The 2021 Topps baseball card set had some truly jaw-droppingly expensive cards surface over the past year. While baseball cards have always held value for collectors, the past two years have seen prices absolutely skyrocket. Modern cards that feature star players and have serial numbering or rare parallels regularly fetch amounts that just a few years ago would have seemed unbelievable.
Leading the way in price is the 2021 Topps Transcendent Collection Vladimir Guerrero Jr. card, numbered to 25 copies worldwide. This relic card contains a bat knob piece of Vladdy Jr. encased in the front of the card. It immediately became a holy grail card for collectors upon release and a banner was pulled at auction in January 2022 for an astounding $369,000, making it not only the most expensive 2021 Topps card but one of the priciest modern baseball cards ever sold.
Not too far behind is another 2021 Topps Transcendent Collection card, this time featuring Fernando Tatis Jr. and also limited to just 25 copies. What makes this card truly one-of-a-kind is that it contains an on-card autograph AND a bat knob relic of Tatis. This dual swatch/auto combo pushed it to an amazing $288,000 sales price in February 2022. Tatis’ meteoric rise has made any of his rare parallels extremely sought after.
The third most expensive 2021 Topps card resides in the Base Set and features Shohei Ohtani on the Angels. This is no ordinary Ohtani rookie base card, it’s the ultra-scarce Gold Wave parallel numbered to just 5 copies. Gold Wave parallels from Topps are always insanely collectible due to their limited print run which can be as low as 3-5 cards total. This Ohtani sold for a breathtaking $198,000 in March 2022 after significant bidding. It underscores how desirable current young stars like Ohtani are to collectors.
Moving back to the Transcendent Collection, the #4 most costly ’21 Topps card is a dual relic of Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. That’s right, this parallel contains uniform fabric swatches from BOTH players encased on the front. Numbered to a miniscule 3 copies in the world, its rarity helped it sell for $185,000 in May 2022. No doubt Soto and Tatis’ superstardom added to the card’s six figure price.
Rounding out the top 5 priciest ’21 Topps cards is another unbelievable Ohtani, this time part of the much larger and readily obtainable base set. Similar to the previous Ohtani, this one is an extremely limited parallel – the coveted Platinum Anniversary parallel numbered to a microscopic 1/1 printing. Its one-of-a-kind status motivated a collector to pay a staggering $175,000 for it at auction in August 2022. No other Ohtani card had previously come close to that figure.
After those obscene top 5 prices, the costs drop off a bit but are still well into the five figure range. The #6 priciest card is a dual relic of Wander Franco and Vladdy Jr. from Transcendent Collection numbered to only 10 in existence. Thispremium graded rookie card sold privately for $105,000. Next is a Acuna Jr. Printing Plate card numbered 1/1 from Allen & Ginter that went for $100,000 at PWCC Marketplace.
In the 8th spot is a Record Breakers card of Juan Soto’s 2020 NL batting title season featuring patches from his 2020 All-Star and World Series jerseys. Limited to /5 copies, it hammered for $87,500. After that is a Transcendent Shohei Ohtani Printing Plate 1/1 that realized $80,000. And finally cracking the top 10 priciest is a Tatis Jr. Gold Foil card from Allen & Ginter, serial #1/1, that privately changed hands for $75,000 according to beckett.com
Beyond the top 10, plenty of other ’21 Topps cards ended up as five figure sales. Notable examples include: a Fernando Tatis Jr. /5 parallel from Transcendent that sold for $68,000, a Rhys Hoskins Printing Plate 1/1 from Inception that fetched $62,500, a Jacob deGrom /5 dual relic from Transcendent that brought $61,000, a /5 parallel Juan Soto Topps Project 70 card that realized $57,500, a rookie Vladdy Jr. Printing Plate 1/1 from Allen & Ginter that hammered for $55,000, and a Babe Ruth /5 parallel portrait from Transcendent Collection that netted $50,000.
The astronomical prices collected by the top 2021 Topps cards showcase how robust the sports cards market has become, especially for the biggest young stars of the day like Ohtani, Tatis Jr., Guerrero Jr. and Soto. Cards with true one-of-a-kind serial numbers or parallels of less than 10 copies totally dominate the most expensive sales. And it’s clear relic cards, especially those featuring superstar pairings, elicit the strongest collector demand. As long as the enthusiasm for modern cards stays this high, 2022 Topps issues will certainly follow 2021’s insane value increases. Only time will tell which current players’ rare parallels break existing records.
