Panini America is widely known as one of the premier sports card manufacturers in the industry. While they are most famous for their expansive NBA, NFL and soccer offerings, Panini also produces a robust baseball card set each year called Panini Select. The 2022 edition of Panini Select delivered another exciting and collector-friendly release for baseball fans and investors.
Panini Select debuted in 2017 and has quickly become one of the hottest modern baseball card products on the secondary market. Part of what makes Select so desirable is their exclusive photography and cutting-edge designs. For the 2022 set, Panini landed amazing action shots and portraits of every major star in the league. They also incorporated vibrant colors and intricate textures into their card designs. Some of the most sought-after parallels in the set take these aesthetics to the next level with color bursts, foil accents and laser-cut embellishments.
The 2022 Panini Select base set checklist featured all 30 MLB teams with a diverse array of current players and rising rookies. Veterans like Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatis Jr., Mookie Betts and Juan Soto were amongst some of the highest profiled inclusions. Meanwhile, rookies Bryson Stott, Spencer Strider and Bobby Witt Jr. made their Panini debuts after establishing themselves as future cornerstones of their respective franchises in their debut campaigns. Each card featured a unique team-color border pairing players to their on-field affiliations.
In addition to the 306 base cards, Panini packed Select with a bevvy of short printed parallels to satisfy collector demand. The Silver Pack parallel /199 was one of the harder pulls in hobby boxes. Top rookies and stars like Ronald Acuña Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in this parallel are extremely valuable. The Gold Wave parallel /10 and 1/1 Platinum parallels allowed for some true 1-of-1 hits to be landed. The rainbow foil and on-card autographs in these ultra-short printed versions sent collector’s adrenaline through the roof upon pulling one.
Some other exciting inserts in 2022 Panini Select included Franchise Feats, Legends, Future Phenoms and a Hollywood-inspired Panini Select MAX parallel. Franchise Feats paid homage to iconic MLB moments through the years portrayed on cards mixed with current players. Legends honored aging legends of the game like Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones and Mike Piazza. Future Phenoms zeroed in on the brightest up and coming stars poised for stardom. And MAX took the looks of standard Select parallels up another notch with extended color palette foil textures and trims on the edges of the cards.
When it comes to rookie classes, 2022 was stocked with future superstars like Julio Rodriguez, Spencer Torkelson and C.J. Abrams. These rookies dominated the hobby from their prospect days all the way through their inaugural MLB seasons. This translated to huge demand for their rookie cards, especially from flagship releases like Topps, Bowman and of course Panini Select. The standout rookies from the class all received ample printing in the base set but were also featured across various parallels and inserts throughout the product. Julio Rodriguez in particular became a true chase card that drove mountains of sales throughout the year.
On the player collection side, superstars like Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr. always garner attention from collectors due to their otherworldly talents and max potential. Acuna was one of the faces of the franchise for Select after returning from injury. Meanwhile, cards of two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani selling pitching and hitting at an MVP level were a collector favorite in the 2022 release. Other established positions players like Mookie Betts, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. continued forming the core high-end strategies for completing player-specific rainbow collections.
When hobby boxes of 2022 Panini Select hit the market in November 2022, the reception was overwhelming. With a scarceness factor attached due to lower print run comparisons to competitors, coupled with a boom in baseball card popularity, Select sold out of its initial allocation within hours. This created a whirlwind on the secondary market with singles, memorabilia cards and parallels flying off retailer shelves and selling for premium prices on peer-to-peer platforms. Months later, as the hobby stabilized, some individual cards have still retained value upwards of 5-10x their original pack odds prices.
Overall, Panini delivered another stellar offering for collectors with the 2022 edition of Select. With a perfect mix of the sports’ top talents, flashy designs, and plentiful chase cards, the set has already cemented its place as one of the hobby’s most coveted modern releases. Going forward, Panini Select is sure to factor heavily into long-term portfolio strategies for savvy card investors and enthusiasts alike looking to get in on the ground floor of the next generation of baseball stars.
