Zack Greinke Rookie Card Guide and Other Key Early Cards
The Zack Greinke Rookie Card lineup keeps things simple. The 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner has just two cards with the RC tag in the Beckett database. On top of those are a handful of early parallels, autographs and others that have gained a certain level of popularity and notoriety over the years.
Over the years, Greinke has shown bouts of dominance from the mound. At times, Hall of Fame-level dominance. He’s also been slowed by injuries and played for several teams. So even with success, Zack Greinke cards have been relatively quiet.
The first Zack Greinke cards came out in late 2002, not long after the Kansas City Royals made him a first round draft pick. MLB card rules were a little different back then and Topps was able to work him into their 2002 Bowman Draft product, meaning his Rookie Cards came out a couple of years before his Royals debut.
Greinke also has a few autographs from both Topps and Upper Deck from his first couple of years as a pro.
Zack Greinke Rookie Card Guide
The following list consists only of base cards with the RC tag in the Beckett database and price guide. It does not include inserts or parallels. Some other key early cards follow. A full Zack Greinke baseball card checklist card be found in the Beckett database.
2002 Bowman Draft Zack Greinke Rookie Card #BDP6
Back in the day, 2002 Bowman Draft Baseball was one of those products that stayed hot for years. Greinke is one of several rookies on the checklist who were hot in the hobby at some point. He’s joined by the likes of Joey Votto, Curtis Granderson, Cole Hamels, Francisco Liriano, Nick Swisher and more. The lone parallel, Gold, adds foil to the facsimile signature on the front.
Parallels: Gold
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2002 Bowman Chrome Draft Zack Greinke Rookie Card #BDP6
2002 Bowman Draft adopted Topps Traded’s hybrid approach of including both Bowman and Bowman Chrome cards in the same packs. Value wise, Greinke’s Chrome card fetches more, which shouldn’t be surprising given its more premium pedigree. As far as parallel rainbows go, just three additional versions exist with only 500 total copies between them.
Parallels: Refractors (/300), X-Fractors (/150), Gold Refractors (/50)
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Key Early Zack Greinke Card Highlights
While both of the Zack Greinke Rookie Cards enjoy a certain level of popularity, he has a few other key cards from early in his professional career. The following is not an exhaustive list. Rather, it focuses on some of his top early cards.
2002 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres Zack Greinke XRC Autograph #93
The first Zack Greinke autograph is a part of 2002 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres, a set focused largely on the year’s draft picks and incoming prospects. One of the early sets to stray from on-card ink, the righty’s signature is on a piece of paper embedded into the card.
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2002 Upper Deck Minor League Zack Greinke #232
If you’re looking for a cheap Zack Greinke card from his draft year, you might want to look to this one. Hailing from a minor league product, it’s overlooked next to his Bowman RCs and the pricey Prospect Premiere autograph.
Going by the front, it’s hard to tell it’s a minor league card as Greinke is pictured in a Kansas City uniform.
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2003 Bowman Draft Signs of the Future Zack Greinke #SOF-ZG
Bowman’s Signs of the Future run wasn’t a long one, but it further helped the brand establish itself as a place to not just find prospects’ first MLB cards but autographs as well. Grienke is part of the “Group A” signers on the checklist. These were the easiest assortment to pull in the product.
Parallels: Red Ink
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2003 Topps Blue Chips Autographs Zack Greinke #TT-ZG
2003 Topps Blue Chip Autographs highlight signatures from two dozen up-and-coming players at the time. It may not be a strong group in retrospect but Greinke is the most valuable card in the set. It’s also his first card in the flagship line (his first Topps base card didn’t arrive until 2004).
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