Release Date: January 30, 2013
Price Point: Approximately $2 per pack or $13 per HTA pack, $60 per hobby box and $120 per HTA box at Blowout Cards.
Product Loadout: Hobby:  10 cards per pack, 36 packs per box, 12 boxes per case.  HTA:  50 cards per pack, 10 packs per box, 6 boxes per case.
Hit Ratios: Hobby:  1 autograph or relic card.  HTA:  1 autograph and 2 relic cards.
Checklist Provided by Cardboard Connection:  2013 Topps Series One Baseball

Product Information:

• 330 card base set (1-330)
• Chasing History (50 cards)
• Chasing the Dream (25 cards)
• Cut to the Chase (25 cards)
• The Greats (30 cards, hobby/HTA only)
• Calling Cards (15 cards)
• 1972 Topps Minis (50 cards)
• Million Dollar Chase Code Cards
• Spring Fever Redemption Cards

Autographs, Relics and Parallels:

• Blue (Wal-Mart specific)
• Red (Target specific)
• Purple (Toys R Us)
• Silver Slate (Wrapper Redemption)
• Emerald Foil (1:6 packs)
• Gold (#’d to 2013)
• Desert Camo Foil (#’d to 99)
• Black (#’d to 62, hobby/HTA only)
• Pink (#’d to 50)
• Platinum (1/1)
• Printing Plates (1/1, 4 each, hobby/HTA only)
• Silk Collection (100 cards, #’d to 50, hobby/HTA only)
• Photo Variations (25 cards)
• MVP Award Winners
• Cy Young Award Winners
• Proven Mettle Coin Copper (25 cards, #’d to 99, hobby/HTA only)
• Proven Mettle Coin Wrought Iron (#’d to 50, hobby/HTA only)
• Proven Mettle Coin Steel (#’d to 10, hobby/HTA only)
• Chasing History Relics (over 40 cards)
• Chasing History Autographs (over 30 cards)
• Chasing History Cut Signatures (1/1)
• Chasing History Autograph Relics (15 cards, #’d to 25, hobby/HTA only)
• Chasing the Dream Relics (over 20 cards)
• Chasing the Dream Autographs (over 20 cards)
• Chasing the Dream Autograph Relics (10 cards, #’d to 25, hobby/HTA only)
• Cut to the Chase Relics (25 cards, #’d to 25, hobby/HTA only)
• Cut to the Chase Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 10)
• Cut to the Chase Autograph Relics (#’d to 5, hobby/HTA only)
• The Greats Gold (#’d to 99, hobby/HTA only)
• The Greats Relics (25 cards, #’d to 25, hobby/HTA only)
• The Greats Autographs (15 cards, #’d to 10, hobby/HTA only)
• The Greats Autograph Relics (10 cards, #’d to 5, hobby/HTA only)
• Calling Cards Relics (25 cards, #’d to 25)
• Calling Cards Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 10)
• Calling Cards Autograph Relics (10 cards, #’d to 5, hobby/HTA only)
• 1972 Topps Minis Relics (15 cards, #’d to 25)
• 1972 Topps Minis Autographs (10 cards, #’d to 10)
• World Series Champions Relics (15 cards, #’d to 100)
• World Series Champions Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 50)
• World Series Champions Autograph Relics (#’d to 50, hobby/HTA only)
• In the Name Relics (1/1, hobby/HTA only)
• The Ultimate Chase (30 cards, 1/1)
• Commemorative Patches (Retail Blasters)
• Manufactured Rookie Card Patches (Retail Blasters)

Box Contents

• 350 total cards
• 299/330 base cards, 0 doubles
• 9 1972 Minis (Ian Kennedy, Lou Gehrig, Giancarlo Stanton, Cliff Lee, Nolan Ryan, Andre Ethier, Mike Trout, Joey Votto and Evan Longoria)
• 3 Cut to the Chase (Ryne Sandberg, Dustin Pedroia and Ted Williams)
• 9 Chasing History (Tom Seaver, Cal Ripken Jr, Bob Feller, Nolan Ryan, Derek Jeter, George Brett, CC Sabathia, Warren Spahn and Babe Ruth)
• 5 Calling Cards (Felix Hernandez, Prince Fielder, R. A. Dickey, Tim Lincecum and Mark Teixeira)
• 6 Chasing the Dream (Yu Darvish, Devin Mesoraco, Giancarlo Stanton, Chris Sale, Addison Reed and Jose Altuve)
• 4 Gold (Justin Upton 1927/2013, Rafael Furcal 848/2013, Ivan Nova 1254/2013 and A.J. Burnett 1857/2013)
• 6 Emerald (David Lough RC, Luis Perez, Melky Mesa RC, Hiroki Kuroda, Travis Ishikawa and Alex Rodriguez CL)
• 2 The Greats (Tom Glavine and Cal Ripken Jr)
• 1 Spring Break redemption
• 6 code cards
• 1 Chasing History Relic (Yovani Gallardo)

Originally, I really didn’t like the fact that there were a huge number of parallels in 2013 Topps Baseball Series One.  Once it came out though, it became obvious that there was a lot of cards produced this year, which have made the numbered parallels beyond gold very hard to find and quite high-priced.  Unfortunately, what this has also meant is that the odds of actually pulling anything in a box, much less a pack, has dropped very low because of that same vast production quanity.    It also means that the cards I wanted to see most, the Craig Biggio autos and relics, were very few and far between, with insane pricing compared to other cards of his.

The box itself is pretty much what you expect from base Topps:  quality photography with good cards, a fair number of inserts and parallels, the majority of the set and one lone hit.  In this, Topps has delivered.  The base cards look very nice (but like I’ve said before, I’ll be tired of them by November when Update comes out), and most of the inserts are a huge improvement over last year’s product.

