The Top Rookie & Early Career Cards Of Orioles Phenom Gunnar Henderson

Mike D July 17, 2023

When the arrival of promising young players help a team with a long-suffering fan base turn things around, fans and collectors alike tend to take notice.

The Baltimore Orioles look playoff bound in 2023, and young third baseman Gunnar Henderson is a big part of their turnaround.

But who is Gunnar Hernandez? And what are his best early career and rookie cards?

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Who is Gunnar Henderson?

Third baseman (and sometimes shortstop) Gunnar Henderson was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2^nd round of the 2019 MLB draft. Henderson quickly shot through the minor leagues, ranking as a top 100 prospect going into the 2022 season and winning the 2022 Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year.

On August 31st of that year, he made his big league debut and played in 34 late-season games, putting up a line of .259/.348/.440, good for an OPS of .788 and OPS+ of 126. He was worth 0.9 WAR across those 34 games, an impressive rate.

In 2023, at 22 years of age, Henderson has continued his success, putting up a .244/.341/.450, good for an OPS of .791 and an OPS+ of 121 through his first 91 team games (80 games played). He’s added 13 home runs and has been worth 2.4 WAR to this point.

Along with other impressive young players like Adley Rutschman, Henderson is a big part of the Orioles going from AL East basement to contention.

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How many Gunnar Henderson Baseball Cards are there?

According to the Trading Card Database at TCDB.com, Gunnar Henderson has appeared on 1,472 at the point of this writing. That number is sure to rise throughout 2023, as more products are released.

These include pre-draft cards, the always popular 1^st Bowman, true rookie cards, and many in between.

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Gunnar Henderson 1^st Bowman

Gunnar Henderson’s 1^st Bowman cards came a year after he was drafted, in 2019 Bowman Draft. These include both the standard paper and chrome versions, as well as a rainbow of Refractor parallels. Autograph versions also are available.

The Chrome version has been graded nearly 1,300 times by PSA, with the vast majority of all copies receiving a PSA 10 grade. In that condition, they sell for between $50-60.

The Chrome population is significantly higher than the paper version, which has a PSA population south of 500. Despite the lower PSA population, a paper version sells for less than the Chrome, settling into the $20-40 range (with most recent sales in the neighborhood of $25).

The 1^st Bowman is typically the most desirable early card of a player, and I expect nothing else with Henderson. So, if you’re looking to buy in on Henderson, these are good cards to explore (along with their related parallels).

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Gunnar Henderson rookie cards

After Henderson made his major league debut in late 2022, it set up 2023 as the year for his “true rookie cards”. The number of rookie cards is likely to continue to expand as the year progresses. And of course, PSA population counts will continue to rise as more cards are submitted.

The PSA populations here are all over the map, most likely because of the various release dates of the product. The 2023 Topps has been graded almost 2,000 times, while the Bowman approaches 100.

Both sell in the $25-35 range in a PSA 10 slab. The 2023 Heritage has a much lower pop that is barely into double digits, with the few recent sale examples in the $40-45 range. The 2023 Topps Finest will be one to keep an eye on once some graded examples start to sell.

While these cards are unlikely to match the price points of the 1^st Bowman, they are an important collectible in a player’s early career. The lower price point offers both an opportunity to supplement your collection of 1^st Bowman or to buy in more cheaply.  

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Other early Gunnar Henderson baseball cards of note

Even before being drafted, Gunnar Henderson appeared on several cards in 2018, including the 2018 Bowman Under Armour All-America Game Autograph. Even ungraded, this card sells in the $100 range.

After his 1^st Bowman in 2019 and before his true rookie cards in 2023, Henderson appeared on several Bowman Prospect cards in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Generally speaking, these mid-prospect cards tend to share several qualities. They tend to have lower PSA population counts. They tend to not be in huge demand by collectors. And they tend to sell for very reasonable prices.

While these may not have huge upside, if Gunnar Henderson has a long and successful career, they likely have some room for growth.

In addition to the Bowman cards, Gunnar Henderson appeared on a number of unlicensed cards. The first being in 2018 with Leaf Metal. Leaf and Panini produced a number of Henderson cards over the next several years.

If you don’t mind the lack of logos, these open up a large number of somewhat lower-priced options for the Henderson collector.

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Final thoughts on Gunnar Henderson’s rookie and early career cards

Gunnar Hernandez is a young player off to a very promising start to his career. With close to 1,500 cards already available released, there’s a lot to chase. With so much variety, there’s something for every collector, but hopefully with some help from this article you can target some key cards.

What’s your favorite Gunnar Hernandez early career card? Do you think the Orioles will go deep into the playoffs? Let us know at card_lines on Twitter.

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