These new releases would make great holiday gifts
The holiday season is right around the corner and gift giving (and receiving) will be at a yearly high.
The sports card market has you covered with great new releases in each and every major sport to choose from. Consider gently placing one of these fine boxes under your Christmas tree or, even better, putting it on your list for Santa.
Here's a look at some of the better new releases over the course of the holiday season.
PANINI ORIGINS FOOTBALL
Origins Football continues its artistic, high-end looking cards once again for the 2022 NFL season.
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With a release date of Nov. 2, the seven-card-per-pack, one-pack box retails in the $350 range. The average box will yield one Jumbo Rookie Jersey autograph, one memorabilia card, two base rookies, two base-card parallels and an additional autograph.
2022 Panini Origins Football Hobby Box.
Reports from Panini show that Origins will have the season’s first on-card rookie autographs displaying the first-year players in their pro uniforms. This is a big deal every year.
The Origins base set consists of 100 cards with several parallels ranging from red numbered to 299 down to black 1-of-1 masterpieces.
There will be rookie variation cards available as well as new case hits, including Blank Slate and Pedigree.
Collectors can expect a rookie-heavy product as Origins will offer autographs and relic cards of first-year stars. Look for Rookie Signatures numbered to 99 or less and the on-card rookie autographs that Origins is well known for producing. The set will also offer position specific cards from Passing Stars Signatures, Receiving Stars Signatures and Rushing Stars Signatures. These autographed cards will be serial numbered to 25 or less and some will have exclusive inscriptions.
2022 Panini Origins Football Patrick Mahomes cards.
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The rookie content does not end there as there are on-card autographs including Dual Rookie Autographs and Triple Rookie Autographs with each numbered to 10 copies or less.
In addition to a wide array of parallels for all of the inserts, Origins Football will also offer Rookie Jumbo Patch Autographs as well as Rookie Booklet Patch Autographs, which showcase an on-card signature and a large rookie patch in the popular booklet form.
If you're a fan of veteran players, look no further than Origins Proving Ground, which is an autograph set numbered to 99 or less of some of the bigger stars in the sport. Origins is always one of the more esthetically pleasing football releases each season.
2022 Panini Origins Justin Herbert Proving Ground card.
UPPER DECK SERIES 1 HOCKEY
Upper Deck's wildly popular flagship product is set to hit the ice in December. Each hobby box consists of eight cards per pack with 24 packs per box and 12 boxes per case.
There are a number of inserts and parallels to be found but what Upper Deck Hockey is known for are the iconic Young Guns rookie cards of many of the future superstars of the NHL.
As in the past, hobby boxes will average six Young Guns per box. Hobby boxes should also contain 18 additional inserts and parallels.
2022-23 Upper Deck Series One Matt Boldy Young Guns rookie card.
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The base set consists of 198 cards and two checklists. The aforementioned Young Guns subset will fill out the remaining 50 cards of the set with one being a checklist for a grand total of 250 base cards in the set.
Collectors can expect to find more of the popular canvas cards as well as parallels, including French edition found 1:30 packs, Clear Cut found 1:96 packs as well as exclusive serial numbered inserts to 100 copies and high-gloss serial numbered to just 10 copies.
UD Series 1 will also offer a number of insert sets, including the brand-new Center of Attention found 1:16 packs, the hip Freestyle found 1:72 packs, the witty Population Count, which is a new insert that plays on the phenomenon of grading of cards with copies limited from a high of 1,000 all the way down to 1-of-1 cards.
2022-23 Upper Deck Series One Aleksander Barkov Centre of Attention parallel.
Dazzlers, Honor Roll and UD Portraits all make a return as inserts. Super rare inserts include Day with the Cup found 1:4,320 packs and Draft Day SP1 found in an astounding 1:34,560 packs.
There are also a number of very cool acetate inserts, including Clear Cut, Honored Members Update, Clear Cut Foundations, Clear Cut League Leaders and the brand-new Attacking the Zone, all with astronomically long odds.