What I Liked:  Again, the base cards look very nice, as do the golds and emeralds.  Some of the inserts are head and shoulders above what we saw last year, especially The Greats and Cut to the Chase.   I love me some die-cut cards, and I really like the sturdiness of The Greats.

What I Didn’t:  I don’t like how many cards were produced.  Sure, it means that the lower numbered parallels have some great value on the secondary market, but it also means that on a per box level there’s much less value. Another thing I really don’t like is how they used Craig Biggio for some of the auto and relic parallels, but not for the base inserts.  I would have loved to have had some of those cards.

Overall Thoughts:  Topps has done a good job with Series One this year, with much better inserts than last year, with even the worst ones being ‘average’.  It’s a serious step up, and while I’m not a huge fan of them getting 7 more years of exclusivity, I can’t complain about Series One overall at this point.

Collation:  4/5
Pizazz:  3/5
Design:  4/5
Total Score:  4/5 (rounded up)

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Release Date: January 30, 2013
Price Point: Approximately $2 per pack or $13 per HTA pack, $56 per hobby box and $116 per HTA box at Blowout Cards.
Product Loadout: Hobby:  10 cards per pack, 36 packs per box, 12 boxes per case.  HTA:  50 cards per pack, 10 packs per box, 6 boxes per case.
Hit Ratios: Hobby:  1 autograph or relic card.  HTA:  1 autograph and 2 relic cards.
Checklist Provided by Cardboard Connection:  2013 Topps Series One Baseball

Product Information:

• 330 card base set (1-330)
• Chasing History (50 cards)
• Chasing the Dream (25 cards)
• Cut to the Chase (25 cards)
• The Greats (30 cards, hobby/HTA only)
• Calling Cards (15 cards)
• 1972 Topps Minis (50 cards)
• Million Dollar Chase Code Cards
• Spring Fever Redemption Cards

Autographs, Relics and Parallels:

• Blue (Wal-Mart specific)
• Red (Target specific)
• Purple? (Toys R Us?)
• Silver Slate (Wrapper Redemption)
• Emerald Foil (1:6 packs)
• Gold (#’d to 2013)
• Desert Camo Foil (#’d to 99)
• Black (#’d to 62, hobby/HTA only)
• Pink (#’d to 50)
• Platinum (1/1)
• Printing Plates (1/1, 4 each, hobby/HTA only)
• Silk Collection (100 cards, #’d to 50, hobby/HTA only)
• Photo Variations (25 cards)
• MVP Award Winners
• Cy Young Award Winners
• Proven Mettle Coin Copper (25 cards, #’d to 99, hobby/HTA only)
• Proven Mettle Coin Wrought Iron (#’d to 50, hobby/HTA only)
• Proven Mettle Coin Steel (#’d to 10, hobby/HTA only)
• Chasing History Relics (over 40 cards)
• Chasing History Autographs (over 30 cards)
• Chasing History Cut Signatures (1/1)
• Chasing History Autograph Relics (15 cards, #’d to 25, hobby/HTA only)
• Chasing the Dream Relics (over 20 cards)
• Chasing the Dream Autographs (over 20 cards)
• Chasing the Dream Autograph Relics (10 cards, #’d to 25, hobby/HTA only)
• Cut to the Chase Relics (25 cards, #’d to 25, hobby/HTA only)
• Cut to the Chase Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 10)
• Cut to the Chase Autograph Relics (#’d to 5, hobby/HTA only)
• The Greats Gold (#’d to 99, hobby/HTA only)
• The Greats Relics (25 cards, #’d to 25, hobby/HTA only)
• The Greats Autographs (15 cards, #’d to 10, hobby/HTA only)
• The Greats Autograph Relics (10 cards, #’d to 5, hobby/HTA only)
• Calling Cards Relics (25 cards, #’d to 25)
• Calling Cards Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 10)
• Calling Cards Autograph Relics (10 cards, #’d to 5, hobby/HTA only)
• 1972 Topps Minis Relics (15 cards, #’d to 25)
• 1972 Topps Minis Autographs (10 cards, #’d to 10)
• World Series Champions Relics (15 cards, #’d to 100)
• World Series Champions Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 50)
• World Series Champions Autograph Relics (#’d to 50, hobby/HTA only)
• In the Name Relics (1/1, hobby/HTA only)
• The Ultimate Chase (30 cards, 1/1)
• Commemorative Patches (Retail Blasters)
• Manufactured Rookie Card Patches (Retail Blasters)

Whew.  There’s an absolute ton of content in this product, which is both good and bad.  It’s good simply because content drives sales.  The more interesting and varied things a product has within it, the more people will want to buy it.  The question is, how long will it drive sales and keep boxes of this from dropping down to the sub-$40 area, like Series 1 and 2 did last year within a few months?  Now, it’s bad because at its core, base Topps should be about set-building.  When your packs and boxes are full of parallels and inserts, it’s very hard to actually get those sets built without either a) buying HTA boxes or b) buying sets off eBay.

The parallels are getting to a level of insanity not really seen since 2005 Donruss.  The sales sheet notes eight different parallel levels, and when you add in the retail parallels (either two or three, depending) and the wrapper redemptions, you get either eleven or twelve parallels.  Seriously, folks.  It’s time to step away from the color generator and let the cards actually sell themselves.  I mean, it wasn’t that many years ago that base Topps had base, gold, black, platinum and printing plates and minimal inserts.

Normally, I would direct people to buy HTA boxes if they’re going to buy base Topps, simply because you get three hits per box instead of one.  I still tend towards this, but buyers need to beware that there are three hits, but two of them are relics (although one of them is guaranteed to be one of the very nice-looking manufactured award relics).  Hobby boxes still have either an autograph or a relic.  Sure, Topps shows off some absolutely outstanding hits, including the 30-card Ultimate Chase set which would pretty much be the cornerstone of anyone’s collection.  However, the issue is that there is so much product being printed here that the odds on actually pulling any of this stuff unless you’re a massive case-breaker…is almost non-existent.  Still, the chance is out there for those of us who demand our gambling in our hobby.

