2008 Topps Updates and Highlights

Set Size: 330 cards

Design Notes: As a part of the flagship issue, Updates and Highlights uses the same design as 2008 Topps, distinguished by the team name at the top in alternating team-color circles.

Parallels and Similars: There are several 2008 Topps issues using the design, but the only set that looks identical is the flagship issue this follows up. Parallels are similar to the Series 1 and Series 2 releases: gold foil, gold border, black, platinum, printing plates, silk, and a Chrome refractor rookie parallel.

Distribution: Two cards were inserted into each pack of 2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers. U&H has its own boxes, with 36 packs per box and 10 cards per pack. HTA jumbos and retail packs were also released.

Thoughts: There's not much to say here that hasn't been said about the flagship 2008 Topps set. The rookie selection in this set is one of the strongest in years.

2008 Topps Triple Threads

Set Size: 145 cards

Design Notes: The player's photo appears over a monochromatic background; a plateau-shaped border at the top and bottom frame the image. His name, position, and team name are all in the bottom right corner, and a large serial number is in the bottom-right. The fronts have a matte finish. Backs carry over the colors from the front to provide biographical information, prior-year and career stats, and three highlight sentences in "Triple Take".

Parallels and Similars: Parallels have different colors for the  backgrounds and design elements: sepia, emerald, gold, sapphire, platinum, and four colors of printing plates.

Distribution: Six cards appear in every pack, with two packs per box. Three of the six cards in each pack are base cards (serial numbered to 1350); the remainder are parallels plus a triple relic card.

Thoughts: Read the Triple Take on the back of Pedro Martinez's card. It basically says he's lost his power and is now getting by on tricks alone. And that is basically what Triple Threads is - a big trick. For just over $100, you get five cards that were designed in five minutes, plus a card with three plain pieces of jersey (and possibly an autograph). Granted, that might be a super-low numbered Babe Ruth bat card. Then again, maybe you have Elijah Dukes, numbered out of 99. If there ever was a product designed for high-rolling case breakers, Triple Threads is it. And there's just too much pale red on this card.

2008 Topps Opening Day

Set Size: 220 cards

Design Notes: The base cards use the 2008 Topps flagship layout, with red borders. The team name is at the top with each letter in its own white circle. The Opening Day 2008 logo is at the bottom and on the back behind the statistics - the backs otherwise look the same as flagship Topps from 2008.

Parallels and Similars: White-bordered parallels with a date stamp in the lower-right corner and four colors of printing plates were inserted into packs.

Distribution: Six cards are in each pack, with 36 packs per box.

Thoughts: The red really stands out, which makes it easy to identify from regular 2008 Topps in a hurry. The use of team colors, different colors for different cards in the set, or multiple colors (like 1975 Topps) would add some much-needed flavor. But if they had done that, Opening Day might have ended up better than flagship Topps. But what if flagship Topps had multiple-colored or team colored borders, and Opening Day was all white-bordered? A guy can dream...

2008 Topps Moments & Milestones

Set Size: 189 cards (12,569 cards in a master set)

Design Notes: Similar to 2008 Topps Co-Signers, the cards have a lack of color in the design; the background consists of gray french curves. The set name and a serial number is on the top, with the player's name and team name at the very bottom in foil. Also at the bottom is a selected statistic for the player. The total number of that statistic is in the right-side diamond (in the Griffey card above, 147 RBI). This set is "mirrored" such that everything is identical except for the large number in the middle, which exists as sequential variations up to the total number. For example, there are 147 variations of this Griffey card, with the only difference being the number in the center of the card (59 on my copy). Backs contain a paragraph highlighting the statistic and some statistics from the year or event featured on the card.

Parallels and Similars: Each base card appears in multiple versions; a handful of cards have only one version (all the rookie cards #145-189 have only one version as well), while Alex Rodriguez #1 and Frank Thomas #3 both have over 500 versions. Most collectors only want one copy with the version not making a difference. Parallels for all the versions exist in black, blue, and red, plus four printing plate colors.

Distribution: 18 packs per box, with six cards per pack.

