Joe Orlando

About Joe Orlando

Joe Orlando is a recognized expert in the sports collectibles industry. An advanced collector of sports cards and memorabilia for over 40 years, Orlando attended Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, where he studied communications and was the starting catcher for the baseball team. After a brief stint in the minor leagues, Orlando obtained a Juris Doctor from Whittier Law School in Southern California in the spring of before joining Collectors Universe, Inc. Over a 22-year period, Orlando helped develop authentication/grading standards for various collectible types and wrote hundreds of articles, including collecting guides, for the company as part of their educational content efforts. In addition, Orlando has helped author numerous collectibles books, such as Collecting Sports Legends: The Ultimate Hobby Guide (2008), The T206 Collection: The Players and Their Stories (2010; 2018), The Cracker Jack Collection: Baseball\'s Prized Players (2013), The 100 Greatest Baseball Autographs (2016), Legendary Lumber: The Top 100 Player Bats in Baseball History (2017), An All-Star\'s Cardboard Memories (2018), Baseball & Bubble Gum: The 1952 Topps Collection (2020) and The Diamondbacks Collection: 50 of the Greatest Cards in Sports Collecting History (2022). He was also editor-in-chief of the nationally-distributed magazine Sports Market Report (SMR) during his CU tenure, which under Orlando\'s direction developed into a leading resource in the market. Orlando has appeared on various radio and television programs as a hobby expert including ESPN\'s award-winning program Outside the Lines, HBO\'s Real Sports, and Fox Business Network as the featured guest. From the fall of 2002 until the summer of 2018, Joe Orlando served as the president of PSA, the largest trading card and sports memorabilia authentication and grading service in the hobby. In October of 2017, Orlando was appointed CEO of Collectors Universe, Inc.(the parent company of PSA). In December of 2018, Orlando received the additional title of President of Collectors Universe, Inc. After successfully guiding the company through a public-to-private acquisition at $92 per share, Orlando resigned from the company in July of 2021. Currently, Orlando is serving as Executive Vice President of Sports for Heritage Auctions, the leading collectibles auction house in the world. In August of 2024, Heritage Auctions not only set the price record for a sports collectible ($24.12 million for Babe Ruth\'s \"Called Shot\" jersey), but the event also established the all-time sports auction record at $61.9 million.

Experience

1. Executive Vice President

   Heritage Auctions

   Aug 2022 — Present · TX, US

Education

• Westmont College

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Communications

  1993 — 1995

• Whittier Law School

  Doctor of Law - JD

  1996 — 1999