Happy Hobby Sports Cards Podcast · David Gonos

🎙️How Many Rookie Cards of the Top 100 Baseball Players Do You Have? - Ep. 3.06

February 10, 2026·30 min·1 clip

Cal Raleigh jumped from 59th to 4th overall in MLB.com's top 100, and David Guns says his 2022 Topps Series 1 card is the one to buy.

David Guns opens by asking how many rookie cards from MLB.com's current top 100 baseball players are already in a collection. It is a plain collector question. He says flagship rookie cards matter when the budget is tight, and he makes the case that those cards are the backbone of a smart build. That is the frame. He notes that MLB.com released the list at the end of January this year instead of later in the season, which is why he is only now catching up to it. He has been building a page on DavidGonis.com that matches every top-100 player with the rookie card that goes with them. The page is part of the workflow. He focuses on the players added this year and then works through the top 10. The ranking is not his own baseball ranking. He looks at collectability instead. He asks what kind of future a player has as a card, not just how well that player is performing on the field. Jose Ramirez comes up as one of the names he finds especially worth discussing. He admits he still does not even own Ramirez's 2014 Top Series Two rookie card. That turns into one of those collector regrets the show likes to linger on. Juan Soto gets the next long look. David says Soto is currently very strong in the broader conversation, even if card collectors have been a little cooler on him because he has bounced around so many teams. He points out that the 2018 rookie card is still relatively accessible at lower grades. Paul Skenes gets a quick nod as another major name on the list. Terry Scoobel is mentioned as well. Corbin Carroll gets a more specific collector note. David likes the idea of jumping on numbered rookie cards for a young player whose stock has moved up fast. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. closes out the top-10 stretch with praise for his personality and his status as a major MLB face over the next decade. David also notes that being in Canada may slightly soften his Stateside exposure, even though the player is clearly a hobby draw. He keeps the whole conversation practical. The tone stays loose and collector-first. He ends by pointing listeners back to DavidGonis.com, where the rookie cards are linked out to eBay. He also asks viewers which players should have been ranked higher or lower. The close is direct and familiar, with one more invitation to weigh in on Colson Montgomery and the final sign-off to have a happy hobby.

As heard by us

A budget-minded guide to rookie cards worth tracking.

David Guns treats MLB.com's top 100 as a budget-minded guide to rookie cards, not just a ranking of baseball talent. He keeps asking which stars belong in a collector's stack and which ones are still worth chasing, which gives the episode a practical edge for anyone trying to…

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Why you'd press play

Use this when you want a collector-first read on MLB.com's top 100 and the rookie cards tied to the players near the top.

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