Thoughts: With 12,569 cards in a master set, I wonder if anyone has attempted to build a complete monster set. Most collectors aren't interested in all the variations, with almost the entire checklist having over 30 variations per card. I like this set better than Co-Signers, but unless I find an awesome deal on a major collection of these to begin a master set, I have no interest in it. For my collections where I need player cards (such as my collection of award winners), this set looks very nice and fits well.

2008 Topps Heritage

Set Size: base set: 500 (including 75 SPs), update High Number Series: 220 (including 35 SPs)

Design Notes: Copying the 1959 Topps design, the player's image appears in a circle; the remaining border is in one color. His name is at the top, with the team name and logo and his position at the bottom. Backs are horizontal with biographical stats, a highlight paragraph, a small cartoon, and complete MLB statistics.

Parallels and Similars: As mentioned, the set uses the 1959 design, and there are other issues that mimick the 1959 set. However, the copyright information on the back (and 2007 in the last line of statistics) makes this set easy to identify. Chrome, Chrome Refractor, Chrome Black Refractor, and black-ink backs are all partial parallels of this set.

Distribution: Hobby boxes contain 24 packs of 8 cards each. Most packs will contain an insert, and the High Number Series packs contain 2 flagship Updates & Highlights singles plus any inserts.

Thoughts: Topps Heritage is probably the favorite perennial issue for set builders. The 1959 design is colorful and fun, but I've always felt Heritage was missing a small bit of authenticity. In earlier issues, it was the use of photos instead of paintings - as many of the original 1950s sets used - and also the use of low-quality printing. I understand a desire to copy honor earlier issues but a step up in quality would make this set good enough in my book. I also wasn't around to collect any of the 1950s issues, so the design doesn't have much sentimental value with me. In about 30 years, when they get around to the late 1980s/early 1990s junk wax, I might be putting some sets together.

2008 Topps Co-Signers

Set Size: 112 cards (100 regular base cards and 12 autographed cards; two cards appear as both versions)

Design Notes: Fronts are almost exclusively gray with silver foil. The background behind the photo is a slightly-styled team logo; the player's name is in a white bottom border and the team name is in the white top border; the team city and player's position are along a side border. Backs carry over the grey design, with another player photo, biographical stats, and some statistics.

Parallels and Similars: Stick with me here. There are Silver and Hyper Plaid versions for each of the following colors: red, bronze, blue, green, and gold. Hyper Plaid also has a silver version. That's 11 parallels so far. But each of those parallel sets also has a dual-player variation for the 100 regular base cards, making a total of 22 parallel "sets" for this product. Add five more parallels for the five different printing plates inserted into the product.

Distribution: Six cards per pack (five base cards), 12 packs per box.

Thoughts: The gray-heavy cards are dull at first glance, and at second glance are way too busy. But on the other hand, the photos stand out a lot over the overcast background. Unless you're Alex Gordon wearing a faded blue undershirt. The base cards aren't really the point in this issue, and the parallels look okay. This isn't a base set I'd put together, but it doesn't give me seizures either.

2008 Topps Chrome

Set Size: 220 cards plus 35 autographed rookies

Design Notes: Using the 2008 Topps design, the team name is at the top in colored circles, and the player's name is at the bottom. The backs feature career stats.

Parallels and Similars: Several other 2008 sets have the same design, though Chrome is easy to distinguish from the others. There are several refractor parallels: original white borders, blue, copper, and red borders, SuperFractors, X-Fractors, and four colors of printing plates.

Distribution: Cards were sold in hobby and retail packs.

Thoughts: Because there isn't much color in the design, the Chrome concept is kind of lost. Of course, there's plenty of color in the photos, but refractors really shine when there is solid color in the design to stand out. The regular base Chrome cards have never really appealed to me because they're just more-expensive versions of the flagship cards, and unless the light hits them just right they look darker and thus not as vibrant as the original cards.

