Topps 2015

Well, it's that time of year again (or it has been for a few weeks).  But, it's the time for the Topps Company's flagship line has hit the shelves again.  This is an exciting time of year for baseball card collectors.  I bought a few packs of the Topps 2015 (jumbos) and the verdict, at least the verdict of Can't Hit the Curve (for whatever it's worth) is in...

Topps 2015 Baseball is...wait for it...out-freaking-standing.

While Topps normally does a fairly decent job (at the low-end...think 2008) to pretty good, this year I think the company has outdone themselves.  The card design is beautiful.  A little bit flashy, but not overdone.  Great images.  A HUGE set.  This is a good one folks.

Normally, I'm not really a Topps flagship collector.  This particular year...well, my bank account may take a hit.

The set itself is 350 cards for Series I.  This is likely to clock in at over 700 by the time that series 2 is added sometime later.  So, set collectors should be prepared to purchase many boxes if you are going to be building the set on your own instead of just buying a pre-packaged set (that's boring).

There are the normal variations and some of them are:
Gold:  #'d/2015
Snow camo:  #'d/99
Black:  #'d/64
Pink:  #'d/50
Printing Plates:  1/1
Platinum:  1/1

So, many variants are involved in this set.  My only gripe is that the traditional stamping method used by Topps (basically, just black printing on back) is a little bit old-school and cheap.  Come on Topps. Let's go with the foil stamping for those variants, huh?

Moving on.  Hit chasers will have a tough time.  The hobby boxes have one hit...my guess that this will likely be a Game Used card for the most part although autographs can be had.  The jumbos have one autograph per box...that's kind of low for a jumbo box.  But, that's ok.  Just be forewarned hit hunters, you may get a bunch of game used.

The autograph selection is typically strong.  You'll see the likes of young stars like Giancarlo Stanton, Mike Trout, Paul Goldschmidt, and Yasiel Puig.  So, pretty good.  But, there are some older timers in there, as well.  Mariano Rivera, Mark McGwire, Rickey-being-Rickey Henderson, and Hank Aaron all make an appearance.  Pretty good stable of autos out there somewhere.

But, what I think is exciting is the possibility of hitting cut autographs (which are predictably very rare...but there is a chance!) of:  Bill Clinton, Ted Williams, Gerald Ford, General Eisenhower, and Steve Wozniak.  A very interesting and historic lot of cuts.

The checklist is huge.  So, here's a link over to our friends at Cardboard Connection and you can view the entire thing there.  CHECKLIST.

Overall, we think that Topps has stepped up their game on this year's set.  Gone are the lame white borders, the lame black borders (which chipped horribly) and new colorful but tasteful borders have been introduced.  The photos are typical Topps-quality.

Kudos, Topps.  Now, go buy a box.