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In a long-rumored move, collectibles marketplace Goldin has been sold to eBay by Collectors Holdings, co-owned by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen. Concurrently, eBay has sold its vault to Collectors, the parent company of card-grading giant PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator).

Financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.

Since it founded in 2012, Goldin — profiled in Netflix’s “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch” — has amassed more than $1.2 billion in sales. In August 2020, flush amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the auction house made waves by setting a record for a sports card at auction: Mike Trout‘s 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor autographed rookie card, numbered one-of-one, which sold for $3.936 million. Last year, Karl Malone consigned game-used jerseys and sneakers from all 12 Dream Team members to Goldin, netting $5 million.

In September 2021, a number of big names in sports invested $40 million in Goldin, including Kevin Durant, Deshaun Watson, Dwyane Wade, Logan Paul and Mark Cuban, among others.

eBay’s vault being sold to Collectors and PSA allows for, as Collectors CEO Nat Turner said in a statement, “a seamless, end-to-end journey.” Cards vaulted with eBay will head to the PSA vault; according to a news release, the vaults will be packaged “into a newly branded offering.”

“This will benefit The Hobby above all else, which is the primary goal of this innovative partnership between eBay and PSA,” Turner said. “This partnership will make collecting safer, easier and more fun. We’re excited to combine the scale and trust across eBay’s global marketplace with PSA’s authentication and grading expertise.”

According to GemRate, who tracks grading trends in the industry, PSA graded 13.5 million items in 2023 — which was a 21% increase from 2022 and a 78% market share.

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Cards’ Contreras out with foot contusion after HBP

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Cards' Contreras out with foot contusion after HBP

ST. LOUIS — Cardinals first baseman Willson Contreras was not in the lineup Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies a day after he was hit in the foot by a pitch and broke his bat in frustration.

Contreras, listed as day-to-day with a right foot contusion, was hit by Rockies starter Kyle Freeland‘s sweeper in the fourth inning. He then slammed his bat into the dirt and snapped it over his knee.

As he walked toward first base, the 33-year-old threw the two pieces of the broken bat toward the Cardinals’ dugout.

He remained in the game until the sixth inning, when he was replaced by Nolan Gorman.

The Cardinals said X-rays did not reveal any structural damage in Contreras’ foot.

Contreras has been hit by a National League-leading 18 pitches this season, trailing only Randy Arozarena and Ty France.

Contreras leads the Cardinals with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs.

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Rangers’ struggling García to IL with ankle injury

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Rangers' struggling García to IL with ankle injury

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers put struggling slugger Adolis García on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left ankle and activated outfielder Evan Carter.

Texas, which is chasing an American League wild-card berth, made the moves their series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

Another outfielder, Wyatt Langford, was held out of the lineup because of forearm stiffness, but manager Bruce Bochy said he could be available to pinch-hit.

García is hitting .224 with 16 homers and 64 RBIs in 116 games. He hit .176 (6 for 34) during the nine-game homestand that ended with Wednesday’s game.

Carter, who turns 23 later this month, missed 10 games because of back spasms. He was in a 4-for-34 slump when he was placed on the IL on Aug. 2. He hit .238 with four homers and 21 RBIs in 55 games before then.

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D-backs’ DeSclafani to IL after turn as starter

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D-backs' DeSclafani to IL after turn as starter

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Arizona Diamondbacks placed right-hander Anthony DeSclafani on the 15-day injured list Wednesday because of right thumb inflammation after he made three starts.

DeSclafani (1-2, 4.36 ERA) has been primarily a reliever for the Diamondbacks but made the starts this month after Merrill Kelly was traded to the Texas Rangers at the deadline on July 31.

Arizona made the move with DeSclafani before the series finale at Texas, when Kelly was starting for the Rangers. The Diamondbacks recalled right-hander Casey Kelly from Triple-A Reno.

“We’re hoping for the minimal time. He’s going to get some imaging just to make sure that everything’s OK,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “This is something that popped up a couple days ago. We all felt that he was going to be able to take the baseball and go out there and compete, which he did. We saw the stuff in the first couple of innings, and we decided it was time to take him off the field.”

In the three starts this month, DeSclafani is 0-1 with a 5.59 ERA, allowing six runs in 9⅔ innings. He threw three innings Tuesday night, allowing two runs in a game Arizona won 3-2 on a homer by Ketel Marte in the ninth.

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