2008 Topps Allen & Ginter's World Champions

Set Size: 350 cards

Design Notes: A very simple design, a painted-style image of the card subject fades to a white border. The bottom of the card has the subject's name and the Allen & Ginter logo. Backs carry statistics or a short write-up about the subject. The cards use Victorian-era style fonts and design elements.

Parallels and Similars: The set is inspired by the original Allen & Ginter issue from the 19th century, though there's no doubt when this card was made due to the inclusion of the year on the front. All parallels of this set are in mini form: a regular mini, Allen & Ginter back, black-bordered, no-number, Bazooka back, framed cloth, and wood.

Distribution: Hobby boxes of 24 packs hold 8 cards per pack. Additionally, retail packs and blaster boxes were released.

Thoughts: In its third year, Allen & Ginter seemed uninspired and relied on its gimmicks to survive. Not much changed from the 2006 release. I enjoy art sets, and this set is meant to look like the original painted sets. It doesn't quite deliver on the hand-painted part, but I still put together a yearly set.

2008 Topps

Set Size: 660 cards issued in two series of 330 cards

Design Notes: The team name is across the top border, each letter placed in alternating team colors. The photo is in the middle, and the player's name is in the bottom border printed in silver foil. Backs are fairly standard, with biographical information and career statistics. A short highlight is mentioned when space is available.

Parallels and Similars: 2008 Topps has five full parallels - gold foil, gold, black, platinum, and printing plates - plus one partial parallel - Silk. Several other 2008 Topps products use the same design: Chrome, Opening Day, and Update are the three major releases which copy the flagship issue. Team sets also look identical to the base set's layout.

Distribution: Cards were sold in retail and hobby packs of 11 cards each, with 36 cards per box. HTA Jumbos contained 46 cards each and came 10 packs per box. Other packaging methods were used including blaster boxes and, later, complete sets.

Thoughts: The design is quite plain and the team name at the top takes up a large portion of the card space. The alternating colors can make the team name a little difficult to read, as well. It's not a horrible design, and has a nice retro feel, but it's just a couple steps away from being good. More color use (perhaps team color borders and team font use at the top) and movement/elimination of the Topps tab at the top (just overlay the Topps logo in an unobtrusive corner of the photo).

2011 Topps Lineage Printing Plates

Set Size: 200 cards

Design Notes: The front of the card is one of the four printing plates used for the product - black, magenta, cyan, or yellow. The backs are the same as the regular 2011 Topps Lineage cards, except for a foil-stamped serial number in the upper-right corner.

Parallels and Similars: This set is a full parallel of the base Lineage set, and comes in four colors. There are other parallels for Lineage - four refractor parallels and a 1975-style mini set.

Distribution: Each of the four plate colors are stamped 1/1 and were randomly inserted into hobby packs.

Thoughts: Printing plates are nice to pull from packs, though they aren't true 1/1 cards in my mind. But as far as this card goes, there's not much special about the plate - the back is normal and the front isn't reversed - it looks like a blue tinted parallel.

1990 Topps Coins

Set Size: 60 coins, 1-1/2" diameter

Design Notes: Made of metal, the coins have full-color photos of players with a baseball field design; the player's team and name appear at the bottom. Backs have black text describing a highlight in the player's career.

Parallels and Similars: Most coins have aluminum colorinng on the edges, as seen above, though some award-winning players were issued in different colors - these are not parallels or variations. Several other coin sets were issued by Topps, but this design is unique and a 1990 copyright is found on the back.

Distribution: Coins came three per pack, 36 packs per box. Factory sets and coin holders were also available.

Thoughts: I've listed some of the other coins issued by Topps, and they all have a similar basic design. This has the best images I've seen, and the design is pretty clean and sharp. It's another inexpensive set to obtain, with Ripken and Ryan leading the pack at around $1/coin but it's a fun issue to put together by busting packs.

1988 Topps Gallery of Champions

Set Size: 12 cards, 1-1/4" x 1"

Design Notes: These cards are made of aluminum, using the 1988 Topps design in a relief format. The backs contain statistics and biographical information. The cards are actually parallels of the players' flagship 1988 Topps cards.

Parallels and Similars: Bronze and silver parallels exist.

