2022 was another huge year for Topps baseball relic cards as the company continued incorporating swatches of game-worn jerseys, pieces of bats or other memorabilia into their flagship sets. Topps is the undisputed king when it comes to modern baseball relic cards, having included them in their releases since the late 1990s. Their inclusion adds tangible value for collectors hunting specific players or teams.
In the 2022 Topps Series 1 release, Topps debuted their Year of the Tiger parallel cards which featured dual-relic patches and autographs of Tiger Woods. These 1/1 cards became very sought after by collectors. Additionally, Topps upped their relic count in the base set from previous years with several dozen jersey and bat relics of current stars like Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatis Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ronald Acuña Jr. Topps Project 70 cards in this set paid tribute to retired legends like Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and more, often featuring game-used memorabilia from their careers.
Topps Series 2 continued the trend with numerous hits including dual-relic and autographed parallels of rising talents like Juan Soto, Wander Franco and Jarred Kelenic. Topps also added several unique relic variant subsets like “Flashing Leather” which featured glove leather swatches of fielders like Nolan Arenado, “Bat Flips” highlighted memorable moments with bat wood relics of Fernando Tatis Jr. and others, and “Diamond Kings” saluted franchise greats with dual-relic versions featuring pieces of their jerseys and equipment.
The flagship Topps Update release in late summer/fall is always a fan favorite due to depicting players in their current uniforms from that season. Again Topps delivered with over 100 relic cards in the base set alone. Topps Chrome parallels took relic cards to another level by pairing shiny refractors with jersey, bat and other game-used swatches of today’s top players like Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr., Juan Soto and more. Other subsets in Update like “Green Shimmer” relic parallels brought additional opportunities for collectors to land unique hits.
Following the conclusion of the MLB playoffs and World Series, Topps finally unveiled their 2022 Topps Championship Subset release to commemorate the postseason. These coveted short print relic cards paid tribute to the heroes from each team’s playoff run, often featuring rare triplesWatch or other game-worn memorabilia relics from their biggest moments. Cody Bellinger, J.T. Realmuto, Jose Altuve and others received dual-relic Championship Subset treatment to wrap up the 2022 season.
Into the fall/winter, Topps Archives released bringing vintage aesthetics paired with modern game-used hits. Topps Archives Snapshots featured current stars like Juan Soto inside retro-styled bordered frames with accompanying uniform swatches. Additionally, Topps clearly saved their biggest relics hits of the year for the high-end Topps Supreme release which paired 1/1 quadruple relic autos or patch cards of sports icons like Ken Griffey Jr. and Cal Ripken Jr. These one-of-a-kind pieces fetched six figures at auction.
In summary, Topps baseball cards made collectible relic history in 2022. They shattered prior totals for total memorabilia cards inserted among the major flagship and high-end sets. Topps set the bar higher by incorporating more rare game-worn materials and uniquely crafted memorabilia subsets throughout the year. With new players like Shohei Ohtani emerging as global stars combined with paying homage to legends, Topps gave fans and collectors many tangible reasons to chase hits from the 2022 season for years to come through their unrivaled assortment of baseball relic cards.