Topps is also adding in three different giveaways with this product (that I’m aware of).  First is the Million Dollar Chase promo, where you enter codes into a site (which likely won’t be up until the season starts, and then will be slammed as people frantically try to get their codes in before the Rangers and Astros finish playing game one).  The goal, as far as I’ve been able to tell so far, is that you get to unlock players with the codes, then choose a player.  Each day you pick a different player and if they get a hit, you get credit and you build a streak.  The higher the streak, the better your prizes.  The first person to get a 57-game hitting streak wins the dough.  Good luck, everyone!

Next, there’s the Spring Fever promo, which I couldn’t find any information out at all for.  I do know that this is for a special five-card pack that’s only available in hobby stores during February 20-27th that includes autographs.  Finally, there is the just-announced Silver Slate wrapper redemption promo.  For 50 2013 Topps S1 wrappers (or 10 HTA wrappers) you’ll get a pack of five cards.  Each person can redeem up to ten packs,  and Topps has produced 10,000 packs of this product.  Odds are, this stuff will be gone before February 10th, if not sooner, so I’d get your wrappers out the door tomorrow if at all possible.  While the silver parallels won’t be numbered (I don’t think), at most there will be 151 of each card produced.

Finally, there’s the Ultimate Chase tickets.  If you pull one, you get a bat autographed by five current or retired players, which are not named (good thing, too, with the current issue surrounding the 2012 Golden Baseballs that Topps….apparently couldn’t produce).  One of the winners will get to follow one of the playoff teams through the postseason, which will give the winner tickets to each of the postseason games their chosen team happens to be in.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I don’t hate 2013 Topps Series One.  I like the base card design (for now, we’ll talk again after I’ve seen it five times running).  I like the manu-relics (both HTA and retail).  I like how some of the parallels look.  That being said, it seems like base Topps has become a sandwich with too many toppings on it.  If you remove some of the toppings, you’ve got a great sandwich waiting for you, but the way it is now, it’s almost a gloppy mess of stuff.  We’ll see how my opinion changes after I open a bit of it, though.

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Product Information:

• 220 card base set featuring 110 veterans and 100 rookies (1-220)
• 1957 Topps Style (30 cards, 1:12 packs)
• 1965 Topps Style (35 cards, 1:12 packs)
• 1984 Topps Style (35 cards, 1:6 packs)
• Red Zone Rookie Die Cuts (35 cards, 1:24 packs)
• Quarterback Rookie Reprints (21 cards, 1:24 packs)

Parallels/Autograph/Game Used:

• Refractor
• X-Fractor
• Orange Refractor  (retail only)
• Camo Refractor  (#’d to 499)
• Pink BCA Refractor (#’d to 399)
• Prism Refractor (#’d to 216, 1:24 packs)
• Black Refractor (#’d to 299)
• Blue Refractor (#’d to 199)
• Sepia Refractor (#’d to 99)
• Gold Refractor (#’d to 50)
• Red Refractor (#’d to 25)
• Superfractor (1/1, hobby only)
• Printing Plates (1/1, 4 each, hobby only)
• Rookie Variations (25 cards)
• Rookie Autographs (45 cards, 1:24 packs)
• Rookie Autograph Refractors (#’d to 150)
• Rookie Autograph Camo Refractors (#’d to 99)
• Rookie Autograph Pink BCA Refractors (#’d to 75)
• Rookie Autograph Black Refractor (#’d to 25)
• Rookie Autograph Gold Refractor (#’d to 10)
• Rookie Autograph Red Refractor (#’d to 5, hobby only)
• Rookie Autographed Superfractor (1/1, hobby only)
• Rookie Autograph Variations (25 cards)
• Rookie Autographed Patches (36 cards, #’d to 50, hobby only)
• Dual Rookie Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 30)
• Triple Rookie Autographs (1 card, #’d to 15)
• 1957 Refractors (#’d to 99)
• 1957 Refractor Autographs
• 1957 Refractor Autographed Patches (#’d to 10)
• 1965 Refractors (#’d to 99)
• 1965 Red Refractors (#’d to 75)
• 1965 Prism Refractors (#’d to 50)
• 1965 Refractor Autographs (#’d to 15)
• 1984 Refractors (#’d to 99)
• 1984 Gold Refractors (#’d to 75)
• 1984 Prism Refractors (#’d to 50)
• 1984 Refractor Autographs (#’d to 15)
• Quarterback Rookie Reprint Refractors (#’d to 99)
• Quarterback Rookie Reprint Autographs (hobby only)
• Red Zone Rookie Die Cuts Blue Refractor (#’d to 50)
• Red Zone Rookie Die Cuts Gold Refractor (#’d to 25)
• Red Zone Rookie Die Cuts Superfractor (1/1, hobby only)
• Red Zone Rookie Die Cuts Autograph (1/1, hobby only)
• Rookie Relics (40 cards)

Box Contents:

• 96 total cards
• 75/220 base cards, 0 doubles
• 2 1957 Topps (David Wilson and Ryan Tannehill)
• 1 1957 Topps Refractor (Rueben Randle 22/99)
• 2 1965 Topps (Dwayne Allen and Doug Martin)
• 4 1984 Topps (Robert Turbin, Ryan Tannehill, Mohamed Sanu and Nick Toon)
• 1 Quarterback Rookie Reprint (Sonny Jurgensen)
• 1 Red Zone Rookie Due Cut (Jarius Wright)
• 6 Refractors (Brandon Thompson RC, Von Miller, Gerrell Robinson RC, Casey Heyward RC, Chandler Jones RC and Matt Forte)
• 1 Pulsar Refractor (Antonio Brown 124/216)
• 1 Camo Refractor (Christian Ponder 165/499)
• 1 Pink BCA Refractor (Jermichael Finley 209/399)
• 1 Rookie Autograph (Ryan Broyles)

Year after year, Topps Chrome is a set that rookie collectors (and those who love parallels) fiend after with a passion.  Thanks to another year of well above-average rookie classes, this product has exploded, with box prices nearly doubling since its release two months ago and retail product vanishing off store shelves only to re-appear in the secondary market at a 50% mark-up in some cases.  The additions of yet more parallels (notably Pink BCA and Camo Military refractors) have done nothing in the public’s eye to ruin the product as people continue to chase high-dollar rookie autographs and parallels.

