What card number is Jayson Tatum's Donruss Rated Rookie?

Jayson Tatum's Rated Rookie is card #198 in 2017-18 Panini Donruss. Donruss Optic — the chromium version of the same brand — reuses that same #198 for its Tatum Rated Rookie, so the card number alone doesn't tell you which set a listing is from. Check whether the listing says 'Donruss' or 'Donruss Optic'.

What's the difference between the Donruss and Donruss Optic Tatum rookie?

They share the Rated Rookie design and the card number (#198), but the base Donruss card is printed on standard paper stock while Optic is printed on reflective chromium (Prizm) stock. Optic is the co-flagship that collectors chase alongside Prizm; the paper Donruss is the affordable entry-tier version of the same card.

Is the 2017-18 Donruss Tatum a real rookie card?

Yes. 2017-18 was Tatum's rookie season, and Donruss carries the official 'Rated Rookie' designation on his base card. It's a genuine rookie-year card — just at the entry tier of the class rather than the chromium flagship tier.

Which Donruss Tatum cards are worth chasing beyond the base?

Donruss layers colored and serial-numbered parallels over the base Rated Rookie, plus rookie-focused insert sets — Tatum appears in families like The Rookies and Rookie Kings — and signed Donruss inserts sit at the top of the set. The eBay buttons above open live listings so you can see exactly which of these are on the market right now; we don't publish price estimates.

2017-18 Panini Donruss: Tatum's Original Rated Rookie (#198)

Item: 2017 Panini Donruss
Author: Tatum Cards

2017-18 Panini Donruss is where Jayson Tatum’s Rated Rookie actually originates. Donruss is the brand that owns the “Rated Rookie” designation — the logo, the framing, the whole idea — and Tatum’s paper Rated Rookie is card #198 in that year’s set. If you’ve searched “Jayson Tatum Rated Rookie” and been confused by why the same number keeps showing up on two very different-looking cards, this page is the disambiguation.

The #198 problem

Panini prints Donruss twice each season: once on standard paper stock (base Donruss) and once on reflective chromium stock (Donruss Optic). They share the design, the Rated Rookie branding, and — critically — the same card number. Tatum is #198 in both.

That means:

A listing reading “Jayson Tatum 2017-18 Donruss Rated Rookie #198” is the paper card.
A listing reading “Jayson Tatum 2017-18 Donruss Optic Rated Rookie #198” is the chromium card, and it’s a materially different market.

The two trade at very different levels, so read the brand word before you bid. If a photo looks shiny and reflective, it’s Optic; if it looks like a normal matte trading card, it’s base Donruss. Sellers mislabel this constantly — usually by omission, not malice — and it’s the single most common mix-up in the Tatum rookie class.

Why this set matters for Tatum collectors

It’s the original Rated Rookie — the card that carries the designation on the brand that invented it.
It’s an entry-tier price point, alongside Panini Hoops, making it one of the cheapest ways to own a genuinely iconic Tatum rookie design.
It’s the base layer of the Optic chase — collectors who eventually buy an Optic Rated Rookie very often own the paper #198 first.

We don’t publish print runs or fixed prices — the live eBay links across the site show what these cards are actually trading for right now.

What’s in the set

Base Rated Rookie #198 — the paper anchor card, the affordable everyday version of Tatum’s most recognizable rookie design.
Parallels — Donruss layers colored and serial-numbered parallels over the base card, giving the paper set a real chase without flagship pricing.
Rookie inserts — Donruss runs a deep rookie-focused insert program, and Tatum appears in families including The Rookies and Rookie Kings. These are separately numbered insert sets, not parallels of #198, so search them by name — the Donruss insert reference maps every family he appears in, rookie year through today.
Signed inserts — Donruss also carries autographed rookie inserts, which sit at the top of the set’s structure well above the base card.

The eBay buttons below split the base #198, its parallels, the rookie inserts, and graded PSA 10 copies so you can compare like for like instead of scrolling one undifferentiated feed.

Donruss vs. the rest of the 2017-18 class

Base Donruss sits at the entry tier with Hoops and Prestige, below the chromium flagships — Panini Prizm, Donruss Optic, and the tiered Panini Select. What Donruss has that the other entry-tier sets don’t is the Rated Rookie identity: the design is instantly readable as a rookie card, which is why it stays popular with fans and player collectors even when cheaper base rookies exist. For how every brand in the class stacks up, see the brand-by-brand rookie card checklist, and for the season-by-season picture see Jayson Tatum cards year by year.

Buying it safely

Because “Rated Rookie #198” spans a cheap paper card and a much pricier chromium one, confirm which set you’re buying before you bid — the brand word in the title, the surface in the photo, or the label on the slab. Beyond that, standard Tatum rules apply: he’s one of the most counterfeited modern players, so for anything above pocket change buy it graded (PSA, BGS, or SGC) and verify the cert number on the grader’s own lookup rather than trusting the slab image. Compare sold comps, not asking prices. If you’re checking a raw card yourself, the how to spot a fake Tatum rookie card guide covers reprint, counterfeit, and altered-card tells.

For the wider class, the Jayson Tatum rookie cards top list puts Donruss in context next to the flagships, and if you want to understand what drives value before you buy, start with what a Jayson Tatum card is worth or the full collecting Jayson Tatum cards guide.

Use the eBay buttons below to open live listings for the base Donruss Rated Rookie #198, its parallels, the rookie inserts, and graded PSA 10 copies.