Pete Rose Memorabilia Value Increases Upon Death, ’63 Rookie Card Is Holy Grail

Piet Roos has probably signed more autographs than any baseball player in MLB history, but that doesn’t mean “Charlie Hustle” memorabilia doesn’t experience a significant increase in value upon death, according to a top expert.

TMZ Sports talked to David Kohlerfounder and chairman of SCP Auctionsjust days after Rose’s death … and we asked if the items signed by the legendary Reds player have increased in value following Pete’s death on Monday.

“Every time a very important person passes through a game of a major American sport like baseball, there is a lot of interest. I’m sure there are many more sales on eBay now for his memorabilia,” Kohler told us, as he remarked, “for a long, long time, [Pete] was at all the card shows, making appearances and signing many balls and bats. He did it for a long time.”

The law of supply and demand dictates that when there is a large supply, prices will fall. Now, with Pete’s passing, unfortunately no more items will be signed, hence the bump.

But David says there are some items that have significant value.

“Now, his game-worn items, his rare early pieces, his high, high-end baseball cards from the early 1960s, his rookie year was 1963 and into the early 1970s those items will increase in value. The rarity, the scarcity” , Kohler told us.

What is the holy grail, we asked.

“When it comes to cards, it would be his PSA 10, a rookie card from 1963. Only one of them has been graded. It traded for $717,000 in the last ten years. So today that card would be worth over a million dollars worth.” , easy.”

Of course we told the story…Rose was too found deceased by a relative at his home in Las Vegas after returning from a book signing/meet-and-greet in Nashville.

Pete’s Hall of Fame teammate, Tony Perezwho was with him at the signing, told us that his good friend of more than six decades was not feeling well on Sunday.