The Hair Up There: Collecting Troy Polamalu

The Hair Up There: Collecting Troy Polamalu by Tracy Hackler

October 3, 2009, 1:54 am
Filed under: Beckett Media, Donruss, Fleer, Hobby Stories, just for fun, NFL, Topps, Upper Deck | Tags: Autographs, Ben Roethlisberger, Brian Urlacher, Denver Broncos, Ed Reed, Head & Shoulders, Julius Peppers, Larry Fitzgerald, McFarlane SportsPicks, Memorabilia, NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers, Ray Lewis, rookie cards, Troy Polamalu

AP Images

I sit here at my keyboard a conflicted mess. As a Denver Broncos and Larry Fitzgerald collector, I don’t like the Pittsburgh Steelers – at all. I can’t stand Mike Tomlin, Ben Roethlisberger bugs me and the Terrible Towel is, well, terrible.

Yet I find myself typing “Troy Polamalu” in the eBay search window an awful lot lately. And to be honest with you, I don’t even know why.

I think it’s the hair. Or the heroics. Or the Head & Shoulders. Heck, I think it’s a little bit of all of that, but probably the on-field feats more than the famous follicles; although, Polamalu’s omnipresent peddling of Head & Shoulders shampoo these days has served to shed some light on his entertaining sense of humor.

The thing is, nobody (figuratively, not literally) collects defensive players in the NFL. Sure, every now and again a Ray Lewis, Julius Peppers, Brian Urlacher or Ed Reed will bubble up to the collective surface and make a fleeting Hot List appearance or two, but that’s the rarest of exceptions.

In football’s collecting pecking order, linebackers and defensive backs rank way behind QBs, RBs, WRs and maybe even kickers (at least Adam Vinatieri). But the wildly-maned wunderkind from USC could be spearheading a positional revolution in the sports card hobby. At the very least he’s become the most collectible defensive player in the game today, and there’s something to be said for that.

The seventh-year veteran also happens to be one of the most important defensive players in the game, too. He’s missed two games this season with a knee injury suffered in Week 1 against Tennessee – and the Steelers have lost both of them. Luckily for Pittsburgh, he’s due back for Week 5. That means now’s a good time to buy, before he goes back to blowing up ball-carriers, bedeviling offenses and otherwise bewildering anyone watching on a weekly basis.  

Polamalu will enter his next start with 439 career tackles, 18 interceptions, two touchdowns and more momentum-changing hits and havoc than just about any defender in Pittsburgh’s proud history, including Jack Ham, Jack Lambert and Joe Greene.

To date, he has appeared on 586 trading cards worth a grand total of $12,029.20, an average of $20.53 apiece. Obviously, Polamalu’s most desirable collectible targets are his Rookie Cards – he has just 19, a relatively low number in an era when most of the top rookies have 40 to 50 – and his certified autographs (he has just 14 of those).

His most affordable RC (2003 Bowman #257) is valued at $12 and, in theory, you could own one of each of his Rookie Cards for less than $800 (about $42 apiece); his most affordable autograph card is not really affordable at all at $135 (2006 Select Inscriptions #218).

Clearly, Polamalu washes his hair (about three times a day at the most) way more than he signs for trading card manufacturers. In fact, he’s appeared on just one autograph card since 2006 (2008 SPx Super Scripts Autographs Quad). The combined print run for his 14 autograph cards is 1,241. Take away the 989 copies of his 2003 Playoff Contenders RC and you’ve got just 252 additional Polamalu autographs on the market (including five 1/1s). The average value of the four certified autograph cards in the Beckett Football Database: $246.25.   

Luckily, Polamalu has some comparably affordable collectibles, too. Like a relatively attainable – yet much less desirable – 94 memorabilia cards and three McFarlane figures, including one in the new SportsPicks Series 21 releasing this month.

Speaking of McFarlanes, this piece of poignancy, featured on Spawn.com to introduce Polamalu’s first McFarlane figure back in 2006, is just as apropos now as it was then: “Is he a cornerback, safety, or a linebacker? Equal parts deception and devastation, Polamalu is just as likely to sack your quarterback as he is to pick off a pass across the middle. Underneath all that hair is a defensive riddle no one’s been able to solve.”

I don’t want to solve him. I just want to collect him. And maybe use his shampoo.

Is that so wrong?

— Tracy Hackler

Five Key RCs
1. 2003 Playoff Contenders #190 /989 ($200)
2. 2003 Donruss Elite #200 /100 ($100)
3. 2003 SkyBox LE #71 /99 ($80)
4. 2003 SP Authentic #120 /2,200 ($40)
5. 2003 Sweet Spot #208 /300 ($35)

Five Key Autographs
1. 2003 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity #250 /25 ($400)
2. 2008 SPx Super Scripts Autographs Quad #SSQ2 /15 ($N/A)
3. 2003 Leaf Rookies & Stars Autographs #250 /150 ($250)
4. 2006 Select Inscriptions #218 /37 ($135)
5. 2003 Leaf Limited Contenders Preview Autographs #190 /10 ($N/A)

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