Million Dollar Baby

Vikings fans have known since the start of the preseason that they had something special. But the world's true barometer of stardown -- the auction site eBay -- has shown that Peterson merchandise sells all day.

You know you’re big time when you have a cult following on e-Bay. Type in Britney Spears and you’ll find more than 2,000 active auction items. Type in George Bush and almost 1,000 active auctions are underway. Looking for George Clooney stuff? More than 500 auctions are available. Got a Barack Obama fan on your gift list? More than 700 auctions are going on.

When you hit the big time, there is a market for people to make a ton of money off of your fame. But few have had the immediate impact of Adrian Peterson. Interested in buying some Peterson stuff? There are 3,000 auctions on-line and taking bids.

Thousands of Peterson-related items have sold since Jan. 1. Consider the following:

A 2007 Topps silver refractor card went for $33.

A Hotwheels car called “Peterson’s Passion” went for $8.

A signed Peterson jersey went for $85.

Something called a 2007 Playoff Contenders Rookie Playoff Ticket Card – your guess is as good as ours on this one – went for $53.

A set of five Peterson rookie cards fetched $31.

A Bowman Chrome Xfractor card went for $60.50.

A Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor sold for $125.

An autographed Peterson card called SP Rookie Threads went unsold because the high bid of $152.50 (which didn’t include $4 for shipping and, more importantly, handling) did not meet the reserve price.

An autographed Upper Deck Quad Jersey card received 20 bids and sold for $258.

A 2007 “Sweet Spot” jersey card sold for $48.

A Topps card signed by Peterson and Marshawn Lynch went for $335.

A “Finest Moments” autographed card went for $215.

An Upper Deck Sweet Spot helmet card was sold for $155.

A Gridiron Gear jersey card went for $50.

A Bowman Chrome autographed card No. 9 of 10 received 42 bids and sold for $430.
* An Ultimate Rookie signature card went for $499.

A signed helmet went for $190.

A signed mini-helmet went for $78.

An autographed 2007 Sage Decadence card, which the seller claimed was worth as much as $800, sold for $161.

A 2007 Press Pass autographed card got 23 bids and went for $207.

An Upper Deck Trilogy rookie card went for $83.

An Upper Deck SPx NFL Logo Patch card signed by Peterson didn’t get the asking price of $3,500 – which would be a good value if the seller’s estimate of a $8,000 value is accurate.

A Bowman Sterling autographed card sold for $215.

A 2007 Chirography autographed card went for $181.

A 2007 Donruss Threads Letterman autographed card went for $205.

A white autographed Vikings football fetched $101.

A Bowman Red Chrome refractor card went for $170.

An SPX triple autograph card with Peterson, Marshawn Lynch and Kenny Irons sold for $279.

A Leaf Rookies and Stars Longevity jersey card went out the door for $76.

What makes this so unusual? Those items that sold were for auctions that ended on Saturday alone. This story was originally set to run Saturday when, after viewing auction items from Friday, most of these same items also sold.

In all, more than 600 auction items on Peterson items were sold just on eBay in one 24-hour period. At the same time, there were almost 3,000 active Peterson items currently being sold. Being Adrian Peterson has turned into big business and, whether you’re a buyer or a seller, a lot of money is changing hands as a result of No. 28.

Of the 30 items listed, they went for a combined $3,500 and, while many of them were big-ticket items, they represent just 5 percent of the items being sold … and this was just one day out of many in which tens of thousands of dollars are made by selling A.P. stuff.

A.P. may be a $6 million man in the NFL, but on places like eBay, he’s worth about $1 million more in the course of a year – not too shabby for the new face of the franchise.