Collectors also be excited to find UD Canvas Signatures cards with print runs matching the player's jersey number.
2022-23 Upper Deck Series One UD Canvas Auston Matthews card.
2021-22 PANINI IMMACULATE BASKETBALL
One of the most premium and upper-echelon basketball releases of the season was scheduled to hit shelves on Nov. 23. The six-card-per-pack, one-pack box will have a price tag north of $2,000. Each hobby box will consist of three autographs, two memorabilia cards and one base card.
Autographed cards are aplenty. Look for Rookie Patch Autographs and Rookie Logoman Autographs of the top first-year stars. If you are a fan of rookies, you will also find Rookie Championship Tags Autographs and Premium Patch Autographs. If you're a fan of veteran players, look for Patch Autographs Tags.
2021-22 Panini Immaculate Collection Cade Cunningham Logoman rookie card.
Immaculate also boasts a number of multi-signed cards in Dual Autographs, Triple Autographs and even Quad Autographs of some of the biggest stars in the game past and present.
2021-22 Panini Immaculate Collection Cade Cunningham Logoman rookie card.
As far as memorabilia, Immaculate offers some of the largest game-used pieces and biggest and baddest multi-colored swatches in the game. Look for plenty of Nike swooshes and other notable logos in Brand Logos and Team Slogans. One of the coolest and most unique memorabilia inserts in the hobby is Sole of the Game featuring, literally, pieces of players sneakers.
2021-22 Panini Immaculate Collection Josh Giddey Sole of the Game parallel.
All in all, Immaculate is one of the standard bearers of high quality basketball cards in the industry and its release each year is anticipated like few others. You will have to be on the nice list to find one of these under the tree.
2022 BOWMAN CHROME BASEBALL
One of the most iconic brands in all of sports, Bowman was once known as the “Home of the Rookie Card.” With those waters being muddied over the years, it's now known as the “Home of the 1st Bowman card,” which is just as, if not more, important in some cases.
Like in years past there are three different versions of this product (scheduled for a Nov. 23 release): hobby boxes which offer five cards per pack, 12 packs per box with 12 boxes per case; HTA Choice boxes offer three cards per pack, one pack per box and 12 boxes per case; and Hobby Lite boxes that offer five cards per pack, 10 packs per box and 16 boxes per case. Hobby boxes offer two autographs while HTA boxes contain three and Hobby Lite boxes offer five exclusive parallel cards.
The base set, which consists of a 100 base cards for veterans and rookies followed by 100 cards of prospects, offers a multitude of parallels and refractors including the all-important 1-of-1 Superfractor.
2022 Bowman Chrome Bobby Witt Jr. rookie card.
Numerous insert sets are found within the product, including Bowman Invicta, AFL Fall Stars, MVP, It Came to the League and Shades of Greatness. Collectors can also find Bowman Ascensions at a rate of one in every 144 packs. All of these inserts are found with various parallels.
2022 Bowman Ascensions Henry Davis card.
The main event of this product or any Bowman or Bowman Chrome product is the autograph selection. Chrome Prospect Autographs has added new Blue Ray Wave refractors and hobby-only Gold Mini Diamond refractor parallels.
Chrome rookie autographs are also found with a plethora of parallels but much fewer than the aforementioned Chrome Prospect Autographs. These gems are some of the cornerstone cards of the players that become stars in the majors.
2022 Bowman Chrome Wander Franco rookie auto card.
Bowman Invicta autograph cards are found with a serial number attached. There is a Shades of Greatness Autographs numbered to 99 copies. Also look for the limited All-American Game autographed cards.
As far as memorabilia cards, Bowman has inserted AFL Relics and Chrome Auto Relics, both with low serial numbers.
In a product known for its rookies and prospects, Bowman Chrome once again delivers as one of the flagship products in baseball.
— Tony Reid has written about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett and Sports Collectors Daily. He works full-time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania and collects RCs in baseball, basketball and football. You can reach him on social media at @reidrattlecage.
