The 2022 Topps baseball card release featured a wide variety of short print cards inserted throughout Series 1, Series 2, and Update Series packs. Like in previous years, Topps included scarce parallel and variation cards to drive collector interest and chase cards. While the base cards and most inserts were readily available in packs, Topps strategically included tough-to-find short prints to entice collectors to purchase more product in hopes of finding these rare gems.
Some of the most coveted 2022 Topps short prints included the rainbow foil parallels, gold label parallels, sepia parallels, negative refractors, and negative refractors with sepia underlays. The rainbow foil cards featured a brilliant iridescent foil treatment on the player image area that popped under light. Only one rainbow foil was inserted per hobby box on average, making these parallels extremely scarce. The gold label parallels featured gold foil borders and labels instead of the standard design. Like the rainbow foils, only a single gold label was included per hobby box.
Sepia parallels also featured among the toughest pulls in 2022 Topps. Printed on a sepia-toned card stock, these parallels mimicked the appearance of vintage tobacco cards. Statistics suggest only 3-5 sepia parallels were inserted per case of Topps Series 1 and Series 2 hobby boxes. The negative refractors may have been the most scarce parallel in the entire release – estimates placed the odds of pulling one around 1 in 500 hobby packs. To make matters tougher, some negative refractors also had an additional sepia underlay, multiplying their rarity.
In addition to parallel short prints, Topps also included several scarce base card variations. One of the most notable was the Luis Robert photo variation, which featured an alternate image of the White Sox outfielder in an action pose instead of the standard smiling portrait. Other photo variations popped up for players like Rafael Devers and Shane Bieber. Topps Series 2 also featured tough-to-find “Stars of MLB” variations, which replaced the standard design with text-heavy cards highlighting each player’s accomplishments.
Topps Update Series took short prints to another level with several highly sought-after parallel insert sets. The Archives Autographs parallel featured autographed versions of the standard Archives insert cards signed by legends like Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, and Hank Aaron. Statistics suggest these parallel autographed inserts were rarer than 1 in 500 hobby packs. Another chase set was the Retired Numbers parallels, which paid tribute to retired uniform numbers on a textured card stock. Like the Archives Autographs, Retired Numbers parallels also clocked in around the 1 in 500 mark.
The 2022 Topps release showcased the brand’s continued commitment to including scarce chase cards that drive collector interest long after the initial release. While the base rookies, stars, and inserts were certainly fun to collect, it was the hunt for the tough rainbow foils, gold labels, sepia parallels, photo variations, and parallel inserts that kept the secondary market buzzing all season long. Savvy collectors who cracked multiple cases and hobby boxes had the best odds of checking some major short print boxes off their want lists. For those who missed out initially, the short prints commanded big premiums on the resale market all year as demand far outpaced the limited supply. Topps’ strategic short print planning ensured 2022 would be another memorable year for baseball card collecting.