What I Liked:  The cards look good.  I’m not ashamed to say I like shiny cards, and Topps Chrome is very good about being very good looking while being shiny.  The additional parallels haven’t really hurt because you never really expect to get anything close to a set from a box of the product, and they made the parallels often enough that you don’t feel disappointed at a lack of color.  The use of on-card autos as well as retail-specific parallel colors and ‘event-worn’ relics don’t hurt the overall value of the product either.  I liked that Topps came out with the redemption packs for those who got stuck with a redemption.  This also had the effect of raising redemption prices on the secondary market to about $20 a card, which is almost unheard-of for random rookie autographs.

What I Didn’t:  I still don’t like that this product is only one autograph per box.  Granted, it doesn’t hurt the product, it’s just a personal choice of mine.  Also, I’ve failed to get either RGIII or Andrew Luck rookies out of this product, which annoys me (but isn’t at all Topps’ fault, of course).  Beyond that, I could have done without yet-another rehash of the 1957 Topps design.  Granted, the only do it about once a decade or so, but it seemed a bit overdone with the inclusion of 1967 and 1984 Topps designs as inserts.

Overall Thoughts:  This product is insanely-strong this year, as it was last year with Cam Newton.  The fact that boxes have gone up nearly 50% per box in the past couple of months is a very strong sign that Topps is doing a great job with this product, no matter what changes I’d personally love to see.  You can’t really argue with this level of success.

Collation:  3/5
Pizazz:  4/5
Design:  4/5
Total Score:  4/5 (rounded up)

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Top Player:   Joe Flacco (29 points, tie, Evan wins tiebreaker)
Top Score of the Year:   148 points (Evan, Week 6)

JustinF:  86 + 82 + 129  + 62 + 107 + 122 = 588
KMH:  117 + 116 + 126 + 122 + 95 + 61 = 637 (overall winner!)
Brad: 93 + 109 + 113 + 92 + 80 + 87 = 574
Evan L: 86 + 91 + 106 + 60 + 125 + 148 =  616 (Week 6 winner)
Brian: 114 + 89 + 117 + 99 + 80 + 96 = 595
ChrisF: 0 + 110 + 101 + 52 + 89 + 96 = 448
Matt: 0 + 109 + 87 + 78 + 114 + 118 = 506

Final Standings
JustinF: 7 entries,  a Panini America T-Shirt, a Panini 2012 NFL Hall of Fame pack, a Panini Peyton Manning Career Highlights set, and a Panini Super Bowl XLVI card set.
KMH: 7 entries, a Panini America Player of the Day T-Shirt, a Panini America Knight’s Lance t-shirt and a NFL Felt Pennant, a 2012 Panini NFL POD set,  a Panini Peyton Manning Career Highlights set and a Panini Super Bowl XLVI card set.
Brad: 3 entries, a 2012 Panini NFL POD set, a Panini Super Bowl XLVI card set and a pack of 2012 National Convention Kings.
Evan L: 7 entries, a Panini America T-Shirt, and a pack of 2012 National Convention Kings, a 2012 National Convention pack from Upper Deck (from me) and a Panini 2012 NFL Hall of Fame pack.
Brian: 3 entries, a Panini Peyton Manning Career Highlights set and a Panini Super Bowl XLVI card set.
Chris F: 3 entries, a 2012 National Convention pack from Leaf (from me) and a pack of 2012 National Convention Kings.
Matt: 1 entry, a pack of 2012 National Convention Kings and a Panini 2012 NFL Hall of Fame pack.

Also, I think I found an extra shirt or two (some unclaimed from last year) that I’m going to throw out to folks also, so you probably will all get a shirt.  Also, I have packs of 2012 NFL Player of the Day that I’m going to be shipping out to you guys as well

Winners!!!

• Fourth Place (2012 Panini NFL Sticker Album + Packs): KMH
• Third Place (Ben Roethlisberger Attack Plan Football):  Evan L.
• Second Place (Panini Private Signings Andy Dalton Autographed photo): Justin F.
• First Place (2012 Panini Momentum Sealed Box):  Brad

Brad:  You get a choice here.  If you want to bust the box yourself, I’ll ship it out.  If you want me to video it and put it on Youtube and then send you everything, I can do that also.  The choice is yours.

Without Richard McWilliam, the card industry would be very different.  Under his control, Upper Deck created:

• the first premium-stock card set in 1989
• the first autographed card insert in 1990
• had some of the most influential rookie cards of the past 20 years with the 1989 Ken Griffey Jr., the only ‘true’ RC of Pedro Martinez and one of the most iconic Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez RCs around (1993 and 1994 SP)
• one of the first buybacks (1997 SP)
• the first ever game-used jersey card (1997 UD Basketball)
• the first ever ‘card on a CD’ (1999 PowerDeck)
• game-used and autograph cards still chased to this day (2000 3000 Hit Club)
• one of the most-expensive MSRPs in history (2000 Upper Deck Yankees Master Collection — MSRP $3000)
• the largest-ever set of cards (Yankee Stadium Legacy)
• one of the first and most-coveted high-end products (Exquisite)
• Shadowbox cards (2009 SPx)
• one of the first video cards (2011 Upper Deck Football)

Today, I’d like to simply give thanks to Upper Deck and remember Richard McWilliam for what he brought to the industry.   Without him and Upper Deck, the card industry would be a much darker place and my wishes are with those at Upper Deck and the McWilliam family.

