Fresh off an emphatic World Series title, he is one of the key members of a Chicago Cubs team that could
be set for dynasty mode. Anthony Rizzo’s best baseball cards show him in a different uniform and his first prospect cards find him in yet another club’s colors. Those travels appear over, at least for a long while and the Chicago first baseman is now much in demand by collectors and Cubs fans.
Detours on the Road to the Majors
Born in 1989 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Rizzo was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2007, but was part of a 2010 deal with the San Diego Padres that shipped Adrian Gonzalez to Boston. He spent the 2011 season going back and forth to the minors, making his big league debut in June. After the season, he was moved to Chicago in a trade for Andrew Cashner. The trade could go down as one of the biggest heists in history.
As many expected, Rizzo has blossomed with the Cubs. Over the last two years, he’s belted 63 homers and driven in 210 runs while his average has inched closed to .300. He’ll be forever remembered for helping the Cubs win the World Series for the first time in over 100 years.
Perhaps the m
ost amazing part of his journey is that Rizzo is a cancer 
surivivor. Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2008, Rizzo underwent several rounds of chemotherapy before being told he would live a normal life.
First Pro Cards
Rizzo’s first cards picture him as a Red Sox minor leaguer. He appears in the 2008 Donruss Threads autograph set # to 500 and in 2008 TriStar Prospects (#85) and 2007 Projections Autographs (#34). The autos are readily available for under $100 with single non-autos at just a few dollars.
2010 Bowman Chrome
Bowman Chrome autographs represent most players’ most popular pre-rookie cards and Rizzo is no different. His 2010 Bowman Chrome autograph card comes in a rainbow of serial-numbered parallels. The unn
umbered autos and refractors numbered to 500 are generally the least expensive but as with any card, grading impacts prices a lot. You can check the current market here.
Rizzo Rookie Cards
“Official” Anthony Rizzo rookie cards arrived in 2011, the season he made his debut with the Padres. He’s in the 2011 Topps Update set, which also includes Mike Trout. There are several parallels there, too, but the standard rookie card is remarkably inexpensive. You can find him in several other products including Bowman Chrome Draft, Topps Tier One autographs, Topps Finest and Bowman Sterling (auto and non-auto). The average price for a Rizzo rookie card over the past three months, including graded copies and cards from higher end products, is less than $18.
The Cubs have had some popular first basemen over the years but number 44 should be a fixture for a long time.
You can see the 44 most watched Rizzo cards on eBay via the live list below.
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