Inside the Vault Issue #5: The Canada Kid
Eric Hartman's 2026 breakout, the grading monopoly lawsuit every collector needs to know, and a Roman Anthony RC you can actually afford
Allen Hamric
May 21, 2026
Ripped 5 blasters this week — 3 packs of '26 Bowman, 2 Prospect Edition — and the results were...meh.
No autos. Three numbered cards total, and only one came from Bowman. On paper, a losing week. But honestly? I still love both of these products. The '26 Bowman checklist is loaded, the Prospect Edition has some genuinely interesting names, and ripping packs is just fun — not every break needs to end in a big hit to be worth doing. The hobby isn't always the pull. Sometimes it's just the process.
That said, those five blasters got me thinking about something bigger. Because if I had pulled something worth grading this week, the landscape for doing that has changed dramatically — and not in our favor. There's a lawsuit working its way through federal court right now that goes directly to the question of whether collectors will have real choices the next time they open their grading app.
Let's talk about it.
In April 2026, a collector named Michael Rasmussen filed a class-action antitrust lawsuit against Collectors Holdings — the parent company of PSA — in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Case number: 8:26-cv-00897. The allegation: that Collectors Holdings used back-to-back acquisitions to build an illegal monopoly over sports card grading, then used that position to raise prices and degrade service quality.
Collectors Holdings acquired SGC in February 2024 and Beckett Grading Services (BGS) in December 2025. Add PSA — which they already owned — and you have one company controlling an estimated 80% of the card grading market. The lawsuit cites Section 7 of the Clayton Act (acquisitions that substantially lessen competition) and Section 2 of the Sherman Act (monopolization). The complaint details price increases at both SGC and BGS following acquisition, longer service terms, and PSA raising its own prices at the same time. When the three options you had are all owned by the same person, the competitive pressure that kept those prices honest disappears.
The grading market used to be like a neighborhood with three independent mechanics — you could shop on price, turnaround time, and reputation. Now those three shops are under the same ownership. He sets the price, he sets the wait time, and your only real alternative is to skip grading altogether. That's what this lawsuit is challenging. Congressman Pat Ryan has written to the FTC demanding an investigation. The remedy being sought isn't just damages — it's forced divestiture, which would require Collectors Holdings to sell off SGC and/or Beckett to restore real competition.
| Company | Acquisition Date | Impact (per complaint) |
|---|---|---|
| PSA | Pre-existing | ~50% market share baseline |
| SGC acquired | February 2024 | Price increases post-acquisition |
| BGS (Beckett) acquired | December 2025 | Price increases + longer turnarounds |
| Combined | Now | ~80% of grading market under one roof |
Sources: Value Added Resource · Cardlines · Bloomberg Law
I'm not a lawyer, and antitrust cases take years to resolve. But the underlying issue isn't about legal theory — it's about something real that collectors are living through right now. PSA bulk submission costs are up, turnaround times are pushing past seven months, and the alternatives that used to keep PSA honest are now under the same roof. Whether the lawsuit succeeds or not, the question of what a healthy, competitive grading market looks like is one the hobby needs to take seriously. Worth following. Case: 8:26-cv-00897, Central District of California.
In the meantime — Bowman season is here, we've got a Braves prospect worth knowing about, and Roman Anthony's most accessible card is right in front of us. Let's get into it. — Allen
Founder, Dugout Vault
Eric Hartman Might Be the Best Braves Card Nobody Is Buying Yet
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A 20th-round pick in 2024 out of Holy Trinity High School in Okotoks, Alberta — $337,500 bonus, zero hype. Then 2026 happened. Hartman is hitting .326 with a 1.097 OPS and 12 HRs in 132 AB for High-A Rome, his exit velo jumped nearly 7 mph to over 91 mph, and Baseball America just slotted him at #100 on their Top 100. That recognition matters — it's the kind of moment that moves prices.
His 2026 Bowman Chrome Prospect Auto is his first Bowman card. The secondary market is reflecting early interest: the Blue /150 is trading around $642 and the Gold Shimmer /50 around $560 — but because Hartman is still flying under the radar outside the Braves fanbase, the base auto remains an accessible entry. Source: SportsCardsPro / eBay auction data, May 2026
We covered the full Bowman market breakdown in Issue #04 — including the Chase DeLauter 40% single-week spike and the 30-day price curve that applies to almost every first Bowman auto. The short version: hobby boxes retailing at $239.99 are trading around $310 on the secondary market, and patience still wins — most Chrome autos soften 15–20% within 30 days as breaker supply hits eBay. The exception is a prospect who keeps producing. Which brings us to Hartman (see Chop Talk).
Roman Anthony is one of the best young hitters in the game. His 2023 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autos have set records — a Red Refractor /5 PSA 10 cleared $93,000 in February 2026, and the base auto PSA 10 is trading $800–$900. But today's focus is the accessible entry: his 2026 Topps Series 1 RC #189 — his first official Topps rookie card designation. When Anthony debuted in June 2025, eBay logged 1,450+ sales in a single day. Early secondary market data shows these S1 RCs flipping at 2–3× box cost, with True Photo Variations and All Kings inserts carrying steeper premiums. For a collector who wants exposure to Anthony's upside without committing $800+, the S1 RC is how you get in the conversation. Sources: Athlon Sports · eBay sold listings, May 2026
Sources: Beckett Release Calendar · Waxstat 2026 Calendar · topps.com · Dates subject to change.
On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th career home run off Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium — breaking Babe Ruth's record of 714 that had stood for 39 years. Aaron finished his career with 755 home runs. His 1954 Topps rookie card (#128) is one of the most coveted pieces in the hobby: a PSA 8 has sold for $10,000+, and a PSA 9 — of which very few exist — has commanded six figures at auction. Few cards connect the history of a franchise to the history of the hobby quite like it.