Product Information:

• 220 card base set featuring 170 veterans and 50 rookies (1-220)
• 110 card Prospects set (BCP111-220)
• Franchise All-Stars (40 cards, 1:18 packs)
• Futures Game Checklist (43 cards, 1:18 packs)
• Legends in the Making (25 cards, 1:24 packs)

Parallels/Autograph/Game Used:

• Refractor parallel (1:4 packs)
• X-Fractor parallel (retail only)
• Green parallel (retail rack packs only, 3:pack)
• Blue Refractor parallel (#’d to 250)
• Purple Refractor parallel (#’d to 199)
• Gold Refractor parallel (#’d to 50)
• Orange Refractor parallel (#’d to 25)
• Red Refractor parallel (#’d to 5)
• Superfractor parallel (1/1, hobby only)
• Printing Plates (1/1, 4 each, hobby only)
• Blue Wave Refractor (prospects only, wrapper redempton)
• Prospect Variations (20 cards)
• Prospect Autographs (41 cards, 1:18 packs)
• Prospect Autographed Refractors (#’d to 500)
• Prospect Autographed Blue Refractors (#’d to 150)
• Prospect Autographed Blue Wave Refractor (redemption only)
• Prospect Autographed Gold Refractor (#’d to 50)
• Prospect Autographed Orange Refractor (#’d to 25)
• Prospect Autographed Purple Refractor (#’d to 10, hobby only)
• Prospect Autographed Red Refractor (#’d to 5, hobby only)
• Prospect Autographed Superfractor (1/1, hobby only)
• Prospect Autographed Printing Plates (1/1, 4 of each, hobby only)
• Bowman Black Autographs (25 cards, #’d to 25, hobby only)
• Franchise All-Stars Dual Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 25 or less, hobby only)
• Futures Game Patches (42 cards, #’d to 10)
• Futures Game Autographed Patches (10 cards, #’d to 5, hobby only)
• Legends in the Making Autographs (15 cards, #’d to 15 or less)
• Rookie Autographs (4 cards)
• Hat Redemptions (39 cards)

Box Contents:

• 70 total cards
• 34/220 base cards, 0 doubles
• 22/110 prospects, 0 doubles
• 2 Futures Game (Kolton Wong, Jonathan Singleton
• 5 Refractors (Irving Falu, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Danks, Camden Maron and Matt Dominguez)
• 1 Blue Refractor (Drew Leachman)
• 1 Futures Game Autographed Patches (Manny Machado 2/5)
• 1 Franchise All-Stars (Andrew McCutchen/Gerrit Cole)
• 1 Prospect Autograph (Nomar Mazara)
• 1 Legends in the Making (Bryce Harper)

My feelings on Bowman Chrome have long been publicized so I’m not really going to go over them right now other than to say that I still think that the entire Bowman concept needs to be redone fresh.  That being said…

What I Liked:  I like the inserts in this year’s set, and I like how refractors are one for every four packs as opposed to one per box like they were in base Bowman.  This is something Topps needed to fix, and they did it.  I also like the fact that I got a monster hit, but hey, who doesn’t?

What I Didn’t:  With Bowman being huge on the prospecting end of things, I still think only one autograph per box and very limited color is … really not a good return on the amount of money a box runs.  You’re paying nearly $1 a card for hobby (and just over that for retail) and the vast majority of the cards end up next to worthless.  Sure, this is the same with every product, but the problem is only highlighted in a prospect-heavy set such as Bowman Chrome.

Overall Thoughts:  Part of the issue with Bowman, as I’ve said, is that it’s three sets where two would do just fine.  The vast majority of prospects in these sets are in single or double A ball and are years from seeing time in the bigs.  For every Stephen Strasburg or Bryce Harper there’s a Bo Bowman (22nd round pick, appeared in 2010 Bowman…hasn’t played MiLB since 2009).  Bowman is years from being ‘Home of the Rookie card’.  It’s not even ‘Home of the Prospect Card’ anymore, because people really only want their chrome parallels.  As with many of Topps’ sets, it appear that this set is here …. because it should be here.  There’s no real ‘draw’ and the wrapper redemption was actually gone within a week of the product being live.  While this box was not in any way an average box, I cannot see this product being worth the hype unless you’re a serious prospector.  Personally, I’d rather play routlette — the odds are beter.

Collation:  2/5
Pizazz:  3/5
Design:  3/5
Total Score:  3/5 (rounded up)

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Product Information:

• 330 Card Base Set (US1-330)
• Blockbusters (30 cards)
• Golden Greats (25 cards)
• 1987 Topps Minis (50 Cards)
• Golden Moments (50 Cards)
• Presidental Code Cards (50 cards)
• Golden Giveaway Code Cards
• Mickey Mantle Sweepstakes

Parallels/Autograph/Game Used:

