The 2021 baseball season saw a continuation of the explosive growth in the sports card collecting hobby that began in 2020. Fueled by pandemic conditions that kept many fans engaging with their favorite sports in non-traditional ways, combined with renewed mainstream interest in collectibles as an investment vehicle, vintage and modern baseball cards reached new heights in terms of both demand and skyrocketing prices throughout 2021.
Some of the most notable risers were rookie cards of budding superstars like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto. Tatis’ 2019 Topps Chrome Refractor rookie card, perhaps the single most coveted modern baseball card on the market, surged past the $300,000 sales threshold last year. Meanwhile, Soto’s equally scarce 2018 Bowman Chrome Prospects Supplemental purple refractor 1/1 superfractor skyrocketed from around $30,000 in 2020 to well over $200,000 by year’s end.
Vintage cards also made waves in 2021. A rare 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner, long considered the holy grail of collectibles, sold for a record-shattering $6.6 million in a private sale. Earlier in the year an authenticated 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for $5.2 million, making it the most valuable post-war sportscard ever.
While ultra high-end vintage rarities and star modern rookie cards headline the biggest money moves in the hobby, there were also plenty of examples in 2021 of more attainable modern issues appreciating significantly in value due to surging demand:
2021 Topps Chrome Update Red Refractor Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RC auto (#’d /99): Guerrero followed up his breakout 2021 AL MVP campaign by skyrocketing the value of his arguably most iconic modern card up past $3,000 average sales.
2021 Topps Chrome Update Orange Refractor Fernando Tatis Jr. auto (/199): With Tatis cementing himself as one of the faces of MLB, his Topps Chrome Update orange parallel auto from the same year edged up near $2,000 consistently.
2021 Topps Complete Set Mike Trout Superfractor RC (/25): Featuring one of the game’s all-time greats on perhaps his rarest modern card design, Trout’s 2021 Topps SF RC doubled in value to an average around $5,000 last year.
2021 Topps Sapphire Bo Bichette Purple Refractor (/299): Emerging as a star for Toronto, Bichette’s coveted purple sapphire parallel topped $800 on average after debuting around $400 earlier in ‘21.
2021 Topps Chrome Red Wave Refractor Brett Baty RC (/199): As a touted Mets prospect, Baty’s pop grew his vivid red wave parallel up past the $500 sales point by year’s end.
2021 Topps Gold Label Juan Soto Superfractor (/10): Featuring one of the faces of MLB on an ultra-rare parallel, average sales of Soto’s Gold Label superfractor doubled to around $2,000 in 2021.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given this context of rising player values, the most expensive 2021 Topps card sales of the year involved star talents on short-printed parallels, serial numbered inserts or autograph cards. Here are some of the costliest 2021 Topps cards that traded hands in the exploding modern card market last year:
2021 Topps Inception Red Paper /99 Ronald Acuña Jr. Auto – $11,500
2021 Topps Inception Black Wave Auto Patch /10 Fernando Tatis Jr. – $10,000
2021 Topps Finest Auto Patch /5 Fernando Tatis Jr. – $9,999
2021 Topps Update Gold Refractor Auto /70 Vlad Jr. – $9,500
2021 Topps Chrome Black Refractor Auto /50 Wander Franco – $9,000
2021 Topps Supreme Black /50 Juan Soto Auto – $8,750
2021 Topps Update Rainbow Foil Auto /5 Ronald Acuña Jr. – $7,600
2021 Topps Inception White Hot /25 Bo Bichette Auto – $7,100
2021 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor Auto /70 Shoehi Ohtani – $6,800
2021 Topps Chrome Rainbow Foil Auto /5 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – $6,300
As is often the case when analyzing the sports card market, the 2021 season highlighted that while certain vintage rarities will always reign at the pinnacle in terms of jaw-dropping price tags, modern star players reaching their prime or just beginning to blossom can quickly drive select parallels and autographs of theirs into the stratosphere as well. With fan enthusiasm for collecting showing no signs of slowing down as we head into 2022, another potentially record-setting year appears ahead across the booming sports card world.
