APBA 2022 Baseball Card Set Overview
The APBA 2022 baseball card set was released in late March 2022, marking the 73rd consecutive year that APBA has produced a set of virtual baseball cards for their iconic simulation baseball game. While APBA may not be as well known as Topps or Upper Deck in the mainstream sports card collecting world, within the niche community of APBA players and enthusiasts, the annual release of the new card set is highly anticipated.
The 2022 set contains cards for over 1,800 active Major League Baseball players from the 2021 season. As with past APBA sets, each card features the player’s photograph, vital statistics, career highlights and stats from the previous season. New for 2022, APBA has added jersey numbers to the front of the cards for easier identification at a glance.
In addition to current MLB players, the set also includes over 100 retired player and manager/coach “legend” cards, capturing iconic figures from baseball history. Notable legends in the 2022 set include Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Mike Schmidt, Greg Maddux and Tony La Russa among many others.
Organization and Team Cards:
Beyond individual players, the 2022 APBA set also contains cards representing the 30 Major League franchises as well as cards for all minor league affiliates of each organization. These team and affiliate cards are a useful reference for APBA players to look up roster and prospect depth for any club.
New for 2022 are the addition of coaching staff cards for each MLB team, featuring managers, hitting coaches, pitching coaches and more. These provide more realism when simulating games and seasons in APBA.
Prospect and Draft Pick Cards:
One of the unique aspects of the APBA card set compared to mainstream sports cards is the inclusion of prospect and draft pick cards. These allow APBA users to track the development of top minor leaguers and amateurs within the game.
The 2022 set features over 300 prospect cards highlighting the top tier of minor league talent. The set includes draft pick cards with photos and stats for the top 100 selections from the 2021 MLB Draft. This level of minor league/prospect depth helps APBA better simulate minor league systems and the annual First-Year Player Draft within the game.
Rarity and Parallels:
While APBA cards do not carry the same financial value as highly sought-after parallel versions from companies like Topps and Panini, the APBA sets in recent years have started to incorporate rarer parallel variants to increase collector interest.
The 2022 set includes several different parallel subsets with various print runs and levels of scarcity. The most common are “Blue” parallels available at roughly 1 in 10 packs. More coveted among collectors are “Gold” (1 in 100 packs), “Auto” autograph parallels (1 in 500 packs), and extremely rare 1/1 “Diamond” parallels featuring a player’s photo encrusted with simulated diamonds.
These parallel cards don’t impact gameplay but add a fun collecting component for APBA fans looking to chase down harder to find versions of their favorite players. The rarest parallels sometimes trade or sell in the collector market for above their normal pack odds rates.
Game Integration:
One of the main reasons for the APBA card sets each year is to provide the necessary player stats and ratings data to power the simulation engine within the APBA baseball game. When scanned into the APBA software, each card unlocks that player’s full stats and attributes for use within the game.
Players can then use the cards to easily build out custom rosters for historical, modern or fantasy matchups. Exhibition games, seasons and even career simulations can be played entirely through the in-game card integration. This tight coupling of virtual cards to the simulation game is a hallmark of the APBA experience.
The 2022 APBA baseball card set provides an incredible depth of MLB, prospect and historical baseball reference content for both APBA players and collectors alike. While a niche product compared to mainstream sports cards, the APBA sets remain a highly anticipated annual release and an important companion to the legendary baseball simulation game experience. Between the on-field gameplay and off-field collecting, the APBA ecosystem continues to excite baseball fans year after year.
