The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) baseball card set promises to be one of the most highly anticipated releases of the new year. Produced by top trading card manufacturer Topps, the inaugural WBC card set from 2017 was a huge success and helped drive interest in the international tournament. With the next WBC taking place in March 2023, collectors can expect Topps to once again deliver a memorable representation of the event through its exclusive baseball cards.
Held every four years, the WBC features national teams from around the world competing for international bragging rights. Some of the game’s biggest stars opt to join their home country’s roster rather than play in spring training, making the tournament rosters a who’s who of global baseball talent. This international flavor is exactly what makes the WBC card sets so appealing – fans can collect cards showing superstars like Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto wearing their country’s uniform rather than their MLB club.
The 2023 tournament will be held in Phoenix, Miami, and Los Angeles from March 8-21. 16 countries have qualified so far including defending champ United States, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Canada, Cuba, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Korea, Australia, Taiwan and Nicaragua. Rosters will be finalized in January but based on prior tournaments, most of the game’s top players are expected to participate.
For the 2023 WBC card set, Topps will produce base cards, parallels, autographs, memorabilia cards and more showing off the tournament action and participants. Past WBC sets have included base cards numbered to the roster size of each team, so collectors can expect around 25-man rosters for each country in the upcoming release. Parallels are especially popular for the limited edition feel they provide – in 2017, Topps inserted gold and superfractos parallels numbered to 50 or less globally.
Autograph cards will undoubtedly be the chase aspect of the 2023 WBC release, with rare signed swatches from players only available through their national team uniform. Topps signatures from the likes of Trout, Ohtani, Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and more wearing alternate jerseys dramatically increase their value. Memorabilia cards are also a big draw, using patches or pieces of the actual team uniforms players wore in WBC games. Expect premium relic autos to be extremely limited in quantity.
In addition to the base set, Topps may also produce special chase subsets focusing on individual player or team performances during the tournament. Past inserts have highlighted MVP candidates, All-Tournament teams, walk-off victories and more special tournament moments. Parallels and serial-numbered variants increases the collector appeal of these inserts exponentially. It’s also likely Topps creates short-print rookie cards for first-time WBC participants to help commemorate their international debuts.
While retail boxes and packs containing the entire 2023 WBC base set will be readily available, the true chase cards will mainly be obtained through pricy hobby boxes, high-end breaks and individual auction markets after release. As the exclusive licensee, Topps production will be the only officially licensed trading cards showing the actual 2023 tournament. This scarcity always creates huge demand that drives values up significantly for the rarest hits. Graded gem mint examples can sell for thousands depending on the player signature or uniform relic within.
Even with months to go until the event, speculation and early buzz is already building around key players that could drive collector interest. Juan Soto could emerge as the major star should he lead team USA to victory. New Japanese stars like Roki Sasaki will excite international collectors. Rookies like Adley Rutschman wearing team USA for the first time may receive chase status among collectors. And stars returning from injury like Mike Trout are always huge draws if they participate coming off rehab. Topps will no doubt utilize such storylines in special parallels and inserts focusing on transcendent performances.
While it may seem early, supplies of the 2023 WBC release will move fast once released later this year or early 2023. Savvy collectors are already pre-ordering hobby boxes and individual cards of stars they expect to shine on the grandest international baseball stage. For fans who missed out on the impressive 2017 set, or those looking to add the iconic cards commemorating the next tournament to their collections, the 2023 Topps World Baseball Classic cards present both an entertaining release and solid long-term investment. With rosters likely to include every big name in the sport, this promises to be the definitive baseball card set honoring the excitement of the coming World Baseball Classic.
