Field Level Box Break / Review: 2012 Topps Series One Baseball

Release Date: February 1, 2012.
Price Point: Approximately $3-4 per pack or $10-12 per hobby pack, $57 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.

Product Information:

• 330 card base set (1-330)
• 1987 Topps Minis (50 cards, 1:4 packs)
• Golden Greats (75 cards, 1:4 packs)
• Epic Walk-Offs (15 cards, 1:8 packs)
• Gold Standard (25 cards, 1:6 packs)
• Gold Futures (25 cards, 1:6 packs)
• Generations (25 cards, 1:6 packs)
• Topps Golden Giveaway Code Cards (1:6 packs)
• Golden Moments Die-Cut Chrome Cards (100 cards)

Autographs, Relics and Parallels:

• Gold Silk Collection (100 cards, #’d to 50, Hobby/HTA only)
• Gold Sparkle parallel (1:4 packs, 1:1 HTA)
• Black parallel (#’d to 61, Hobby/HTA only)
• Platinum parallel (1/1)
• Wood parallel (1/1)
• Printing Plates (1/1 each, Hobby/HTA only)
• Golden Moments (1:4 packs, 1:1 HTA)
• Golden Greats Coin Cards (15 cards, #’d to jersey number)
• Retired Rings (25 cards)
• Gold World Series Champions Pin Cards (20 cards)
• Solid Golden Greats (15 cards, 1/1)
• Golden Moments 24K Gold Leaf Card (20 cards, #’d to 5)
• Golden Moments Die-Cut Chrome Gold Cards (#’d to 99)
• Golden Moments Die-Cut Chrome Truly Golden Cards (1/1)
• Truly Golden Moments base parallel (1/1)
• Autographed Gold Coin card (10 cards, #’d to 5)
• Golden Moments Cut Signatures (20 cards, 1/1)
• Golden Moments Autographs (40 cards)
• Golden Greats Autographs (25 cards, #’d to 10)
• Epic Walk-Off Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 15)
• Gold Standard Autographs (10 cards, #’d to 15)
• Gold Futures Autographs (15 cards, #’d to 15)
• Generations Dual Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 10)
• World Champion Autographs (5 cards, #’d to 50)
• Golden Moments Relics (60 cards)
• Golden Greats Relics (75 cards, #’d to 10)
• Epic Walk-Offs Relics (10 cards, #’d to 50)
• Gold Standard Relics (10 cards, #’d to 50)
• Gold Futures Relics (15 cards, #’d to 50)
• Generations Dual Relics (15 cards, #’d to 50)
• World Champion Relics (15 cards, #’d to 100)
• In The Name Relics (517 cards, 1/1, Hobby/HTA only)
• 1967 Mickey Mantle Reprint Relic (#’d to 67)
• Golden Moments Autograph Relics (15 cards, #’d to 10)
• Golden Greats Autograph Relics (25 cards, #’d to 5)
• Epic Walk-Offs Autograph Relics (5 cards, #’d to 10)
• Gold Standard Autograph Relics (10 cards, #’d to 10)
• Gold Futures Autograph Relics (15 cards, #’d to 10)
• Generations Dual Autograph Relics (5 cards, #’d to 5)
• World Champion Autograph Relics (5 cards, #’d to 50)
• Sketch Cards (100 cards, 1/1, Hobby/HTA only)

Box Contents

• 360 total cards
• 275/330 base cards, 25 doubles
• 6 Gold Standard (Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan, Chipper Jones, Frank Thomas, Alex Rodriguez and Bob Gibson)
• 6 Gold Futures (Brandon Belt, Mike Moustakas, Michael Pineda, Julio Teheran, Dee Gordon and Craig Kimbrel)
• 9 Golden Moments (Jose Bautista, Al Kaline, Andrew McCutchen, Andy Pettitte, Ichiro, Dustin Pedroia, Dennis Eckersley, James Shields and Asdrubal Cabrera)
• 5 Classic Walk-Offs (Carlton Fisk, Derek Jeter, Johnny Bench, Bill Mazeroski and David Ortiz)
• 9 Golden Greats (Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Joe DiMaggio, Derek Jeter, Joe DiMaggio, Derek Jeter, Ty Cobb and Lou Gehrig)
• 6 Timeless Talents (Andre Dawson/Justin Upton, Frank Thomas/Paul Konerko, Roger Maris/Curtis Granderson, Cal Ripken Jr./Derek Jeter, Albert Belle/Mike Stanton and Stan Musial/Lance Berkman)
• 9 Golden Sparkle parallels (David Freese, 2011 AL ERA Leaders, Active AL Batting Average Leaders, Matt Moore, Emilio Bonifacio, Josh Hamilton, Johnny Cueto, Adam Jones and Hanley Ramirez)
• 9 1987 Minis (Howie Kendrick, Michael Bourn, Andre Ethier, Chase Utley, Jay Bruce, Jayson Werth, Jason Heyward, Michael Young and Matt Holliday)
• 1 Golden Moments Relics (Robinson Cano)

As you can tell by watching the video, 2012 Topps Series One Baseball is very much a mixed bag.  As has become normal for the base Topps product, it’s 330 cards with a ton of inserts, parallels and the rest.  The base set is filled with some very good photography, showing that Topps has definitely stepped up their game here.  While not all of the photos are great, there are enough that are obviously not standard ‘action shots’ that it’s more the norm than the exception.  Also, the theme of the set is celebratory, and cards featuring player celebrations are everywhere in the set, both as base cards and as short-printed variations.  The collation, however, leaves a lot to be desired as nearly 10% of the base cards in the box were duplicates, which is a stark change from previous years.

The inserts in 2012 Topps have a heavy feel of cost-cutting and cutting corners as it’s very obvious from even a casual glance that these are designed mainly as auto-relics and then stripped down.  Not every insert is done like this, but Gold Standard, Gold Futures, Golden Moments, Classic Walk-offs, Golden Greats and Timeless Talents all suffer from this in some degree.  While it works for some of them (Gold Standard, Timeless Talents and to a lesser extent Gold Futures), it doesn’t for the vast majority.  The worst offenders are Golden Moments and Classic Walk-offs which look very bare in the insert form.  Also, do we really need another ‘old/new’ insert in  base Topps for the fourth year running?  Altogether, though, 18% of the box were either inserts, parallels or the lone hit.

The hits aren’t really the focus in 2012 Topps, which makes the above issue with the inserts even more puzzling.  On top of that, even when there’s a very low-numbered hit, it’s still a single-color jersey.  It only adds to the confusion on what Topps is thinking when building this set.  I still think that given how three and four hits per product are common now on items that are less than twice the price of base Topps that it’s high time Topps added a second hit to the base product.  That said, the manufactured rings in the HTA boxes are very nicely done and are selling fairly well.

There’s a definite smell to the cards when you open them.  It isn’t really bad, or strong, but it’s definitely a bit strange and makes me wonder what’s caused them.  Finally, Topps has returned with a giveaway modeled after 2011 Topps Football, where you get virtual items and die-cut cards instead of tons of junk cards.  It’s a definite improvement, but it’s paired with a giant fail in that Topps (for the sixth time in a row, mind you) has failed to have the giveaway site ready for the product’s launch.  This is really not something that can be overlooked, given that the site was up with a giant ‘coming soon’ banner, and the release of the site and the release of the product are both entirely within Topps’ control.  It seems that for every step forward Topps takes with their products, they take another step back which is extremely frustrating from the collecting viewpoint.  Overall, it leads to a slightly weaker product than 2011 was.

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

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