Yes, it’s baseball season once again. That also means baseball cards are the talk in the collectors world once again.
In last week’s episode of the Sports Card Investor‘s “Top 5 Hottest Sports Cards,” three of the top five hottest cards were baseball. Juan Soto, Mookie Betts and Bobby Witt Jr.‘s led the pack with explosive starts to the season. This week, there were three different ballplayers on the Top 5 list, which included Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad and Anthony Volpe. Holliday’s MLB debut, Kjerstad’s Triple A performance and Volpe’s hot start with the Yankees keep baseball in the spotlight once again.
As the season progresses, there will surely be peaks and valleys in prices, as players get hot or fall into slumps. There’s also certain to be a large number of products released between now and the end of the season, some of which I will review on this site. This is a look at some of the most recent releases.
Series One
In February, the release of Topps 2024 Series One kicked it all off. While it’s an issue up for debate, I personally enjoy the unique new design of the 2024 Series One product. It stands out from the past several years in a row, where the designs seemed somewhat indistinguishable. Here’s a look at one of the prized Rookie base card of Elly De La Cruz. Notice the “neon sign” border and fade from black to white.
Elly De La Cruz base RC, Topps Series One 2024
While we’ve yet to get our hands on the Elly base rookie, we have pulled an Elly Blueprint Insert, which also offers a very new style to collectors. Topps Series One has a number of important rookies to look out for beyond Elly, including Evan Carter and Colton Cowser. Topps Ripped as a good two-part article on their list of top rookie cards as well.
Big League
One of the great things about Topps Big League is its price tag. While blaster boxes are largely equal in price to other products ($25), a hobby box will only set you back around $50. This makes it a fun product, particularly for kids. They offer a wide variety of inserts, colors and mascot cards. Big League 2023 was one of George’s favorite products to rip.
Elly De La Cruz base RC, Topps Big League 2024
Heritage
Topps Heritage presents collectors with their unique, “blast from the past” designs. This year Heritage turns back the clock to the 1975 Topps look. Another unique thing about Heritage is that the size of the base set (500) is considerably larger than Series One (350) or Big League (310). This makes Heritage a favorite among set builders.
Elly De La Cruz Topps Heritage 2024 base RC
Blaster Box Challenge
I have written a few articles in the past about how getting (back) into cards over the past couple years has been a passion for George and I (see Rediscovering Baseball Cards). We’ve even recorded a podcast from the first ever Nona Collects Card Show (Episode 23) with Patrick Mangold and Episode 26 Cooperstown South, with Joe Massoni of A-Mays-ing Sports Cards. Going forward I will continue to provide updates on the baseball card market.
As we sit here in mid-April, we already had the opportunity to get into Series One a bit, but we’ve decided that actually comparing Series One to Big League and Heritage would not be complete without what we are calling a “Blaster Box Challenge.” Looking forward to sharing our findings soon!
