Tag: Topps

Topps Chrome Sellout

The biggest storylines of 2017 have included rookie sensations Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger. They are both known for their insane home runs and great personalities. Kids love them, Majestic makes special shirts for them, they get comparisons to greats, and everyone wants a piece of them. The Topps Trading Card Company answered these demands when they released Topps Chrome 2017, the first 2017 baseball product to feature both Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge autographs in an all around wide release product. Bowman Platinum also had Judge and Bellinger autos but the product was a Walmart exclusive. The highly acclaimed product was released on August 2 at 12:01, and sold out on the Topps website within 6 hours. The product price has risen from $81 to $130. Another contributing factor to the product’s success is the cover boy, Aaron Judge.

Topps VS Donruss

Everybody knows the baseball card tyrant of Topps. Being the “Exclusive Trading Card Partner of MLB” and all, they make some pretty great products. But often overshadowed by this big name brand is the low key Donruss. Donruss makes trading cards with players but they airbrush any logos and team names out (They lost their licensing deal years ago). The following review is of Topps Series 1 and Donruss Baseball. Remember, these are my opinions only, so don’t go on ranting. The goods of each product get a thumbs up 👍 and the cons of each product get a thumbs down 👎.

Topps:

👍 Good job incorporating players’ Instagram and Twitter feed on the back of the card. This should bring in younger fans who love social media.

👍 Great colors on the back of the cards, makes it very easy to tell which team the player is on.

👍 Manu-relics look incredibly nice making them easy to collect.

👍 Certain inserts are cool such as the 1987 subseries and the 5-Tool subseries.

👎 Thumbs down to the standard relics. They are white and mostly colorless, making them boring to collect.

👎 The card stock is kind of flimsy easy to bend.

👎 The borderless design is kind of annoying because is the cards get damaged, it is pretty obvious.

(Four up, three down)

Donruss:

👍 The design for Donruss is great with the white and simple lines and dots.

👎 👎 The printing on the back is very low end and is blurry.  It looks like I could off printed them from a public library printer.

👍 Good job to the inserts. The numbered ones are very cool.

👍 Autographs are cool and I like how the relics are vertical unlike the traditional Topps horizontal format.

👎 The packaging is very cheap and papery. It is easy to puncture and is not appealing. It is white and appears dirty.

(three up, three down)

Overall, Topps secured the win. With appealing packaging and cards over cheap printing, it is pretty clear that Topps is the winner.

Topps Products

Here is a list of products that the Topps Baseball Card Comapany makes (excludes Bowman products):

  • Series 1
  • Series 2
  • Update Series
  • Topps Chrome
  • Topps Heritage
  • Topps Heritage Minor Leagues
  • Topps Finest
  • Topps Archives
  • Topps Triple Threads
  • Topps Museum Collection
  • Topps Tier One
  • Topps Inception
  • Topps Strata
  • Topps Now
  • Topps Holiday Box
  • Topps Five Star Baseball
  • Topps Opening Day
  • Topps Pro Debut
  • Topps Clearly Authentic
  • Topps Gypsy Queen
  • Topps Living Set
  • Topps Big League
  • Topps Bunt

Topps Royalty

Topps is the only baseball card brand in 2017 that is actually associated with MLB (Topps owns Bowman, so Bowman doesn’t count). Panini, Donruss, and other brands are not officially licensed by MLB. Each year, Topps makes a lot of common series such as Series 1, Series 2, Update Series, Topps Heritage, Topps Chrome, and Allen & Ginter. What some do not know is that Topps also releases other series that are more expensive and rare. These are usually Hobby Shop exclusives, but they are still popular. Topps High Tek, retailing around $50 dollars, use new card technology to make the cards transparent. Topps Finest, retailing at about $99 dollars a master box, features players of all years and two autographs or relics per mini box. Triple Threads, retailing at about $200, contain extremely high chances of autographs and relics. Topps Museum Collection, retailing around $250-$300, contains 20 cards for each master box. Each Master Box is divided into four Mini Boxes with five cards per mini box. But what makes these cards so expensive? Well, each mini box contains either a autograph or relic. In total, each Master Box has one on card autograph, one normal relic, one special relic (one double, triple, or quadruple relic), and one auto-relic. These cards are sometimes refered to as Topps Royalty because of their expensive price and high odds.

Mark Teixeira Topps Now 2

Remember my previous posts about Mark Teixeira? And the card? If not, click here. Anyways, Mark Teixeira hit a walk off grand slam about a week ago. Topps made and card off it. It showed Mark with his hands up and has a description about the game. I bought the card along with 322 other fans. Sadly, this card is no longer in print. So see the card, click here. To see my review of Topps Now, click here.

Topps Now Review

Finally, my card came! I shipped in seven days but since I was one vacation for ten days, you get the idea. So anyway, I decided I would review it. So here it goes, my review for my Mark Teixeira 317 Topps Now Card review:

  • Pro: Free shipping and it came in seven days.
  • Pro: I got the right card.
  • Pro: Super high quality, it feels like you are there.
  • Pro: It came in a protective plastic sleeve and an Ultra Pro Sleeve just in case.
  • Con: Words describe the event, but no stats.
  • Overall Impression: Great product, Must buy for baseball fans.

The Bleacher Creature is not endorsed or associated with Topps or Topps Now by any means.

Collector’s Choice: Topps Now

I am not sure if I mentioned it already, but I am a huge collector of anything baseball related. I collect elongated pennies, bobbleheads (so far I have Mickey Mantle Triple Crown bobblehead and a Wade Davis MiLB one), baseball cards (Three binders filled with them), Teeny Mates, autographs, MLB Chipz, and the baseballs themselves (Okay, I only have snagged two from BP… (Double parenthesis. Uh… Not sure if I can do that but click here for more about my ballhawking adventures.) but I am a ballhawk in training. I am reading books by Zack Hample that tell how to snag balls. I should probably end this because this parenthesis line is getting way to big).

But now, I expand my collection to something new: baseball cards! Now Jacoby, you might be thinking, you already mention that before in the paragraph that violated all English rules. These are different. These are called Topps Now and they have been extremely popular this year. They make new baseball cards 24 hours after something great happens. A week ago, I ordered a Mark Teixeira card and it should be coming today or tomorrow. If you haven’t already, you should really check it out and purchase a card of your favorite team. I just wanted to say that Topps nailed it again.

The Bleacher Creature is not sponsored or endorsed by Topps in any way, shape, or form.