Distribution: Complete sets in velvet cases were sold through dealers; 1000 of the silver sets were produced.

Thoughts: I really like these sets, despite their small size. The detail is pretty good, especially for such a small card, and they can display well.

1971 Topps Coins

Set Size: 153 metal coins, 1-1/2" diameter

Design Notes: Printed on metal, the coins have a color photo inside a color border with the player's name, position, and team. Coins were printed in three sets of 51 coins - they have either brass backs (seen here), chrome backs, or blue backs with black printing containing the coin number, basic biographical information, and a highlight.

Parallels and Similars: Other coin sets have been printed by many manufacturers and might have a similar basic design; these are distinguished by the TCG copyright at the bottom and the message at the top, both on the back.

Distribution: Coins were inserted into packs of 1971 Topps.

Thoughts: These are fun little novelty additions to collect along with the 1971 flagship set - commons can be picked up fairly cheap these days especially compared to the regular cards.

2011 Gypsy Queen Framed Stamps

Set Size: 350 cards

Design Notes: The design follows the basic look of 2011 Gypsy Queen in a horizontal format. The artwork is seem on the left side of the card, and a stamp related to the player's hometown is included as a relic on the right. The backs look essentially identical to the regular Gypsy Queen cards except for a serial number in the upper-right.

Parallels and Similars: The set is a parallel of the base Gypsy Queen set, and there are a handful of other parallels.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs (1:93 hobby, 1:530 retail).

Thoughts: While I really enjoy the art of Gypsy Queen and thus put together the base and insert sets in 2011, I had no interest in collecting the parallels and minis, and this set is no different. Stamps are a simple novelty as far as "hits" go, and while I enjoy gimmicks at least as much as the next man I don't care much for them in parallel form. Thankfully, I picked this up much cheaper than I expected as it was included in a lot of other Delmon Young cards.

2001 Topps HD Images of Excellence

Set Size:

Design Notes: A really thick card. The background is obscured by an opaque overlay of the insert set's name. The photo really stands out in this product, printed in high resolution. This set carries a 2000 copyright, as it was released in December.

Parallels and Similars: An aluminum version parallels this regular insert set, and is about four times as rare.

Distribution: Inserted 1 in 8 packs of 2001 Topps HD.

Thoughts: I really think Topps should have done without the invasive background text on this set, and instead kept it to a small logo or bit of type in a corner. The Topps HD concept was meant to showcase high quality images. However, even with the background, Tom Seaver's photo seems to be bright and fresh, if a little blue. I've always campaigned for sets with high quality photography, and this set came pretty close. Unfortunately, the thick (50-pt) plastic card stock and high price ($3.99/pack of four) probably drove away many collectors. Plus, Topps' Gold Label and Stadium Club products also featured high quality photography at the time.

2003 Topps Blue Chips Autographs

Set Size: 24 autographed cards

Design Notes: This set features all on-card autographs in a large box at the bottom of the card. While the box removes space for the photo, the design seems to work good enough. The players are all younger stars at the time of release, so the set's focus was on providing an autograph of a HOF hopeful.

Parallels and Similars: None - Topps has never done many parallel versions of inserts.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of several different Topps products, mainly Bowman and lower-cost Topps flagship and Total. Apparently the cards were issued in 2003 and 2004 products.

Thoughts: While the design isn't outstanding, for an autograph collector I feel this card provides a nice, large, clean space to feature the on-card signature. There are no major stars in the set so it wouldn't be too expensive to complete.

Additional Images: card back

Forgotten 2011: 2011 Topps Marquee Monumental Markings

Set size: 75 cards

Front Design: A player photo, usually a portrait, is overlaid with foil across the bottom. The lower portion of the card has an on-card autograph of the player represented, followed by his name. The cards are serial numbered in the lower-right portion of the photo.

Back Design: The backs have a grey frame. A box at the top has the player's name, team, and position, which is followed by a short biography. An authenticity guarantee follows. At the bottom of the grey frame is the card number, and beneath the frame is a tan/gold fancy victorian design.

