2018 Topps #698 & Ronald Acuña Jr. — the Short-Printed Flagship Card

Ronald Acuña Jr.’s 2018 Topps flagship card is one of the odder cards of his rookie year, and almost every guide describes it wrong. It is not the cheap, high-print paper base rookie people assume. It’s #698 — a deliberate short print bolted onto the end of Series 2.

What actually happened with #698

About a week before Series 2 shipped, Topps put out a press release saying Acuña and Gleyber Torres would be in the set — and that both cards would be short-printed. Stranger still, Topps numbered them #698 (Acuña) and #699 (Torres), numbers that were already taken by other players in the same checklist. Topps then put differently-photographed versions of both into the factory set, creating yet another variation.

The catalogue consequence matters when you’re buying: Baseball Card Pedia does not recognise either the pack-inserted or the factory-set “Acuna 698” as a true rookie card. So:

• #698 is scarce, not cheap. It’s a short print with a manufactured backstory, and it’s priced accordingly. That’s fine — just don’t buy it expecting a common base card.
• His uncontested paper rookie is 2018 Topps Update #US250, RC-flagged, on the same flagship paper stock. That’s the accessible, high-print, RC-logo paper Acuña — the natural first card in a collection.
• His unambiguous chromium RCs are 2018 Topps Chrome #193 and 2018 Bowman Chrome #40, both RC-flagged.
• The 2017 cards are prospect cards, not rookies — see the 2017 Bowman Chrome review and the rookie cards guide.

Sources: the 2018 Topps checklist at Baseball Card Pedia, which records the #698/#699 short-print episode and states in terms that it does not recognise either the pack-inserted or the factory-set “Acuna 698” as a true rookie card; and the 2018 Topps Update checklist, where US250 is his RC-flagged card (with batting and fielding photo variations) and US252 is his Rookie Debut card.

What drives the paper market

Paper flagship grades and trades constantly, so PSA 10 comps are deep and reliable, and centering — not scarcity — is usually what separates a 9 from a 10 on the Update card.

What actually drives the price

The paper Update base card sets the floor. Above it, value climbs the same way the rest of his rookie market does: parallel, then grade. Flagship carries a paper parallel ladder — Gold and rarer coloured parallels, foil variations, and printing-plate one-of-ones — plus the photo-variation short prints that flagship quietly hides in every base checklist (Acuña has #US250 image variations in Update). A raw base rookie and a numbered colour parallel in a PSA 10 slab sit worlds apart. Because those prices move constantly, we don’t quote figures — the live what’s it worth rails always show what a given card is doing right now.

Don’t confuse the checklists, either. #698 is the Series 2 short print; #US250 is the Update RC. They ride the same paper stock but come from separately sold products — confirm which one a listing is actually showing before you pay up.

How to buy it

• A raw #US250 is fine for a set or a starter card; for #698 and anything above pocket money, buy it graded (PSA or SGC) and match the certification number to the listing photos.
• Know the card number and the parallel before you bid — #698, #US250 and a numbered Gold parallel look similar in a thumbnail but sit far apart in value.
• On the base card, centering is everything for the 10 — study the borders in the photos, not just the grade on the flip.
• Check recent sold comps, not just asking prices — see what’s it worth.

Open live listings for every Acuña flagship and Chrome rookie family — including #698, #US250 and their parallels — from the rookie cards guide. For the chromium version of this same design, see the companion 2018 Topps Chrome set review; for the prospect and signed side of his rookie era, the 2018 Bowman Chrome set review, the marquee 2017 Bowman Chrome grail, and the autographs guide. New to the hobby? Start with collecting Acuña cards.