Sidney Crosby (born 1987) is a current player for the Pittsburgh Penguins of which he has been a member of since 2005. Though he is an active player, he is widely considered to be one of the best hockey players of all time.
Crosby was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and he grew up in Cole Harbour. He began playing hockey at the age of two, and he was on the ice at three.
He began to turn heads at a young age, and he was even interviewed for a local newspaper at the age of seven. He began dominating the youth leagues, and he played well when he was put into tougher and older leagues.
He was performing so well that the fame became dangerous. He was harassed by parents, and other junior players tried to injure him constantly. As a result, he spent 2002-2003 in a boarding school in Minnesota.
After tearing up the junior leagues, Crosby was drafted by the World Hockey Association with the first overall pick in 2004, and he was offered $7.5 million. Crosby turned it down, and the WHA never fully formed.
When the 2005 NHL Draft came, Crosby was the surefire number one pick. The draft itself was nicknamed “The Crosby Sweepstakes”. He
was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
At the time of the draft, the Penguins were in bad shape, and there was intense speculation that the team would be moved.
David Morehouse, the CEO of the Penguins franchise, commented, “We were in last place, we were last in revenues, we were last in attendance, our TV ratings were minimal, and we were in the oldest building in the NHL. We were able to draw attention to us as a franchise because of the drafting of Sidney Crosby and the subsequent success we had.”
Crosby was brought under the tutelage of Penguins hero Mario Lemieux. Crosby seemed to improve with every game in the NHL, and in his second year, he was the NHL’s scoring champion as he won the Art Ross Trophy. He was also named MVP with the Hart Trophy that same year. As a result, Crosby was named the undisputed team captain.
Only two more years were needed to capture the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2009.
Yet not everything was sunshine and daisies, and Crosby began to have serious medical issues, specifically concussion problems. He was in and out with injuries for some time.
Despite the injury plagued season from 2010-2012, Crosby resumed his dominance on the ice, and by 2016 and 2017, Crosby led the Penguins to back to back championships. Since 2017, Crosby has been mostly adding to his career records and accolades.
Additionally, Crosby led Canada to Winter Olympic victories in 2010 and 2014.
Today, Crosby takes the form of a living legend. Former players like Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux, and Gordie Howe have repeatedly expressed their appreciation for Crosby as one the best.
His cards have taken on a blue chip status, where people believe they can only go up, because he is an all time great. The best cards to look at are one of the many rookies available. This article will take you through a few of the best.
Before we begin, it is worth mentioning that Alexander Overchkin is the only rookie card that competes with Crosby on these sets.
2005 SP Authentic Sidney Crosby Rookie Card
There are 290 cards in this set, which is broken into five parts. The first 100 cards are base cards with no limit, #101-130 are vets, #131-220 are rookie autograph cards with a 999 limit, #221-287 are unsigned rookie cards with a 1999 card limit, and the last three cards are updates.
Sidney Crosby is at card #181 in the 999 limited autograph group.
For reference, 85 of these cards have been registered with PSA. 50 of them are Gem Mint 10, which gives you a good idea of the distribution of grades.
Those Gem Mint cards have risen in value in the last few years. As recently as 2018, these cards would sell for about $2,000, while the last two sales of 2020 were for $8,400 and $7,400.
2005 SPx Sidney Crosby Rookie Card
This Crosby card is featured with a signed jersey insert. PSA has 47 of these cards registered. Gem Mint copies have been on the rise, and they have reached over $4,000. Since the card is somewhat rare, PSA 8’s and 9’s were regularly selling for over $1,000.
2005 Upper Deck Black Diamond Sidney Crosby Rookie Card
This card is broken into four different cards: the Quadruple, the Quadruple-Emerald, the Quadruple-Ruby, and the base.
The base is the least expensive/rare. PSA has 17 cards registered. A PSA 8 sold for $195 in July of 2020.
The Quadruple is next, with 140 cards PSA registered. In 2020, this card sold for about $800 in Gem Mint condition.
After that is the Emerald, containing just 3 cards registered with PSA. A Gem Mint copy sold for $1,425 in February of 2020.
Lastly and most likely the most expensive/rare is the Ruby. PSA has one copy registered. Its last sale was for a PSA 8 in April of 2011 for $418.
2005 Ultimate Collection Sidney Crosby Rookie Card
This set is fairly similar to the other Upper Deck issues. Crosby’s card is at #91, and it features an autograph while limited to 299. There are 42 cards registered with PSA, and there is an official sale of a Gem Mint copy in 2018 for $2,600.
2005 Upper Deck Sidney Crosby Rookie Card
Even Upper Deck’s base set is popular. There are a few more of these around, and they have stayed valuable.
PSA alone has 1,062 cards registered, and there are plenty of registered sales. This card was sold heavily in 2020. It started the year at about $1,000, and it has soared past $4,000 in 2021.
2005 Upper Deck Ice Sidney Crosby Rookie Card
This is the last popular Upper Deck card that we will cover. It is quite rare and expensive. PSA only has 2 cards registered. A PSA Mint 9 copy sold for $2,348.83 in April of 2009.
Conclusion
There are more Crosby rookie cards out there, but we covered the big ones.
Crosby will go down as a great player of his generation, as well as hockey history. He is starting to get up there in age, so it may be time to snag a Crosby rookie card before prices jump at his retirement.