Mike Trout Rookie Cards that Every Collector Must Own

By Alan Karpuch

Mike Trout rookie cards have become the surprise baseball cards of the year. Trout’s rookie cards have increased in value over 50% in just the past 30 days. Mike has been putting up some amazing numbers with the Angels this year. He was elected to the American League All-Star team in just his first full year in the majors. With much of the attention this year on Bryce Harper, Trout rookie cards have slipped under many peoples radar.

Collector’s want to know which of his rookie cards will be the most valuable in the next 10 years. Trout has numerous rookie cards which makes finding the best ones very hard for novice collectors.

Top 3 Mike Trout Rookie Cards

2009 Bowman Sterling Autograph

Topps did a very smart thing in including Trout cards in many of their 2009 sets. His 2009 Bowman Sterling autographed rookie card is one of his most valuable cards. These great baseball cards are currently selling online from $100 ungraded to over $400 in Gem MT 10 condition. These are some of the most popular cards that are currently being submitted to GMA for Grading.

Variations: Gold refractors are the most popular variations that were produced in the set and each are individually numbered and signed to only 50.

Condition Tips: Buyers should pay close attention to centering and corner wear on these cards even though both are not common. The quality of the signature is another important factor that should be taken into consideration.

2009 Bowman Chrome Prospects Autograph

Another great card produced by Topps and some of the rarest Mike Trout rookies cards. The Chrome

autograph cards are individually numbered to only 500 and are selling for more than $250 ungraded.

Cards graded in Gem MT 10 condition have sold for $500 in recent online auctions. GMA Grading has graded only 43 of these rare gems so far with only 15 grading in Gem MT 10 condition.

Variations: Some of the rarest and most expensive variations include the blue autographed refractor signed and numbered to only 150 and the orange refractor numbered to only 25. Blue refractors have sold online for as high as $650 while orange refractors have surpassed the $3,000 mark.

Condition Tips: Like many of Bowman Chrome products surface scratches and poor centering can be issues that can have a dramatic effect on the cards value. Corner dings are not common due to the quality of the card stock but sometimes appear after being handled frequently by collectors.

2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Rookie Autograph

These are some of the more underrated and undervalued Mike Trout RC’s. Only 149 of these rare Mike Trout autographed cards exist. These cards are not easy to find online but in a recent auction the Trout rookie sold for over $250 in NM-MT8 condition. You can expect Gem MT 10 versions to be worth triple that.

Condition Tips: Due to black borders and cheaper card stock than the Bowman Chrome counterparts, banged up corners are much more prevalent. Buyers should also pay close attention to surface defects as they tend to be a problem with many of these baseball cards.

Rookie Card Gallery

Find Out What Your Mike Trout Rookie is Worth

More Affordable Mike Trout Rookies

The cards listed above have the most potential 10 years down the road from now due to scarcity and being Trout’s true first year cards. With that being said Trout has many other rookie cards produced in 2010 and 2011 that are much more affordable and may also be quality investments in years to come.

2010 Bowman Platinum
2011 Finest
2011 Bowman Chrome
2010 Topps Pro Debut

All of these cards are currently very affordable but may not be for long. Investors are taking notice in some of these more reasonably priced Mike Trout rookie cards as they are much more affordable options for those who cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars on the Angels superstar.