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From an autographed trading card perspective, Joe Mauer’s career spanned three eras. He was the first pick in the 2001 MLB draft, so he was featured heavily in 2002 card releases. In 2002, autographed cards were still mostly on-card, but some sets were moving towards stickers. Then about a decade of mostly sticker autographs occurred (i.e. the Dark Ages), followed by a slight but noticeable rebirth (hardly a Renaissance) in on-card autos towards the end of his playing career.
That said, he has signed some desirable cards (and stickers place onto cool cards) over the years. He playing career spanned from 2004-2018, so only cards released those years (and during his minor league days) are included on this list.
For a little more about Joe, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first time on the ballot (a distinct honor becoming more common). Mauer caught for about ten years and was a first basemen/DH for his final five years. He won the 2009 AL MVP Award, with a “Slashmark Triple Crown” – leading the league in batting average, on-base and slugging percentages. Mauer was a five-time all-star and ended his career with 2,123 hits, 923 RBI, a career .306 batting average, and 55.6 career WAR.
Mauer has special meaning to Twins fans as he was born in the state and played his entire career for Minnesota.
Now that we know who we’re talking about, let’s look at Joe Mauer’s “best” autographed cards from his playing career:
#10 – 2003 Topps – Autographs #TA-JM
I’m old enough to remember when Topps didn’t have a regular autograph checklist in each year in its flagship product. Yes, I can remember back to 1998. In 1999, they introduced an eight-player checklist and they’ve had autographs in their main release every year since. So in 2003, it was still quite a thrill to pull autographed cards from a regular old pack of Topps. I imagine it must’ve been quite a thrill to pull the No. 1 draft pick from the prior year, too.
This 2003 Topps Joe Mauer autographed card features an on-card autograph – that’s the best thing about it. I’m not a big fan of the asymmetrical white “autograph box” on the card, though it does make the signature pop off the card.
Secondly, the side-profile image of Mauer is a curious choice at best – you can barely make him out as his mask covers most of his face. So there are some negatives to this card, but its historical significance and membership to Topps’ flagship product gets it included on this list.
There has been one recent sale – going for only $40:
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2003 Topps – Autographs #TA-JM on eBay
#9 – 2002 Bowman’s Best #110
2002 was the first year of Joe Mauer cards in Twins uniforms, so autographs from this year are highly sought after, particularly because he doesn’t have a typical “1st Bowman” auto OR a unequivocal rookie card. His 2003 Topps Card is a multiplayer “Prospects” card shared with Justin Morneau. His 2004 topps card has no special delineations.
So if you’re looking for a “rookie” Joe Mauer card, you have this card and a couple others as your options. I like the photograph because you can see his baby face and sweet swing. The thick black ink looks good on the blue/white background. Topps authenticated it with its recognizable (and unchanged?) “Certified Autograph Issue” icon on the front of the card, as well as a hologram on the back.
The card was part of the Bowman’s Best checklist, but obviously short-printed. It comes in five hard to distinguish flavors: base, blue, gold, red, and there are 20 “uncirculated” copies. In terms of rareness, it’s unclear which card is rarest (beyond the “uncirculated” version) – I would guess it to be the “blue” version, but I’m not sure.
There have been plenty of recent sales, ranging from $57-100:
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2002 Bowman’s Best #110 on eBay
#8 – 2002 Bowman Heritage – Autographs BHA-JM
Sometimes I like a nice, clean portrait. Especially for younger players. It reminds me of “picture day” in Little League and that plays nicely for players just starting their professional careers.
This card is well-composed and you can see how young Joe looks in the picture. It’s clearly authenticated with the “CAI” icon, the hologram on the back, and the card number clearly being from an autographed line.
The drawback of course is the ugly gray box that Topps/Bowman used around this time. It’s like they said: How can I make an on-card autograph look like a sticker? Print a box on a card that looks like a sticker!
This card changes hands frequently, with multiple recent sales. People have been buying it between $93-200 and someone won an auction for $62:
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2002 Bowman Heritage – Autographs BHA-JM on eBay
#7 – 2011 Topps Triple Threads – Relic Autographs #TTAR-3
I’m not generally a huge fan of Triple Threads, so that explains why an rare, autographed card with an awesome game-used patch is ranked somewhat low on this list. I usually find the cards too busy.
Additionally, the sticker autograph is a big turn-off for me, especially for a “premium” product. Still, I like the game action photograph Topps used here and the patch looks great. The backs are underwhelming as usual for Triple Threads.
How rare is this card? The pictured card above is the “sapphire” parallel and it is SN/3. There are 18 base cards, 9 golds, one “wood”, and one printing plate card for a total of 32 cards.
It’s a great card to have, but I wouldn’t spend tons of money to acquire it, personally. There haven’t been any recent online sales, but a comparable card from 2015 sold recently for $68:
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2011 Topps Triple Threads – Relic Autographs #TTAR-3 on eBay
#6 – 2007 SPx – Young Stars Signatures #YS-JM
A much more attainable card is from 2007 SPx. The base “Young Stars Signatures” are not numbered, but there is a “Spectrum” parallel that is numbered to 25.
