Max Scherzer, beyond any shadow of a doubt, is one of, if not the greatest pitchers of the modern era. The multiple time Cy Young Award winner is starting to stack career stats that rank up with some of the best of not only the modern era, but of all time as he winds down a sure fire, first ballot Hall of Fame career. An eight time MLB All Star, a three time Cy Young Award winner and a 2019 World Series champion, Mad Max’s resume is as solid as it gets. The fiery flame thrower has surpassed 200 career victories and by the end of the current season, he will be approaching 3,500 career strikeouts.
In our newest installment of Better than a Box, we show you four great Scherzer cards you could own for about the same price as a new box of cards…in this case, the newly released 2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Baseball.
A TSC Hobby box commands right around $160 online at the moment. Let’s see if we can find a quality start to our collection of Scherzer cards for the same outlay.
The Rookie Card
The rookie card we’ve selected hails from the 2008 Topps Factory Set, graded a solid PSA 8 Near Mint-Mint. This looks nearly identical to the legendary 2008 Topps Update Scherzer rookie card but comes at a fraction of the cost.
With the all important Rookie Card logo and a facsimile signature, the fresh faced Diamondbacks prospect looks intently off to the side of the frame. For $60 or less, this starts our Scherzer selection off right.
The Autograph Card
If you’re going to pick up an autograph, why not grab one of a player’s earliest from a well known brand?
Scherzer doesn’t actually have a lot of certified autographs out there, but you can grab one that’s not just an auto, but an auto relic in 2010 Topps Tribute. Yes, it’s a sticker auto but it’s a high quality card with a pretty low print run for a very modest price (some have sold recently for less than $60). Detroit is where Scherzer developed into one of the game’s best.
The Jersey Card
Our jersey card selection is from 2014 Topps, a colorful, statistical, computerized design with a circular jersey swatch from Mad Max. Scherzer is clearly shown in the perfect moment exhibiting his trademark intensity, again ready to fire a strike towards the helpless batter in front of him. For literally just a few dollars this is a solid addition to the collection at a very reasonable cost.
The Numbered Card
The final card in our collection is our serial numbered parallel card option. It hails from the recent 2022 Topps Gold Label product and features Max in his newest team’s threads. The Topps Gold Label design is an underrated and ever improving one and the blue border with dual imagery really sets it off. Also being numbered to just 50 copies, this is a really solid addition to the pitcher’s PC for a very modest price.
Our cost for the Scherzer start up collection actually winds up a little under the cost of the TSC Chrome box– an outstanding first inning of work for your complete game collection.