The 2022 Topps Baseball card set was released in February 2022 and contained several highly sought after rookie cards and parallels of star players. As one of the flagship baseball card sets each year from Topps, 2022 offered collectors some exciting chase cards and short prints at the high-end of the hobby. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the best and most valuable cards collectors searched for from the 2022 Topps Baseball release.
One of the biggest rookie card chase cards in the entire set was the Adley Rutschman rainbow foil parallel. As the top Baltimore Orioles prospect and considered a future star catcher in MLB, the Rutschman rookie cards were in high demand. The rainbow foil parallel was limited to only /25 copies printed, making it extremely rare. In gem mint condition, PSA 10 graded examples of the Rutschman rainbow foil have sold for over $2,000 due to the combination of the player, scarcity, and prestigious parallel designation.
Another hugely popular rookie to collect was Seattle Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez. While his standard base rookie card held value on its own, the most coveted parallel was the Julio Rodriguez gold label parallel, limited to only /70 copies. This parallel featured a gold label designating the limited print run along with Rodriguez’s photo and info. PSA 10 examples of the gold label Julio Rodriguez have reached upwards of $1,000 due to the rarity at only 70 printed. Rodriguez’s prospect status and early MLB success only added to collector demand for his short printed rookie cards.
Bobby Witt Jr., one of the top prospects in all of baseball heading into 2022 as the Kansas City Royals’ star shortstop, also had highly sought after rookie cards in the set. The Bobby Witt Jr. negative refractors were limited to a very tight print run of only /10 copies. These negative refractors featured Witt’s photo and stats on a black refracted card stock, making them quite visually striking in person. Due to the extreme scarcity at a print run of 10, PSA 10 negative refractors have reached the $3,000+ price level for this premium Witt rookie card.
Rookies weren’t the only ones to receive valuable short prints, as star veterans also had desirable parallel cards. For example, the Mike Trout negative refractors were limited to an ultra-low print run of only /5 copies. Widely considered the best player in baseball, Trout’s name alongside such an incredibly limited parallel designation made these some of the true crown jewels from the 2022 Topps release. Pristine PSA 10 graded examples of the Trout negative refractors changed hands for north of $5,000 on the secondary market.
Another highly sought after veteran star card was the Aaron Judge gold label parallel limited to /70 copies like the Julio Rodriguez gold we mentioned earlier. As a perennial AL MVP candidate who hit an AL record 62 home runs in 2022, collector demand for premium Judge cards was through the roof. His gold label parallel perfectly blended star power with a scarce limited printing, with PSA 10 copies reaching $2,000-$3,000 in sales.
While the above cards focused on the biggest rookies and stars, 2022 Topps Baseball had several other valuable short prints scattered throughout the set. For example, the Mookie Betts negative refractors /5 and Fernando Tatis Jr. negative refractors /10 were two additional ultra-short printed cards of star players that attracted major collector attention. And parallels like the Bo Bichette gold label /70 and Wander Franco gold label /70 satisfied fans of those up and coming young talents.
While the 2022 Topps Baseball base set cards offered the standard rookie cards and base versions of players, it was the incredibly scarce parallel inserts like negative refractors and gold labels that really drove collector frenzy and attracted the highest prices. Cards like the Adley Rutschman rainbow foil, Julio Rodriguez gold label, Bobby Witt Jr. negative refractors, and Mike Trout negative refractors established themselves as the true heavy-hitter chase cards and set the pace for the entire modern baseball card market due to their perfect storm of player, scarcity, and prestigious parallel designations. The hunting for these types of ultra-short printed premium cards is what keeps collectors engaged with Topps Baseball year after year.
