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2023 Onyx Premium Baseball: A Low Cost, Unlicensed, Premium Product That Brings The Autos

2023 Onyx Premium Baseball

2023 Onyx Premium Baseball is all about the ink, and all about the hits. Yet the product is unlicensed and comes at very reasonable release price.

But what will collectors find inside 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball? What does the checklist look like? And what’s the ink worth getting excited about?

Shop for boxes of 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball on eBay

2023 Onyx Premium Baseball release date and release format

The release date for 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball is scheduled for December 29, 2023 (subject to change).

Hobby boxes of 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball contain a single pack per box. Inside collectors will find two cards per pack. Collectors will find two autographs per pack. That’s right, every card in the product is an autograph. Onyx Premium is all about the hits and all about the ink!

There are 24 hobby boxes per hobby case, and only 150 cases are being produced. Hobby boxes of 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball are pre-selling for $50 each.

Here is a video break of the 2022 Onyx Premium Baseball release last year:

YouTube video

2023 Onyx Premium Baseball overview

The 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball base set is not really a base set, as every card is autographed. The set features on-card autographs, no stickers here. Each card is also hand-numbered on the back.

The base autograph set consists of 36 cards. With Onyx not having an MLB license, the checklist consists of players who have signed contracts with Onyx.

The nature of the unlicensed product leads to an interesting checklist. A couple of established big league stars (Juan Soto and Julio Rodriguez) and 2023 rookie and World Series champ Evan Carter make an appearance. You’ll find 2023 #1 overall pick Paul Skenes, and top prospects such as Jordan Lawler, Junior Caminero, Ethan Salas, Jackson Chourio, and Colt Keith.

But then Onyx stretches the “prospect” label even further, bringing us an early favorite to go #1 overall in 2024 Ethan Petry and other likely high 2024 draft picks Lance Honeycutt, Tommy “Tanks” White, JJ Wetherholt and Nick Kurtz.

And just for fun, why not a couple of Women’s World Cup Soccer players? You’ll find both Trinity Rodman and Alyssa Thompson included. And why not include college basketball player Mackenzie Mgbako as well, right?

Shop for boxes of 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball on eBay

2023 Onyx Baseball Premium parallels

Gold, Silver, Blue and Red parallels are also available in 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball. While the print run for the different offerings isn’t yet available, we expect some of these to be quite tough pulls.

Some cards include inscriptions, which make them a parallel of sorts. These should make a fun pull.

Additional thoughts on 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball

So, we have what appears to be a premium product, but at a pretty reasonable price point. But with a lack of major league players and logos, is Onyx worth buying?

Onyx is one of the newer players on the market, and along with Panini and Leaf live in the “unlicensed” product space. As most collectors know, unlicensed cards tend to sell for less than licensed products made by the likes of Fanatics/Topps.

While these products may not be the most expensive early cards of a player, they do tend to make up for their lack of high price tags and logos by being faster to the market than the official brands. This often means that a player’s very first cardboard appearances tend to be on unlicensed products.

Comparing Onyx to the other unlicensed products, I have to admit that I think I may like them better than Panini. With clean designs and on-card autographs instead of stickers, there’s a lot to like.

Onyx has nowhere near the market and follows that Panini does, but these appear to be a quality low-cost product.  Maybe they’re not the best “investment”, although with the low buy-in price means you can probably do OK.

2023 Onyx Premium Baseball

Final Thoughts on 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball

2023 Onyx Premium Baseball brings only the hits, with on-card, hand-numbered autographs making up 100% of the product. Yet they’re fairly affordable, even if you only get two cards per box. If you’re looking to roll the dice on a quick little break at low cost, you could do a lot worse than 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball.

What’s your take on 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball? Planning to break a box? Tell us about it at card_lines on Twitter.

Shop for boxes of 2023 Onyx Premium Baseball on eBay

2023 Onyx Premium Baseball Checklist

Baseball

Aiden Miller – Philadelphia
Blake Mitchell – Kansas City
Bobby Miller – Los Angeles (NL)
Brayden Taylor – Tampa Bay
Charlee Soto – Minnesota
Chase Davis – St. Louis
Colin Houck – New York (AL)
Colt Keith – Detroit
Dylan Lesko – San Diego
Ethan Petry – Prospect
Ethan Salas – San Diego
Evan Carter – Texas
George Lombard Jr – New York (AL)
Hagen Smith – Prospect
Hurston Waldrep – Atlanta
Jackson Chourio – Milwaukee
JJ Westerholt – Prospect
Jonny Farmelo – Seattle
Jordan Lawlar – Arizona
Juan Soto – San Diego
Julio Rodriguez – Seattle
Junior Caminero – Tampa Bay
Kevin McGonigle – Detroit
Kyle Teel – Boston
Luis Baez – Houston
Matt Shaw – Chicago (NL)
Nick Kurtz – Prospect
Nolan Schanuel – Los Angeles (AL)
Nolan Schubart – Prospect
Paul Skenes – Pittsburgh
Rhett Lowder – Cincinnati
Tommy White – Prospect
Vance Honeycutt – Prospect

College Basketball

Mackenzie Mgbako – Indiana

Women’s Soccer

Alyssa Thompson – Los Angeles
Trinity Rodman – Washington

Other recent and upcoming baseball releases

Mike D.

Mike D

Mike D. has collected cards for over 35 years, since he bought his first pack of Topps at the corner store in 1987. His fandom,  collecting interests, and contributions to Cardlines center around baseball in general and the Baseball Hall of Fame specifically.

Mike's collecting focus is centered on graded cards, mostly rookie cards, of Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers. Lately, he's been enjoying dabbling in graded minor league cards. A collector/investor with a "buy and hold" approach, Mike takes the long-term view with his collection.
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