Paul Rabil rookie card. While this trade is notable for the value and market of lacrosse cards, it also has the same charm and uniqueness that lacrosse card collectors currently love about their niche.
Ledwith was able to accumulate everything on the list over a few weeks time. But he had to act quickly. When he received the offer, there was just an hour remaining on an auction for the Montreal Cabinet card. Ledwith had to decide in under an hour if he was up to the task of tracking down all these artifacts in pursuit of the perfect Rabil rookie card. It took Ledwith roughly three years to track down and acquire the other four PSA 10 Rabil rookies, this was his chance to grab the last one known, and he jumped at it, launching arguably the most prolific card trade in lacrosse history.
The deal was struck. Ledwith got his fifth PSA 10 Rabil Rookie, making him the owner of all five in existence. Tobias received a Danny Logan 1/1 from 2021, A Josh Byrne rookie 4/5 from 2021, an Ally Mastroanni 1/1 autographed rookie card, five unopened boxes of 2021 Athletes Unlimited lacrosse cards, a ticket stub from the 1971 NCAA lacrosse championship, a original cabinet card of the 1885-86 Montreal Lacrosse club, a set of trade cards featuring lacrosse from the 1880s, and a postcard featuring Municipal Stadium from the 1960s. This is the actual card sent to Ledwith:
Any time a graded 10 rookie card of an all-time great in any sport switches hands it is a big deal. Among lacrosse card collectors and fans, this trade will raise eyebrows and make a major statement. Lacrosse cards are here to stay, and people will go to great lengths to acquire the best of them.
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