Archives Base Set

Last Archives post until I end up trading for a bunch of cool autographs of guys who played 20 years ago.  Until then I will do a little bit on the base set.  Like the recent additions of the Archives sets, this year's set is based on three previous set designs: 1957, 1976, and 1983.  I am a little bit partial towards the 1983 design, but that was the first year that I collected baseball cards and I love that set.  A lot.

The 1957 design is also a favorite too.  It's really simple, but sometimes simplicity is a good thing.  Topps has always done a really good job of getting the details correct on the remakes in Archives.  It's cool to see players from a different era like Ken Griffey Jr. and Cal Ripken pop up on this classic Topps design.  Topps also used this card design in the 2006 Topps Heritage set, so it was the second go around for players like Ken Griffey and Jorge Posada, but at least Topps changed up their pictures and did not rehash something from a past set.  

I am not a huge fan of the 1976 set.  It's before my time and I am not sure there is a card in that set I ever felt like I had to own.  I picked up an Eckersley somewhere along the line, but it was not a priority.  I like this Goldschmidt card because people should like Goldschmidt right now.  The most bizarre card in the set appears in the 1976 section of the set......

That Khris Davis card is clearly a picture of Carlos Gomez.  Topps had a card similar to this in the Heritage set with a picture of Shelby Miller on a card of Lance Lynn.  It could just be an editing, quality control, type of issue.  Imagine that, or maybe it's somehow intentional.  Pretty sure it could be part of the Ginter Code.  The answer this year is........

and we are finally to my favorite part of the set.  As mentioned before I love this set and was really happy with how these look.  Except that looks like a familiar Mike Schmidt picture..... Colors and borders from the cards match the cards from the 1983 set, but the Rays cards with the yellow writing is a little bit hard to look at.  I understand that Topps is taking a little bit of creative liberty with the design on the teams that did not exist at the time the set was made, but yellow print is really a good thing.  

2015 Topps Jumbo Box

This feels like the official start of the 2015 card year.  I picked up a jumbo box of the new Topps base set after school one day this week at my favorite local card shop Big D's Sports Cards.  I had a great time opening the box and talking cards and baseball with the owner of the store Jimmy.  So here's a look at my box and my take, with a little bit more detail than the other day, on the 2015 Topps base set.

After spending two days looking at these cards I have decided that I am going to like the design of the 2015 Topps base set.  It is a little bit busy at the bottom of the card between the bottom and the patterns, but at least Topps has gotten away from the white bordered cards that they have put out the last six or seven years straight.  It had gotten a little bit monotonous and I am happy to see Topps roll the dice a little bit and try something different.  I think the design could have been improved a little bit if they had toned down the colors a little bit.  The parallels are monochromatic and look even better than the base cards.

I especially love the gold parallel cards.  These are really sharp, but then again any of the colored parallel cards look nice with the simplified color scheme.  This Hamilton looks cool.  Is that iced camouflage?  I'm not sure, but it's serial numbered to 99 and looks really nice.

Another oddity of the 2015 Topps cards is the combination of the Future Stars tag at the top of the card along with the Rookie Card.  Have these two Topps hallmark logos ever appeared on the same cards before this year?  I could not think of one, but then again I did not go research it either.  Why does Even Gattis have a Futures Stars logo anyway?  He has been in the league for a few years now.  On to some hit cards.....

My relic cards.  What do you want out of a relic card out of a Topps base set?  Carlos Gomez is fine for a hit out of this box.  I could have done better, but the relics out of the base set all end up selling for less than $5 at some point anyway right?  Gomez is a good player and I am not sure that I have a relic card of him.  Welcome to the relics box Carlos.  

Definitely not a keeper here, but still a really cool pull out of a box of base box of Topps.  I am not going to sell or trade this Baez card simply because he is a Cub, but because I am not sold on him being an impact player.  Something about him reminds me a little bit of Dan Uggla.  Plays second base, hits .190, strikes out two or three times a game....Moving on.....

This was my manu card out of my jumbo box.   These seem like they are pretty nice, but I am starting to wonder if the manu card is getting a little bit stale.  I saw a couple of manu cards on Ebay and on trade sites that had the Future Star logo on them that looked really nice.  Topps did a logo man manu card a few years ago.  These kind of seem like a rehash.  

My favorite insert set out of the set was the Gallery of Greats.  These are a knock off from the late 90s/early 2000s Topps Gallery product.  These looked nice back then and they still look good today.  I pulled this nice Kershaw and also landed a Hanley Ramirez.  I am going to have to pick up the rest of these at some point this spring.  By far the nicest looking insert.

I also liked these defense insert cards.  How many Colby Rasmus insert cards have been made?  I am not sure there have been many, but I really like defensive sets.  There are always some sort of insert like this in Gypsy Queen and am happy to see it in the base Topps set.   One more like.....

I liked both of these cards and I am pretty sure that I have copies of both of hanging out in a box somewhere.  Old cards are always cool, and while I like for Topps to go out on a limb sometimes, they are a tradition rich company.  It's nice to see some of these classic cards, and cool names, reappear in modern products.  

Last insert set for the moment.  There was a ton of hype around these First Pitch cards.  I honestly do not get it.  What am I missing here?  Sure there is 50 Cent, but I am not sure I really care about half the people in this set.  There is this soccer guy?  There is Macklamore, some gymnast, and maybe Eddie Vedder?  I am just not excited about these.  Sorry.