Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2022 Topps 206 Wave 4 Baseball
2022 Topps 206 Baseball features five different waves, all with different checklists. Each wave’s 100-card base checklist has a mix of rookies, veterans, and retired players. Wave 4 rookies include C.J. Abrams, Hunter Greene, Lars Nootbaar, Seiya Suzuki, and Spencer Torkelson. Of course, there are also parallel backs to be found, with each pack containing two parallels. There were four on-card autographs randomly inserted in Wave 4 packs: John Smoltz, Nick Lodolo, Carlton Fisk, and Sonny Gray.
Topps 206 debuted as an online-exclusive release in 2020. The tobacco card lookalikes are printed to order, with each print run announced after the end of the sale period. Wave 4 sold a total of 8,162 packs. With 8 base cards found in each pack, even the base cards are fairly limited, with a print run around 650 each.
The packs cost $14.99 each for the 2022 release. I grabbed four, and you’ll get to see all four.
2022 Topps 206 Wave 4 Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 10
Packs per box: 1
Price paid: $15
Shop for 2022 Topps 206 Wave 4 Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1:
Larry Walker, Jon Gray, Satchel Paige, Yasmani Grandal, Jo Adell, Lars Nootbaar RC, Chris Bassitt, Eugenio Suarez, Christian Pache Piedmont Back (one per pack) & Wander Franco Night Game Variation (limited to 50 copies)
Night Game variations feature players from a previous wave. Wander’s base card was actually in Wave 1.
Some quick math. With 8,162 packs of Wave 4 sold, and one Piedmont parallel per pack, each Piedmont parallel should be limited to no more than 82 copies.
Pack 2:
Mike Clevinger, Matt Barnes, Bryan Reynolds, Alex Bregman, Shohei Ohtani, Andrew Kittredge, Dontrelle Willis, Andres Gimenez, Jesus Sanchez Piedmont Back (one per pack) & Jose Urquidy Cycle Back (limited to 25 copies)
Pack 3:
Hideki Matsui, Juan Soto, Jose Urquidy, Jose Berrios, Christian Pache, Bob Gibson, Satchel Paige, Amed Rosario, Rafael Ortega Piedmont Back (one per pack), Jesus Sanchez El Principe De Gales Back (1:6 boxes) & Larry Walker Wood (limited to 20 copies)
Assuming equal print runs, El Principe De Gales parallels should have no more than 14 copies each.
Pack 4:
Trea Turner, Whitey Ford, Jesus Sanchez, Will Clark, Rhys Hoskins, Jeff McNeil, Willie McCovey, Dontrelle Willis, Lou Brock Piedmont Back (one per pack) & Al Kaline Cycle Back (limited to 25 copies)
Lastly, the base card back.
And a couple of parallel card backs.
Shop for 2022 Topps 206 Wave 4 Baseball cards on:
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
