Five of the Most Important Sports Illustrated For Kids Cards
Since its debut in January of 1989, Sports Illustrated For Kids has become one of the most iconic and notable sports magazines in existence. SI For Kids has produced some of the most important first cards, rookie cards and early cards from athletes across a wide array of professional and amateur sports. As important as true paper rookie cards are in the vintage collectibles space, and as meaningful as shiny first appearances and signed rookie year cards have become in the ultra-modern hobby, the perforated pages of SIFK is where collectors can find the cardboard debuts of a handful of the greatest athletes of all time.
The kid centric magazine has been a beacon for non-major sports card representation since it's inception. From the golf course to the college ranks to the world stage of the Olympics and maybe, most importantly, women's sports, these deserving yet underserved categories have been well represented by a fun kid's magazine.
I distinctly remember as a kid and, well, even as an adult, grabbing any number of SI For Kids magazines to flip open to that exciting nine card perforated page to see exactly what great athletes were featured that month.
The formula of star power, first cards and the natural condition sensitivity of these releases makes for a gold medal winning combination.
Below, we offer a short list of some of the most iconic and important early card releases for some of the biggest athletes in sports.
1. 1996 SI For Kids Series 3 #536 Tiger Woods
This list truly begins and ends with the iconic 1996 SIFK Tiger Woods card. This was the first card produced of a player who would go on to become quite possibly the greatest golfer the world has ever known. For as much as Tiger put golf on the radar for a new generation, his first SI For Kids card put the trading cards in the magazine on the map for hobbyists everywhere. High grade copies of this card have seen some huge six figure sales over the years, including one that reached $125,000.
2. 1999 SI For Kids Series 4 #814 Serena Williams
In January of 2022, a PSA 10 copy of the SIFK Serena Williams card sold for a record price of $117,000. Much like our number one ranked athlete, there's little debate that Serena is the G.O.A.T. of women's tennis. The fact that her first trading card appearance happened in the pages of SIFK is monumental. Serena is a transcendent talent on the court and a true cultural phenomenon away from it. If you are looking for the most significant trading card of the player with 73 career titles to her name, including 23 grant slam women's singles titles, you must flip through the pages of the magazine.
3. 1990 SI For Kids Series 1 #152 Tony Hawk
Sticking with the greatest of all time theme of our list, skateboarder, entrepreneur, and X Games icon Tony Hawk's first cardboard appearance was, you guessed it, in Sports Illustrated For Kids. Even more interesting, Hawk's SIFK debut card came out nearly half a decade prior to his next trading card. Landing he first documented 900 in 1999, authoring the one of the most successful franchises in video game history and spending his life as a legend in extreme sports, Hawk is one of the most influential skateboarders of all time... and SI for kids produced his first trading card.
4. 1996-98 SI For Kids NBA Rookie Jumbo #59 Kobe Bryant
Appearing on an incredibly tough panel with fellow 1996 NBA Draft class contemporaries Kerry Kittles, Marcus Camby, and the iconic Allen Iverson, This non nine card panel is especially difficult to find in high-grade condition. Finishing his career is a five-time NBA champion, a two- time NBA Finals MVP, a league MVP and an 18-time All Star. Anda never-ending list of accomplishments. The black mamba became one of the most decorated, accomplished, and fierce players in league history and is posthumously appreciated, admired, beloved and remembered worldwide. A February 2022 sale of this rookie era Mamba card brought a personal record $90,000 at auction.
5. 2014 SI For Kids #292 Simone Biles
On the heels of her performance at the most recent Olympic Games in Tokyo, Biles has now captured 11 Olympic medals and 30 world championship medals, which makes her the most decorated gymnast in history. She's widely regarded as the greatest gymnast of all-time, and in turn, one of the greatest Olympians to ever compete on the world stage. True to SI For Kids groundbreaking fashion, Simone's 2014 SIFK issue was the gymnast's first appearance on cardboard. To take it a step further, her second card, two years later, was also an SIFK release, alongside a myriad of 2016 Topps US Olympic and Paralympic Team Hopeful cards and parallels released that year.
Real significance and value isn't limited to the cards listed above. In June of 2021, a PSA 10 1992 SIFK Series 2 #70 Mia Hamm card sold for $34,400.
The tradition of impactful SI For Kids card releases continues right into this very sport's cycle. The Victor Wembanyama SIFK card was an incredibly hot early release of the generational San Antonio Spurs talent. The first Caitlin Clark SIFK card had collectors paging through recent magazines and even Pittsburgh Pirates young pitching phenomenon Paul Skenes can be found in his LSU gear prior to any Pittsburgh Pirates cards.
The Sports Illustrated For Kids magazine proves issue after issue that the thrill of the hunt, the excitement of collecting and print are all alive and well in the hobby.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms