While he may be a step below baseball's elite, Hunter Pence has leveraged his fun-loving personality to become one of the game's most popular players. And with very few Hunter Pence rookie cards to choose from, collectors may want to get them before they really take off.
Pence began his career with the Houston Astros. Breaking in during the 2007 season, he was one of the National League's top rookies after hitting .322 with 17 home runs. The outfielder continued to put up the same sorts of numbers for the struggling Astros through 2011 when he was sent to Philadelphia. His tenure with the Phillies didn't last very long, though. Pence was traded to the San Francisco Giants in a deadline deal for the second consecutive year.
Collectors have just three Hunter Pence rookie cards to choose from. All come autographed and serial numbered. The combined print run for all three cards is just 1,571. Pence has the potential to really break out. Should this happen, collectors will be left scrambling. Already popular, there is still a good chance these cards could soar in the next couple of years.
Hunter Pence Rookie Card Guide
2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Hunter Pence RC #334 Autograph #/672
Busy designs and sticker autographs are things all Hunter Pence rookies share. The 2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Hunter Pence comes signed using a foil sticker that many collectors find unattractive. But when it comes to Hunter Pence rookie cards, collectors don't have many options. The base version is numbered to 672. The card also has several low-numbered parallels that come signed and unsigned.
2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Hunter Pence RC #108 Autograph #/299
The 2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Hunter Pence is both his rarest and cleanest-looking rookie card. Numbered to 299 copies, the card still uses a sticker autograph, but it's incorporated into the design better than Pence's other two rookie cards. The tightly cropped image helps hide that Pence is not wearing a big league uniform, another thing his other rookies fail to do (or even attempt). The 2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Hunter Pence has three extremely rare parallels, all of which are autographed.
2004 SP Prospects Hunter Pence RC #339 Autograph #/600
Like his 2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition card, the 2004 SP Prospects Hunter Pence rookie uses a lot of foil. This spills over into the autograph sticker as well. Limited to 600 numbered copies, the card has two parallels numbered to 10 and 1. Pence also appears on two 2004 SP Prospects dual autographs. On one card, his signature shares the spotlight with Jordan Parraz. The other is with Ben Zobrist. Both dual autographs are numbered to 175.
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Related Topics: Baseball Cards: Prospecting