I like this card because of the full-body photograph of Joe Mauer swinging, overlaid on a cool rainbow background. I’m not a big fan of the sticker autograph, but the sticker is sometimes hard to detect on SPx cards laid out like this.
The negatives for this card are the rather ugly, big gold “SPX” letters at the bottom of the card and the boring card back. Upper Deck managed to make a card back that is both boring AND hard to read.
In terms of recent sales, a card changed hands in May for $25:
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2007 SPx – Young Stars Signatures #YS-JM on eBay
#5 – 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter – Framed Mini Autographs #AGA-JM
I love the look of Allen Ginter’s “cigarette style” mini cards, but I hate collecting them due to their size. The answer? Frame them in a standard-sized card! And while you’re at it, autograph them, too.
The mini card is perfect for Joe’s compact signature and the image fits the card format well. The back has the authenticity statement but retains its homage to the old cigarette cards with the old-timey graphic.
Everyone else must love this card as much as me because I can’t find a recent online sale.
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter – Framed Mini Autographs #AGA-JM on eBay
#4 – 2015 Topps – Photo Variation Autographs
I’ve tried not to put “unattainable” cards on my lists, but here we are. In 2015, Topps slapped four SSP (super short print) image variation cards with a sticker auto and serial numbered them to five. Joe Mauer was one of the four (along with Jacob DeGrom, Giancarlo Stanton, and C.C. Sabathia).
I love the image Topps chose for this SSP – the autograph is a bonus. The sticker auto is the one drawback. I’ll never get why a card company will let their most exclusive cards be donned with sticker autos.
There aren’t any known online sales of this card recently and it’s difficult for me to find a comp. You can get the non-auto image variation for between $16-42:
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2015 Topps – Photo Variation Autographs #700 on eBay
#3 – 2014 Topps Five Star – Jumbo Patch Autographs
If you’re a fan of clean-looking, on-card autographs and patch relics, this 2014 Topps Five Star card is for you. The card pictured above is a “Gold” Jumbo Patch Autograph and there is also a “Rainbow” (SN/5) and a SN/1 version of this card. So there are a total of only 16 copies of this particular card design.
The card features a nice image of Joe as he completes a swing. It also features a nice jersey patch, but if you examine that darn fine print on the back of the card, you’ll see the dreaded disclaimer: the relic contained in this card is not from any specific, game, event or season. Most savvy collectors believe this statement means Topps cut up a jersey they bought at Walmart (or a Fanatics online shop lol) to make this card. I, despite still believing in Santa Claus, tend to side with the savvy collectors.
So the card has a sham patch, so what? It looks great. While there hasn’t been a sale of this exact card, there has been a sale of a similar, slightly less rare Joe Mauer card from the same set:
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2014 Topps Five Star – Jumbo Patch Autographs on eBay
#2 – 2002 Topps 206 – Autographs
Another card from 2002 makes the list. The 2002 Topps 206 set was Topps’ first year making a tobacco card as they “revived” the 206 brand (they didn’t make the brand originally).
This set paved the way for many gorgeous Allen & Ginter autographs, so it has some historical significance. It’s also significant for Joe Mauer as it’s one of his earliest autographs.
The photo is well-done and has a bit of a “tobacco card background” but with a modern feel. The on-card auto pops off its light background. The back of the card retains the retro feel while also housing a hologram.
The card isn’t serial-numbered and based on recent sales volume, it’s safe to say that at least hundreds of these cards exist. Let’s look at some recent sales:
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2002 Topps 206 – Autographs #TA-JM on eBay
#1 – 2002 Bowman Chrome #391
Experienced collectors know that Bowman is THE set for hot new prospects and Topps is THE set for rookies. In 2002, autographs were still coming of age in Bowman sets, so the autograph checklist was only 22 names long and the autographs were short-printed at the end of the Bowman Chrome set. Aside from David Wright, Joe Mauer was the only signer of consequence.
So this card is the unofficial “first bowman” of Joe Mauer. His pose on the front is distinctly un-Joe Mauer-like, as Mauer tends to pose with a smile. You can see the patented Mauer smile on the back of the card, which has regular baseball stats and info, too:
This card is available in 4-5 different flavors: base, refractor (PR500), gold refractor (PR50), “uncirculated” (PR10, but not sure how or if this card is different), and x-fractor (PR250). So you can see that there are 810 parallels of the base card, which likely has >1,000 copies as well. So this card is likely more common than, say, a run-of-the-mill 2002 Topps Gold card.
It is worth quite a bit more than one of those run-of-the-mill cards, though. It (and all its parallels) sell quite frequently:
You can see the “base” card can go for over $300 (there are well-graded cards listed for less on eBay, though) and a parallel like x-fractor can begin to approach $1k.
Looking to buy? ⚾ Shop 2002 Bowman Chrome #391 on eBay
So there you have it: my sole opinion of the best Joe Mauer autographed baseball cards printed during his playing career. Joe Mauer has continued to sign after his career ended (don’t see him in any 2025 releases so far), so you can find those cards, too.