• Gold Parallel (#’d to 2012, all cards from Series 1, 2 and Update)
• Black Parallel (#’d to 61)
• Platinum Parallel (1/1)
• Golden Moments Parallel
• Blue Border Wal-Mart Parallel
• Red Border Target Parallel
• Wood Parallel (1/1)
• Base Card Printing Plates (1/1)
• Gold Silk Collection (100 cards, #’d to 50, hobby only)
• Photo Variations (24 cards)
• Base Variations (7 cards)
• Blockbusters Commerative Hat Logos (30 cards, retail only)
• Blockbusters Relics (10 cards, #’d to 50)
• Blockbusters Autographs (#’d to 25)
• Blockbusters Auto Relics (5 cards, #’d to 5, hobby only)
• Golden Greats Autos (13 cards)
• Golden Greats Auto Relics (10 cards, #’d to 5)
• Golden Moments Autographs (30 cards)
• Golden Debut Autographs (21 cards)
• Gold HOF Plaques (24 cards)
• Gold Ring Award Winners (25 cards)
• Gold Coin Futures (5 cards, #’d to 34 or less)
• Solid Gold Futures (4 cards, 1/1)
• Gold Engravings (3 cards)
• All-Star Stitches (55 cards)
• All-Star Stitches Gold (#’d to 50)
• All-Star Stitches Platinum (1/1)
• All-Star Jumbo Patches (45 cards, #’d to 6)
• All-Star Stitches Autographs (15 cards, #’d to 25)
• All-Star Jumbo Patch Autographs (10 cards, #’d to 6)
• Dual All-Star Stitches (10 cards, #’d to 25)
• Triple All-Star Stitches (10 cards, #’d to 25)
• General Manager Autographs (14 cards)

Box Contents:

• 314 total cards
• 250/330 base cards, 0 doubles
• 1 Base Variation (C.C. Sabathia)
• 9 1987 Minis (Mike Moustakas, Jim Rice, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Ryan, Mat Latos, Bryce Harper, Mark Trumbo, Andy Pettitte and Mike Trout)
• 1 All-Star Stitches (Carlos Beltran)
• 21 Gold Parallels (Daniel Bard, Chris Getz, Joey Votto, Michael McKenry, Jason Isringhausen, Colby Lewis, Francisco Liriano, Ted Lilly, Will Venable, James Loney, Matt Garza, Melky Cabrera, Doug Fister, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, Brandon League, Prince Fielder, Travis Snider, Miguel Cairo, Erick Aybar and Adam Lind)
• 9 Gold Sparkle (Andrew Cashner, Jose Arredondo, Lance Lynn, Jeremy Guthrie, Joaquin Benoit, Luis Ayala, Jake Westbrook and Alfredo Aceves)
• 9 Blockbusters (Hanley Ramirez, Jose Bautista, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Bruce Sutter, C.C. Sabathia, Yu Darvish, Gary Carter and Rickey Henderson)
• 5 Golden Greats (Gary Carter, Mike Schmidt, Harmon Killebrew, Ozzie Smith and Wade Boggs)
• 9 Golden Moments (Matt Kemp, Andrew McCutchen, Matt Cain, Andre Ethier, Josh Hamilton, Albert Belle, Ryan Braun, Roy Halladay and Ian Kennedy)

While this is the part of the year that I grow very weary of the base set design, I have to give Topps credit for listening to complaints from collectors and fixing one of the major issues that people experienced with Series 1 and 2 — no gold parallels.  Also, Topps cut back on the insert sets while adding in one that made perfect sense.  Still, there are major challenges facing Topps with Topps Update as a whole.

What I Liked:  I love that the gold parallels are back and numbered to 2012.  This never should have gone away.  I also like that they’ve cut back on the inserts leaving only Golden Greats, Golden Moments, the 1987 minis and the new Blockbusters inserts.  These work very well in the scope of this set and it’s solid.

What I Didn’t:  I still don’t like how Golden Moments and Golden Greats look.  I especially don’t like the use of doubled-up ‘rookie’ cards (some even with the RC logo!).  It feels like a set filler, and when you have guys who started Opening Day for a team not showing up in a set until Update?  Yeah, that isn’t cool either.  I really think that Topps needs to redo their base set, but I also don’t know if the MLB license would allow for it.

Overall Thoughts:  I would say that Topps Update is probably better than either Series 1 or Series 2.  I’m not really excited for 2013 Topps (how many different parallels are there again?  13?) and I really hope that Topps changes something in the base set, because this is really getting old fast.

Collation:  4/5
Pizazz:  2/5
Design:  3/5
Total Score:  3/5

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Product Information:

• 150 base cards (1-150)
• Primed Rookies (50 cards)
• Primetimers (100 cards)

Parallels/Autograph/Game Used:

• Copper veteran parallel (1:pack)
• Copper rookie parallel (#’d to 350)
• Gold rookie parallel (#’d to 250)
• Silver Rainbow rookie parallel (#’d to 99)
• Copper Rainbow rookie parallel (#’d to 50)
• Gold Rainbow rookie parallel (1/1)
• Autographed Rookies (50 cards, 1:10 packs)
• Copper Autographed Rookies (#’d to 99)
• Gold Autographed Rookies (#’d to 75)
• Silver Rainbow Autographed Rookies (#’d to 50)
• Copper Rainbow Autographed Rookies (#’d to 25)
• Gold Rainbow Autographed Rookies (1/1, hobby only)
• Dual Combo Relics (20 cards)
• Dual Combo Relics Copper (#’d to 25)
• Dual Combo Relics Silver Rainbow (#’d to 10)
• Dual Combo Relics Gold Rainbow (1/1, hobby only)
• Triple Combo Relics (12 cards)
• Triple Combo Relics Copper (#’d to 25)
• Triple Combo Relics Silver Rainbow (#’d to 10)
• Triple Combo Relics Gold Rainbow (1/1, hobby only)
• Quad Combo Relics (9 cards)
• Quad Combo Relics Copper (#’d to 25)
• Quad Combo Relics Silver Rainbow (#’d to 10)
• Quad Combo Relics Gold Rainbow (1/1, hobby only)
• Quarterback Continuity Autographed Cards (2 cards)
• Prime I Autographed Relics (24 cards, #’d to 10)
• Prime II Autographed Relics (24 cards, #’d to 15)
• Prime III Autographed Relics (30 cards, #’d to 5)
• Prime IV Autographed Relics (37 cards, #’d to 15)
• Prime V Autographed Relics (48 cards)
• Prime V Autographed Relics Copper (#’d to 50)
• Prime V Autographed Relics Gold (#’d to 25)
• Prime V Autographed Relics Silver Rainbow (#’d to 15)
• Prime V Autographed Relics Copper Rainbow (#’d to 10)
• Prime V Autographed Relics Gold Rainbow (1/1)
• Prime Relics (34 cards)
• Prime Relics Copper (#’d to 25)
• Prime Relics Silver Rainbow (#’d to 10)
• Prime Relics Gold Rainbow (1/1, hobby only)
• Dual Relics (34 cards)
• Dual Relics Copper (#’d to 25)
• Dual Relics Silver Rainbow (#’d to 10)
• Dual Relics Gold Rainbow (1/1, hobby only)
• Triple Relics (34 cards)
• Triple Relics Copper (#’d to 25)
• Triple Relics Silver Rainbow (#’d to 10)
• Triple Relics Gold Rainbow (1/1, hobby only)
• Quad Relics (34 cards)
• Quad Relics Copper (#’d to 25)
• Quad Relics Silver Rainbow (#’d to 10)
• Quad Relics Gold Rainbow (1/1, hobby only)

