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The Top 10 Justin Verlander Rookie Cards – Some May Surprise You

Collectors have always been partial to position players. Maybe it’s because they play every day. Maybe it’s that they contribute on offense and defense, maybe they just love home runs. Pitchers have always been second-class citizens in the eyes of collectors. There have been a few exceptions, such as Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax, but those exceptions prove the rule.

But some pitchers are absolutely worth chasing. What kind? If they’re an active pitcher who’s a sure-thing Hall of Famer, that’s a good start.

Justin Verlander is one of those types of pitchers. But who is Verlander? And what are his best rookie cards? And what about prospect cards?

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Who is Justin Verlander?

Justin Verlander suffered an injury that held him to just one start in 2020. At the time he was 37 years old. Facing a year-plus of rehab, he could easily have retired. At that point, he was already a sure thing Hall of Famer. He’d earned millions in his career. He’s married to a supermodel.

But he didn’t hang up his cleats, he worked hard to rehab and came back to put up a monster season, with an 18-4 record, 1.75 ERA, and 185 strikeouts in 175 IP. His ERA+ for the season was a staggering 220. He won the Cy Young Award, the third time he has taken home the award in his career. He then signed a big two-year deal with the New York Mets in the off-season, suggesting he’s not nearly done yet.

For his career, Verlander has put up a 244-133 record, good for a .647 winning percentage. His career ERA is 3.24, good for an ERA+ of 132. His 3,198 career strikeouts rank 12th all-time.

In addition to the 3 Cy Young Awards, he has won Rookie of the Year, an MVP Award, 2 ERA titles, a pitching triple crown, and has been an All-Star nine times.  Verlander has been worth 77.6 WAR in his career, good for 27th all-time among starting pitchers.

This total is well above the 73.0 average of the 66 starting pitchers already in the Hall of Fame. In other words, barring some scandal, Verlander will someday be elected to the Hall of Fame, likely in his first year of eligibility.

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Justin Verlander

The Top 10 Justin Verlander Rookie Cards

Justin Verlander is a throwback pitcher, his bulldog mentality on the mound and his ability to rack up lots of starts and lots of innings feel like a vestige of a long-ago age. But when looking at his rookie cards, it’s clear that his rookie year was in the 2000s.

We’re presenting you with a Top 10 list of Verlander rookie cards, and even that list is far from exhaustive. According to the Trading Card Database (TCDB.com), Verlander appeared on 397 cards that year.

That number of course includes a myriad of parallels, printing plates, and the like. Even still, we aren’t mentioning Verlander base rookie cards made by Donruss, Flair, Fleer, and more. If you’re looking to add a Verlander rookie card to your collection, there’s no shortage of options.

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2005 Bowman Justin Verlander #174

PSA has graded close to 600 copies of this card, but fewer than 25 have gotten PSA 10 grades. That works out to less than 4%. Because of this, in a PSA slab these can be hard to come by and sell strongly in the $450-500 range when they do come available. If you can live with a PSA 9, prices drop significantly.

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2005 Bowman Justin Verlander #174
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Bowman Justin Verlander #174582PSA 10 =23PSA 10 = $450-500

2005 Bowman Chrome Justin Verlander Auto #331

The higher-end version of the Bowman card gets just got the Chrome finish, but also an autograph. With a total PSA pop of only 173, with 64 of those in PSA 10 slabs, this one is tough to find and sells for over $1,000 ina PSA 10.

It’s easily the most expensive of the Verlander rookie cards on this list, but is nearing iconic status and may have some upside, especially if Verlander can build on last year’s dominant return from injury.

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2005 Bowman Chrome Justin Verlander Auto #331
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Bowman Chrome Justin Verlander Auto #331173PSA 10 = 64PSA 10 = $1,000-1,100

2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Justin Verlander #BDP129

Verlander also appeared in Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects product in 2005. While this may be the least visually appealing of Verlander’s 2005 Bowman appearances, it actually has a surprisingly low PSA population and PSA 10 population. Because of this, it sells for just a hair below the flagship Bowman’s going price in a PSA 10 slab.

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2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Justin Verlander #BDP129
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Justin Verlander #BDP129456PSA 10 = 27PSA 10 = $425-525

2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Justin Verlander #BDP129

The Chrome version of the 2005 Bowman DP&P card is an interesting situation. As the Chrome version of the product, you’d expect it to be more expensive than the flagship version.

But the PSA count here is higher, and the percentage of PSA 10s is also significantly higher. Because of these factors, the Chrome version actually sells for quite a bit less in a PSA 10 slab than the paper version.

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2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Justin Verlander #BDP129
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Justin Verlander #BDP129730PSA 10 = 200PSA 10 = $250-300

2005 Bowman Heritage Justin Verlander #220

The 2005 Bowman Heritage Verlander card has a much lower population than most of his other Bowman rookie cards. While the number of PSA 10s is higher on a percentage basis, there are still only 50 in existence. And maybe I’m letting my vintage bent shine through, but I think it’s the best-looking Verlander rookie card on this list.

