One of my favorite baseball card stories takes us all the way back to Topps’ first baseball release in 1952, featuring Mickey Mantle’s Topps rookie. You know, the card that now sells for millions of dollars.

Series 1 of the 1952 set sold very well. So well, in fact, that Topps produced even more boxes for Series 2, which featured the Mantle card.

But the overproduction of Series 2, combined with a fall release after most baseball fans had already moved on to football, meant boxes upon boxes sat on store shelves for weeks and months at a time. Retailers just didn’t have the space to keep the inventory, so they sent it back to Topps. And try as Topps did, they literally couldn’t give the boxes away.

So in 1960, Topps, in need of space, loaded the 300 to 500 excess cases of 1952 Topps onto a boat and dumped them into the Atlantic Ocean. Again, these boxes had a whole bunch of the now MILLION-DOLLAR Mantle cards.

Years later, Topps actually commemorated the moment with a special release reimagining the cards at the bottom of the ocean, including that Mantle.

I like to think that if Baseball America been around in the early 1950s, way more people would have known about this Mickey Mantle guy and lined up at department stores days in advance to buy the extra boxes.

Instead, a great hobby legend emerged. And if you’re at the beach this weekend and find a 75-year-old Mantle card washed up on shore, remember: Even a PSA 1 of a ‘52 Mantle is a mortgage or car payment.

The good news? Now you DO have Baseball America to help you locate the next big thing in the hobby before anyone else.

So with that, welcome to Baseball Card America … and before we jump into our deep-dive of the 2026 Bowman checklist, here’s a quick reminder for you:

Just by being a Baseball Card America subscriber, you are automatically entered to win one of six FREE hobby boxes of 2026 Onyx Vintage, featuring five guaranteed autographs (yes, we’re giving away an entire case!)

Among the chases in this year’s product are Paul Skenes autographs in Japanese and dual autographs from BA’s top two prospects, Konnor Griffin and Kevin McGonigle.

We will announce the six winners in the next issue of Baseball Card America on Wednesday, May 13, which also happens to be release day for 2026 Bowman. Speaking of which, let’s dive in …

The annual release of Bowman, scheduled this year for May 13, is often viewed as a holiday by card collectors, but especially so this year with a literal Holliday emerging as one of its focal points.

After being strategically left out of 2025 Bowman Draft, last year’s No. 4 overall pick, Rockies shortstop Ethan Holliday, is front and center in 2026 Bowman (and not even just on the checklist—he’s literally on the box with former BA No. 1 prospect Roman Anthony).

And while everyone on the planet will be hunting for Holliday (and rightfully so), we here at Baseball America want to take you even deeper into the checklist. As in: Who are the other key players flying under the radar that you can target before anyone else knows about ’em?

BA’s Matt Pajak has done his annual deep dive into the Bowman checklist and come back with four key players that he’ll be targeting. One name is Red Sox slugger Justin Gonzales, a 6-foot-7, 277-pound outfielder who hit .298 at just 18 years old last year.

You can read more about Gonzales and see Matt’s three other super sleeper prospects in our checklist deep dive right now at BaseballAmerica.com, along with Matt’s look at other 2025 first-rounders with their 1st Bowmans in this set, a full analysis of the best and worst teams to take in breaks (Royals? Yes! Cubs? No!), a look at the big inserts and chases (including a booklet card signed by TWENTY-FOUR prospects), and much, much more.

The story just went live, so you can be among the first to dive in and start your research now—May 13 will be here before you know it.

And while we’re on the topic of first-rounders from the 2025 MLB Draft, here’s our look at six top draftees that collectors might want to pump the brakes on a bit — and why.

We’re also not that far removed from spring training, which offered a great window into the prospects that might be at the top of many collectors’ lists before too long …

In a similar story in 2025, Matt told BA readers to target Bryce Rainer and Tyson Lewis, both of whom have seen the average prices of their Bowman 1st auto at least double in the past year.

Spoiler alert for this year’s list: Even with all of the Tigers attention currently focused on BA’s No. 2 overall prospect, Kevin McGonigle and No. 6 prospect, Max Clark, Matt still thinks that Rainer is a Detroit prospect worth a long look.

White Sox farmhand Caleb Bonemer, who brings a solid mix of plate skills, power and speed, is another name on the list.

We have a lot of great free card and collectibles content at Baseball America, but a lot of our stuff is also exclusive to our paid subscribers. Think of it as exclusive, premium analysis for your collection from the team that basically invented prospecting.

So for those of you thinking of joining the BA team as a subscriber, we have an exclusive offer for you in honor of the first edition of Baseball Card America … a one-time offer to save 26% on a digital subscription!

Use code CARDS at checkout to save 26% on the first year of ANY annual digital subscription and get access to everything that Baseball America offers.

The 26% is because it’s 2026 … so you COULD wait another year and maybe save 27% instead, but then you’d miss out on an entire year of knowing the next big things in the baseball card world before anyone else. So spend the extra buck now—your collection will thank you!

Right now, here’s a look at a few upcoming baseball card releases:

(As always, release dates are subject to change!)

Here are some recent baseball card and collectibles headlines making news at Baseball America:

These links only begin to scratch the surface of what BA has to offer in terms of information to better inform your prospect collecting. We’ll dive in much more in future editions of Baseball Card America, and you can always check out BA’s baseball card homepage for the latest stories and to take a deep dive into hobby news, analysis and more.

What do you think of BA’s card coverage? What do you want to see more (or less) of? Any overall thoughts on anything? Email me at [email protected] and let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading, and make sure to tell all your friends to sign up—we’ll announce the six winners of sealed boxes of Onyx Vintage in our next edition of Baseball Card America, coming your way on May 13.

Until then, happy hunting!

Seth

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