Box Contents

• 60 total cards
• 42/150 base cards, 0 doubles
• 10 Copper Parallels
• 1 Copper Rookie Parallel (Mohamed Sanu 273/350)
• 1 Gold Rookie parallel (Jarius Wright 170/250)
• 2 Primetimers (Toby Gerhart and Mario Williams)
• 1 Primed Rookies (Joe Adams)
• 1 Prime V Autographed Relics Copper (Brock Osweiler 36/50)
• 1 Quad Relic (Doug Martin 93/146)
• 1 Autographed Rookie (Joe Adams)

What I Liked:   As with last year, Topps Prime makes very good use of the photography to give us an excellent base card, with the focus squarely on the player instead of foil or anything else.  Even the majority of the rookie cards don’t show combine photos.  On a per-pack basis, I like the fact that (similar to Panini Certified) you’ve got a 40% chance of getting lucky with any particular pack.

What I Didn’t:   Why are there insert cards for literally every player in the set?  Did we need 150 insert cards in a 150 card set?  I say no.  Also, the parallels are confusing (still).  Why would copper be more valuable than silver?  It just doesn’t make any sense to me.  Beyond that with my box I ran into both a redemption and a missing hit.  I’m not really upset over either of those, because Topps does make good on this sort of thing.  It’s still disappointing, however.

Overall Thoughts:  Topps Prime is in its second year and it’s doing just fine.  It’s not a stellar set, but it’s definitely better than a number of other ones.  It’s definitely something I’d consider (so far) to be in the top selection of sets I’d be willing to spend money on.  I do think that more veteran content in this would be nice, however.

Collation: 3/5
Pizazz:  3/5 
Design:  4/5 
Total Score:  3/5 (Rounded Down)

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Product Information:

• 100 base cards

Parallels/Autograph/Game Used:

• Sepia Parallel (#’d to 625)
• Emerald Parallel (#’d to 250)
• Gold Parallel (#’d to 99)
• Onyx Parallel (#’d to 50)
• Sapphire Parallel (#’d to 25)
• Ruby Parallel (1/1)
• Printing Plates (1/1)
• Rookie Stars & Future Phenoms Autograph Triple Relics (65 cards, #’d to 99)
• Rookie Stars & Future Phenoms Autograph Triple Relics Sepia (#’d to 75)
• Rookie Stars & Future Phenoms Autograph Triple Relics Emerald (#’d to 50)
• Rookie Stars & Future Phenoms Autograph Triple Relics Gold (#’d to 25)
• Rookie Stars & Future Phenoms Autograph Triple Relics Sapphire (#’d to 10)
• Rookie Stars & Future Phenoms Autograph Triple Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Rookie Stars & Future Phenoms Autograph Triple Relics Wood (1/1)
• Rookie Stars & Future Phenoms Autograph Triple Relics White Whale Printing Plates (1/1)
• Autographed Triple Relics (104 total players, over 274 cards, #’d to 18)
• Autographed Triple Relics Gold (#’d to 9)
• Autographed Triple Relics Sapphire (#’d to 3)
• Autographed Triple Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Autographed Triple Relics Wood (1/1)
• Autographed Triple Relics White Whale Printing Plates (1/1)
• Autographed Relic Combos (17 cards, #’d to 36)
• Autographed Relic Combos Sepia (#’d to 27)
• Autographed Relic Combos Emerald (#’d to 18)
• Autographed Relic Combos Gold (#’d to 9)
• Autographed Relic Combos Sapphire (#’d to 3)
• Autographed Relic Combos Ruby (1/1)
• Autographed Relic Combos Wood (1/1)
• Autographed Relic Combos Printing Plates (1/1)
• Autographed Relic Double Combos (6 cards, #’d to 3)
• Autographed Relic Double Combos Ruby (1/1)
• Jumbo Plus Autographed Relics (16 cards, #’d to 3)
• Jumbo Plus Autographed Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Letter Plus Autographed Relics (16 cards, #’d to 3)
• Jumbo Plus Autographed Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Cut Above Cut Signatures (10 cards, 1/1)
• Dual Cut Above Cut Signatures (6 cards ,1/1)
• Triple Relics (50 players, #’d to 36)
• Triple Relics Sepia (#’d to 27)
• Triple Relics Emerald (#’d to 18)
• Triple Relics Gold (#’d to 9)
• Triple Relics Sapphire (#’d to 3)
• Triple Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Triple Relics Wood (1/1)
• Triple Relic Legends (20 cards, #’d to 36)
• Triple Relic Legends Sepia (#’d to 27)
• Triple Relic Legends Emerald (#’d to 18)
• Triple Relic Legends Gold (#’d to 9)
• Triple Relic Legends Sapphire (#’d to 3)
• Triple Relic Legends Ruby (1/1)
• Triple Relic Legends Wood (1/1)
• Flashback Triple Relics (25 cards, #’d to 36)
• Flashback Triple Relics Sepia (#’d to 27)
• Flashback Triple Relics Emerald (#’d to 18)
• Flashback Triple Relics Gold (#’d to 9)
• Flashback Triple Relics Sapphire (#’d to 3)
• Flashback Triple Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Triple Relics Combo (63 cards, #’d to 36)
• Triple Relics Combo Sepia (#’d to 27)
• Triple Relics Combo Emerald (#’d to 18)
• Triple Relics Combo Gold (#’d to 9)
• Triple Relics Combo Sapphire (#’d to 3)
• Triple Relics Combo Ruby (1/1)
• Triple Relics Double Combo (6 cards, #’d to 18)
• Triple Relics Double Combo Gold (#’d to 9)
• Triple Relics Double Combo Sapphire (#’d to 3)
• Triple Relics Double Combo Ruby (1/1)
• All-Star Patches (75 cards, #’d to 9)
• All-Star Patches Platinum (1/1)
• All-Star Jumbo Sleeve Patches (75 cards, 1/1)
• All-Star Jumbo Sleeve Team Patches (75 cards, 1/1)
• All-Star Silhouetted MLB Batter Logo Patch (75 cards, 1/1)
• All-Star Laundry Tags (75 cards, 1/1)
• Bat Name Plates (15 cards, 1/1)
• Letter Plus Relics (16 cards, #’d to 3)
• Letter Plus Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Jumbo Plus Relics (16 cards, #’d to 3)
• Jumbo Plus Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Bat Knobs (10 cards, 1/1)
• Jumbo Patch Combos (10 cards, 1/1)
• Jumbo Letter Number Logos (10 cards, 1/1)
• Singular Swatches (10 cards, 1/1)
• Unity Relics (332 cards, #’d to 36)
• Unity Relics Sepia (#’d to 27)
• Unity Relics Emerald (#’d to 18)
• Unity Relics Gold (#’d to 9)
• Unity Relics Sapphire (#’d to 3)
• Unity Relics Ruby (1/1)
• Unity Autograph Relics (119 cards, #’d to 99)
• Unity Autograph Relics Sepia (#’d to 75)
• Unity Autograph Relics Emerald (#’d to 50)
• Unity Autograph Relics Gold (#’d to 25)
• Unity Autograph Relics Sapphire (#’d to 10)
• Unity Autograph Relics Ruby (1/1)