Parallels and Similars: A gold parallel version exists.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into boxes/packs of Topps Marquee. The Monumental Markings set appears about one per box. The serial numbering for any specific player depends on that player's popularity (and thus cost for obtaining signatures) - superstars like Sandy Koufax signed only 10 cards, and many of the "common" players signed up to 600 copies.

Thoughts: This set was forgotten soon after its release due to another high-end issue arriving within a couple weeks. It's my favorite high-end set of the year. I could never afford Triple Threads or Tribute, and this set provides cards that are just as attractive at a better price point. Plus, all the autographs here should be on-card, which is important for today's collectors.

2008 Allen & Ginters Mini Pioneers of Aviation

Set size: 5 cards

Front Design: A painting of an aviation invention appears above it's name in a color cloud. The bottom of the card has the 2008 Allen & Ginter logo.

Back Design: The top has the Pioneers in Aviation title graphic followed by the card number in a shield. The remainder of the card back is a list of crazy flying machines and their inventors.

Parallels and Similars: None.

Distribution: This unadvertised insert set was randomly inserted into packs of 2008 Allen & Ginter at a rate of about 1 in 6 boxes.

Thoughts: This would be another fun mini set to collect if it wasn't so rare. While the 2008 design leaves a lot of empty space on the card front, the subjects in this set are much more fun than, say, countries. It's more unique. If only these cards had video of them trying to fly - that would be the icing on the cake.

2008 Allen & Ginter Mini Team Orange

Set size: 10 cards

Front Design: The fronts look the same as the 2008 Allen & Giner set, with a painting of a fictional member of Team Orange, followed by old-timey text of the "player's" name and the Allen & Ginter 2008 logo.

Back Design: "The World Champion"s and "Team Orange" are across the top, followed by the player's name. A paragraph describing the player's abilities follows.

Parallels and Similars: As mentioned, this set is based on the 2008 Allen & Ginter set. It can be distinguished easily by the "Team Orange" text across the top of the back, and the prefix "TO" before the card number.

Distribution: The cards were one of the "rare" inserts in 2008 Allen & Ginter, inserted one card for every six boxes.

Thoughts: Many people don't like the gimmicks and non-sport subjects in Allen & Ginter, and for them there are other throwback sets or just the base set (though that includes plenty of non-baseball subjects). I like fun sets like these, showing a bit of creativity from the Topps design team. Many of the fictional characters portrayed in Topps sets (this set, and Gypsy Queen's Gypsy Queen insert set are good examples) are based on actual Topps employees. See this post for details. I would love to have a full set of Team Orange cards, but given their rarity (and thus premium), it seems to be a bit too much to take on.

2007 Topps Rookies 52 Signatures

Set size: 66 cards

Front Design: The set mimics the 1952 Topps design, with a color photo inside a black frame, and a star-bordered black and white box at the bottom containing the player's name and an authentic autograph. The team logo is placed over the upper-left corner of the autograph box; the cards have white borders.

Back Design: A red box at the top of the card has "white" (really, it's grey/brown cardstock color) text including the player's full name and biographical data. Beneath that is a short career paragraph and the player's past year and lifetime statistics. An authentication hologram is in the lower left corner, with copyright and trademark information filling the rest of the bottom of the card.

Parallels and Similars: As mentioned before, the card set is designed to look like the 1952 Topps set, and is a parallel of sorts of the regular "52 Style" set. A parallel exists of this set with red signatures on the front.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2007 Topps Rookies 52 Style cards. Three autographed cards were included in every 20-pack box of the product.

Thoughts: The 1952 design is perfect for on-card autographs, and this year's Lineage autographs help reiterate that fact (other than those giant boxes for the sticker autographs). The set focused on rookies, which means a box is really hit-or-miss with the quality of autographs. However, the set focused only on real rookies, and many of the players have gone on to have successful careers, including 2011 MVP Ryan Braun. That said, the 1952 Topps design is used over and over again, and it can become somewhat tiring. If your favorite 2007ish rookie is in the autograph checklist, then this might be the card to have, simply for the look.