Fanatics released their 2022 baseball card collection in late March 2022, marking their fourth year producing official MLB licensed baseball cards following the league granting them an exclusive license in 2019. Some key things to know about the 2022 Fanatics baseball card release:
Product Lines – Fanatics offered various product lines at different price points for the 2022 season, from value packs up to high-end memorabilia boxes. Their key lines included ‘Series 1’ which featured base cards of all current MLB players, ‘Parallels’ which contained special rare refractors and fabrics, ‘Memorabilia’ boxes with game worn swatches, autograph cards, and ‘Rookie Debut’ focused on top prospects. Fanatics also released ‘Legacy’ lines with retired players and ‘Special Inserts’ highlighting unique themes.
Design Changes – For 2022, Fanatics tweaked the base card design, moving to a cleaner and simpler look compared to past years. The team logos were enlarged and positioned centrally above the player photo. Statistics moved to the bottom third of the card alongside career highlights. Fanatics also experimented with new parallel designs that featured color bursts and embedded spectra threads. Memorabilia cards showcased larger swatches. Overall the new layout received positive reviews for being cleaner while still highlighting key player and career facts.
Exclusive Player Licenses – One advantage Fanatics had over competitors is securing exclusive NIL/autograph licensing agreements directly with star players. For 2022, they had marquee deals in place with Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatis Jr., Bryce Harper, Juan Soto, and Mike Trout. This allowed Fanatics to feature these players heavily across base cards, inserts, hits, and memorabilia cards well before other manufacturers received player approvals. Having exclusive autograph deals also enabled Fanatics to release limited player-worn memorabilia boxes early on that commanded premium prices.
Production Challenges – Like many industries, Fanatics faced production and supply chain issues stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and global shortages. This led to some product release delays and shipping backups for the first couple months of the season. While Fanatics was able to eventually catch up, the slow start frustrated collectors waiting on highly anticipated rookie classes. To make amends, Fanatics offered extended redemption card fulfillment windows and shipment tracking updates for delayed orders.
National Signings Day – Breaking tradition, Fanatics held their first ever ‘National Signings Day’ event at the end of April to spotlight their exclusive NIL player partnerships. Top prospects from the 2022 MLB Draft class like Druw Jones, Termarr Johnson, and Elijah Green were all in attendance to sign autograph contracts, take photos in jerseys, and record special memorabilia cards with Fanatics. This created buzz around the incoming rookie class and positioned Fanatics as the leader in the evolving athlete endorsement space.
Collaborations – Fanatics forged new licensing deals with additional sports properties to introduce ‘crossover’ special insert sets combining MLB players with other sports leagues. This included a ‘NBA on MLB’ series pairing baseball stars Like Bryce Harper with NBA logos and a ‘Champions’ set linking World Series champs to recent Stanley Cup, Super Bowl and NBA title teams. Fanatics also teamed up with influencer artists on exclusive collectible sketch and original render card designs.
Secondary Market Impact – Fanatics exclusive player deals and innovative designs helped drive initial secondary market buzz and demand surpassing competitors. As production scaled up supply also increased, which contributed to price stabilization or drops for some highly anticipated rookies base cards over the summer months. Still, Fanatics releases overall received strong collector reception validated by robust re-sale market performance compared to prior seasons under previous license holders.
Looking Ahead – Fanatics intends to further leverage their growing exclusive image rights portfolio to introduce even more innovative products for the 2023 season. Plans include holding their second annual Signings Day extravaganza, rolling out creative new parallel designs celebrating historic MLB anniversaries, and potentially unveiling more athlete cross-promotional initiatives in partnerships with entertainment studios. Whether Fanatics can maintain momentum while navigating ongoing challenges of a volatile economy remains to be seen, but they appear firmly established now as the MLB’s exclusive trading card brand leader.
Despite facing pandemic-related obstacles, Fanatics’ 2022 MLB baseball card release proved a success driven by exclusive player partnerships, new product designs, and industry-first initiatives. Their exclusive licensing position has allowed ambitious plans to drive continued innovation moving forward for collectors. How Fanatics navigates potential recession impacts alongside competitors will be a storyline to watch for the 2023 season and beyond.