Box Contents

• 14 total cards
• 6/100 base cards, 0 doubles (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ryan Zimmerman, Johnny Bench, David Ortiz, Duke Snider)
• 2 Sepia Parallels (Willie McCovey 437/625 and Brandon Phillips 48/625)
• 1 Emerald Parallel (Wade Boggs 212/250)
• 1 Gold Parallel (Sandy Koufax 74/99)
• 1 Unity Relic Emerald (Ryan Bruan 9/18)
• 1 Unity Autograph Relic (Ervin Santana 1/99)
• 1 Triple Relic Emerald (Prince Fielder 14/18 ‘Prince Albert)
• 1 Autograph Triple Relic (Jered Weaver 3/18 ‘B2B All Star’)

What I Liked:   The best thing about Triple Threads is the base cards and the parallels.  They always look very good.  I also like that this is completely out of my price range, so I never have to worry about buying this stuff in stores.  The fact that Topps does actually know their audience with this product.

What I Didn’t:   18 Gazillion 1/1s.  Phrases on cards that you have to know the player intimately to know what they mean and sometimes not even then.  A bunch of cards which wouldn’t be worth more than $1-3 if they were in any other set … .and then you have the Unity Relics.  The fact that people buy this in droves year after year after year.  The use of ‘player-worn’ items in 1/1s.  That is, after all, what All-Star Warm Up Jerseys are.

Overall Thoughts:  I make no secret about the fact that I don’t like Triple Threads at all.  However, collectors do and case breakers buy this stuff by the ton and sell it on eBay, usually with good response simply because people are now trained to hunt for the low-numbered cards and 1/1s…and almost everything in this product is #’d to 36 or less.  Topps knows their audience, though, and that’s who this is marketed towards.  That said, paying $200 a box for four hits where the odds of seeing anything multi-colored is near zero….yeah, I can’t recommend this to anyone.  Triple Threads is very much hit or miss with much more ‘miss’ than hit, it seems.

Pizazz:  2/5 
Design:  2/5 
Total Score:  2/5

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Anyway, here we go!

Top Player:   Adrian Peterson (Tie, don’t you wish you had Doug Martin?), Tiebreaker goes to EvanL (Da Bears!)
Top Score of the Year:   129 points (JustinF, Week 3)

JustinF:  86 + 82 + 129  + 62 + 107 = 466
KMH:  117 + 116 + 126 + 122 + 95 = 576
Brad: 93 + 109 + 113 + 92 + 80 = 487
Evan L: 86 + 91 + 106 + 60 + 125 =  468 (Week 5 Winner!)
Brian: 114 + 89 + 117 + 99 + 80 =  499
ChrisF: 0 + 110 + 101 + 52 + 89 = 352
Matt: 0 + 109 + 87 + 78 + 114 = 388

Current Standings
JustinF: 7 entries and a Panini America T-Shirt
KMH: 7 entries, a Panini America Player of the Day T-Shirt, a Panini America Knight’s Lance t-shirt and a NFL Felt Pennant
Brad: 3 entries and a pack of cards
Evan L: 5 entries, a Panini America T-Shirt and a pack of cards
Brian: 3 entries and a pack of cards
Chris F: 3 entries and a pack of cards
Matt: 1 entries