With the lower total population, and PSA 10s selling in the $300-400 range, if you agree that this is the best-looking Verlander RC, then maybe there’s some potential upside here.

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2005 Bowman Heritage Justin Verlander #220
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Bowman Heritage Justin Verlander #220161PSA 10 = 50PSA 10 = $300-400

2005 Bowman’s Best Justin Verlander #102 Auto SN974

Featuring an autograph and a serial number out of 974 copies, the 2005 Bowman’s Best Verlander has a lot to like. Add in a small PSA total population, with only 6 PSA 10s and 30 PSA 9s, and you’ve got the recipe for a very attractive card.

Even in a PSA 9 slab, the card sells strongly in the $225-350 range. There are no recent comps for a PSA 10.

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2005 Bowman’s Best Justin Verlander #102 Auto SN974
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Bowman’s Best Justin Verlander #102 Auto SN97455PSA 9 = 30PSA 9 = $225-350

2005 Topps Justin Verlander #677

The 2005 Topps Justin Verlander rookie has been graded by PSA more times than the other 9 cards on this lot combined, clocking in at over 3,600 copies. Of those, over 1,500 are in PSA 10 slabs. That’s over 40% PSA 10s.

With the significantly larger PSA population and a high percentage of 10s, you’d think the price point here would be significantly lower. That isn’t necessarily the case, however as the card still sells strongly for around $300 in a PSA 10 slab.

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2005 Topps Justin Verlander #677
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Topps Justin Verlander #6773,613PSA 10 = 1,542PSA 10 = $300

2005 Topps Chrome Justin Verlander #242

While the 2005 Topps Verlander card has been graded thousands of times, the 2005 Topps Chrome version checks in at only 169 in total PSA population, with 50 PSA 10s (just under 30%). This one doesn’t change hands often, so there are no recent sales comps. There is one on eBay, however, as of this writing listed for $5,000.

2005 Topps Chrome Justin Verlander #242
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Topps Chrome Justin Verlander #242169PSA 10 = 50PSA 10 = NA

2005 Topps Updates & Highlights Justin Verlander #UH220

Topps also included Verlander in its Updates and Highlights set later in the year. Despite a PSA population in line with others on this list, there is a high percentage of cards graded PSA 10 (over 46%).

The combination of being a less popular product and the high number of PSA 10s makes this one the “value product” of the list, with PSA 10s selling for only around $60-80.

2005 Topps Updates & Highlights Justin Verlander #UH220
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Topps Updates & Highlights Justin Verlander #UH220585PSA 10 = 272PSA 10 = $60-80

2005 Upper Deck Justin Verlander #430

The 2005 Upper Deck Justin Verlander is one of a number of cards produced by the company that year on which Verlander appears. If you’re a big Verlander fan or just want to see more options for Verlander cards to add to your collection, check them out.

The card has a small overall PSA population of 220 graded copies, but over 56% of those are PSA 10s, which keeps prices in check. One of those PSA 10 slabbed copies will set you back only about $100, making this one a solid value buy.

2005 Upper Deck Justin Verlander #430
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2005 Upper Deck Justin Verlander #430220PSA 10 = 124PSA 10 = $100

Justin Verlander Pre-Rookie & Prospect Cards

Verlander’s rise to the big leagues was fast, with him making his big league debut barely a year after being drafted. Despite this quick rise through the ranks, Verlander does appear on cards in both 2003 and 2004 thanks to his spot on Team USA Baseball.

2003 Upper Deck USA Baseball National Team Justin Verlander

Verlander’s first cardboard appearance came a year before he was even drafted, when he appeared in the 2003 Upper Deck USA Baseball National Team set. With almost half of the total PSA population in PSA 10 slabs, the price is held down somewhat, with recent sales in the $150-200 range for a 10.

If you’re looking for a more challenging card, Upper Deck produced a number of relic and autograph cards as part of the USA Baseball offering.

2003 Upper Deck USA Baseball National Team Justin Verlander
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2003 Upper Deck USA Baseball National Team Justin Verlander #USA 5663PSA 10 = 309PSA 10 = $150-200

2004 Upper Deck – National Pride Justin Verlander

In 2004, Verlander appeared in the National Pride insert set that was released by Upper Deck as part of their flagship product that year.

Again picturing Verlander in his Team USA garb, his card has only been graded 17 times by PSA, with only 4 PSA 10s. No recent comp sales in PSA slabs are available at this time.

Two memorabilia versions of the card were also available. The base insert was available in Series 1 packs, while the relic cards were in Series 2.

2004 Upper Deck – National Pride Justin Verlander
CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2004 Upper Deck National Pride Justin Verlander #USA517PSA 10 = 4NA

Final thoughts on Justin Verlander’s best Rookie & prospect cards

There are a lot of Justin Verlander rookie cards. That can make it challenging to sort through them all, for sure. The good news is that there is Justin Verlander rookie card for every taste and budget.

And with him having a good chance to pitch in the postseason this year, and with the Hall of Fame ahead of him, it could be a good time to add to your Verlander collection.  

More Cardlines top baseball card rookie coverage

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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