Shaquille O'Neal's Trading Cards: By the Numbers

With a simple tweet, Shaquille O’Neal announces his retirement after 19 years of playing in the NBA.

The last member of the 50 Greatest Players of the NBA to retire, Shaq's career has been dominating. This also translated to sports cards where his cardboards have been one of the most highly collectible in the hobby.

In fact, Shaq's arrival in the NBA in 1992 was the main reason why the basketball sports cards hobby grew this big with collectors trying to get hold of his rookie cards.

I am one of the many who tries to collect every Shaq trading card possible.

Here's a look at Shaq's career on cards -- by the numbers.

$104,265.67 -- That's how much it would cost you right now to own every basketball card featuring Shaq that's not too rare for there to be a published price guide range.

$18.70 -- The average value per card.

$60 -- Today's value (high side of range) for Shaq's 1992-93 Stadium Club Beam Team card, which was among his most-popular cards during his rookie year.

I was able to snag one just last April. It was included in my April - May mail months.

1992 -- The year when Shaq made his cardboard debut, which first came on college draft picks cards made by Classic. (These show him in his LSU uniform rather than his NBA threads.)

411 -- Total of unique basketball cards signed by Shaq for inclusion into packs -- aka certified autographs -- during his career.

I have 13 as of this writing. Check them out in my photobucket. 

9,500 -- Quantity of 1992 Classic Four Sport Gold "Future Superstars" cards signed by Shaq and three other promising players -- Phil Nevin, Desmond Howard and Roman Hamrlik in 1993. That's a lot of ink & and how'd those other guys pan out?

59 -- Total quantity of Panini Threads Shaq signed for Panini America last year. (He gets paid a lot more per autograph now than he did in 1992 & )

$400 -- Value of the most-expensive Shaq autograph (several cards tied) in the Beckett.com database.

1,719 -- The number of Shaq game-used memorabilia cards -- collectibles with a slice of a game-used jersey or other item embedded into the card. (No, they're not from the same jersey & even if he is a big dude.)

25 -- Number of Shaq toys -- err, action figures -- made through the years by McFarlane Toys and Kenner in its Starting Lineup line.

Source: Shaquille O'Neal's Trading Cards: By the Numbers - Chris Olds (ESPN)