Exclusive: Jason Koonce puts his Jackie Robinson rookie in eight figures

The OTIA Sports owner answered six questions by text. In answer three he put his 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson PSA 9 rookie above anything a Robinson card has ever publicly sold for — and told collectors “new random stuff will crash.”

This is the first installment of RazMania Card Power Players: six questions, answered fast, by the people actually moving money in this hobby. No 90-minute podcast. Just the answers.

First up is Jason Koonce, owner of OTIA Sports — the Detroit operation that buys collections outright, brokers high-end cards to serious collectors, and books athlete appearances. Koonce started collecting around age 8 north of Ann Arbor, funding packs by shoveling snow. He has never had another job.

He sent his answers back in minutes. One of them is the reason you are reading this.

Asked for his biggest gain on a single card, Koonce named a 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson PSA 9 rookie. We asked whether he wanted to attach a number to it or leave it out. His reply, verbatim:

“Can just say in this market pushing a 8 figure card”

Jason Koonce, owner, OTIA Sports

Eight figures. Ten million dollars or more, for a Jackie Robinson rookie card.

Six questions with Jason Koonce

How did you get in the card collecting business?
“Started when I was 8.”

What was a mistake you made in card collecting?
“Listening to other people and not buying exactly what I loved.”

What is your biggest gain on a card, and what was it?
“A lot…. 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson PSA 9 rookie.” On price: “Can just say in this market pushing a 8 figure card.”

What kind of cards do you think would be good buys for the next decade?
“Grails. The best of the best. New random stuff will crash.”

What was your first or worst job?
“Cards was my first and only job since age 8.”

What is your favorite sports team?
“All Detroit.”

Why it matters

Nine words in answer four are the most actionable thing a dealer at this level has said out loud in a while: “Grails. The best of the best. New random stuff will crash.” That is not a hedge. It is a man who watches the top of this market every day telling you the numbered-to-25, parallel-of-the-week end of the hobby is going to get hurt, and the trophy cards are going to keep separating from everything else.

Read his stated regret next to it. His career mistake was not a bad card — it was “listening to other people and not buying exactly what I loved.” Conviction, then concentration. That is the whole playbook in two answers.

By the numbers

• 8 figures — $10 million or more, Koonce’s own read on his 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson PSA 9 in the current market.
• $960,000 — the highest publicly reported price ever paid for any Jackie Robinson card, a 1952 Topps #312 in PSA 9, in 2021.
• 5 — signed 1948 Leaf Robinson copies ever authenticated. One approached the $1 million mark at auction despite a PSA 1 card grade.
• 8 — Koonce’s age when he started. Roughly three decades later, it is still the only job he has had.

Zoom in

The grade is the story as much as the player. The 1948 Leaf Robinson is a card that famously does not grade well — hand-cut edges, wandering centering, cheap postwar stock. Most surviving copies live in the low and mid grades, which is exactly why a PSA 9 sits in its own conversation.

Same lesson the rest of this market keeps repeating: at the very top, condition is not a modifier on price. It is the price.

Reality check

Koonce’s eight-figure line is a valuation, not a comp. It is his own read on a card he owns, he did not say it is for sale, and no Jackie Robinson card has publicly sold anywhere near ten million dollars — the public high-water mark is still under $1 million. Weigh it as what it is: a market read from a dealer with a position, offered on the record.

Also worth separating: “grails will hold, new stuff will crash” is a forecast, not a fact. It happens to be a forecast from someone whose living depends on being right about it.

What’s next

RazMania Card Power Players runs all season — same six questions, a different power player each time. Koonce set the bar with an eight-figure answer inside four minutes of texting.

Who should sit in the chair next? Tell us. And if you know someone still stacking “new random stuff,” send them answer number four.

How this was made

This interview was conducted by text message with Jason Koonce on August 13, 2026. All quotes attributed to Koonce are reproduced verbatim from that exchange, including his answer on price, which he approved for publication. Comparable-sale figures for Jackie Robinson cards come from publicly reported auction results, not from RazMania’s tracked-sales database. Koonce’s valuation of his own card is his statement and has not been independently verified.