Topps All-Star Rookie Team

One of my favorite subset of any Topps set is the All-Star Rookie Team. Each season the Topps Company selects an All-Star Rookie Team and honors those players in the following seasons’ Topps base set. The 2015 team consists of 12 players, one from each of the positions, a right-handed starter, a left-handed starter, a relief pitcher and a designated hitter. This is only the second time a designated hitter has been selected. I am not a fan of the Topps All-Star Rookie players also having the Future Stars designation (see Bryant, Syndergard, and Osuna). It is safe to say if they are members of the All-Star Rookie Team they are future stars!

The 2016 Topps Series 1 base set has 6 of the 12 All-Star Rookie Team players:

3B – Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs (Card #350)

OF – Kyle Schwarber, Chicago Cubs (Card #66)

OF – Michael Conforto, New York Mets (Card #232)

RHP – Naoh Syndergard, New York Mets (Card #43)

RP – Roberto Osuna, Toronto Blue Jays (Card #121)

DH – Miguel Sano, Minnesota Twins (Card #78)

When Topps Series 2 is released the remaining 6 players should be honored with their special card. The remaining players include J.T. Realmuto (C, Miami Marlins), Justin Bour (1B, Miami Marlins), Addison Russell (2B, Chicago Cubs), Carlos Correa (SS, Houston Astros), Randal Grichuk (OF, St. Louis Cardinals), and Carlos Rodon (LHP, Chicago White Sox).

2016 Topps Series 1 – My Review

2016 Topps Buster Posey

It’s been a week since the release of the 2016 Topps Series 1 set and I thought I would share my opinions. The 350-card base set features veterans, rookies, Future Stars, Topps All-Star Rookie Team members, League Leaders, World Series Highlights, and team cards. I lost count of how many packs I have bought but I am only 8 cards from a complete so it’s safe to say I am sort of a fan. After reading various blog reviews I may be in the minority here though? I can appreciate the fact Topps is trying something new here and only have a few features I am not a fan of. My first issue would be the logo only being partly visible. I would love to see the whole logo but wouldn’t want it to be any smaller though. If somehow the area the logo is located in was a little bigger I think it would be an improvement. My second issue would be the cloudy look on the top corner and bottom corner. I am not sure it needs to be removed entirely but maybe a little less cloudy? For the first time ever Topps has removed the border from their flagship product. I love the no border look, but would not want Topps to entirely abandon borders in the future. Wouldn’t be upset if borders returned next year but for this year I love the look. The photography I think is great! If I could change one thing it would be to have more of the player in the shot. I think there are too many photos that are close up. Many don’t like the blurry background but I read on another blog review (forgot which one?) that the photos were not photo-shopped by Topps.

Being a San Francisco Giants fan I love pulling them from packs and two of them have great action shots!

Joe Panik (#137)

Angel Pagan (#299)

The parallel options in 2016 Topps include Rainbow Foil, Gold (#/2016), Vintage Stock (#/99), Black (#/65), Pink (#/50), Clear (#/10), Framed (one per case), Platinum (1/1), and Printing Plates (1/1). I have pulled a few Rainbow Foil and Gold borders, including this Kris Bryant.

Gold Border – Kris Bryant (#350 – #/2016)

Some of the main inserts in 2016 Topps that I have pulled or acquired include 100 Years at Wrigley (25 cards), Amazing Milestones (10 cards), Back-to-Back (15 cards), Berger’s Best (65 cards), First Pitch (20 cards), MLB Debut (40 cards), Perspectives (25 cards), Pressed Into Service (10 cards), The Greatest Streaks (10 cards), and Walk-Off Wins (15 cards). I like the MLB Debut, The Greatest Streaks, and Amazing Milestones the most. I love the photography on The Perspectives but I am not a fan of the writing on many of the cards. It seems to get in the way sometimes! The rest of the inserts are okay and I’ll probably end up trying to acquire them but won’t be going out of my way.

100 Years at Wrigley – Ryne Sandberg (#WRIG-2)

Amazing Milestones – Babe Ruth (#AM-07)

Back-to-Back – Buster Posey/Brandon Belt (#B2B-3)

Berger’s Best – Mike Trout (#BB-60)

First Pitch – Rebekah Gregory (#FP-18)

MLB Debut – Nelson Cruz (#MLBD-8)

Perspectives – Nolan Ryan (#P-24)

Pressed Into Service – Ichiro (#PIS-9)

The Greatest Streaks – Ken Griffey Jr. (#GS-02)

Walk-Off Win – Manny Machado (#WOW-6)

As far as I am concerned it is one of my favorite Topps sets of the 2000’s, second to the 2015 Topps set. What do you think?

1990 The Colla Collection – Will Clark Limited Edition Set

Will Clark Limited Edition Set – The Colla Collection

I have had The Colla Collection Will Clark Limited Edition Set on my radar for some time and decided it was time to add it to my collection. I found this set on eBay for $5.00 and is #’d 14,635 of 15,000.

Sports photographer Barry Colla began printing and selling licensed photo postcards of popular players from 1989 through 1993. Starting in 1990 through 1992 he was also licensed to print 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 sized trading cards featuring high-gloss borderless photos on a basic front. The back featured stats, career notes, personal data and team logos.

The 12-card sets were sold in small decorative cardboard boxes (pictured on the left). In 1990, there were 15,000 Will Clark Limited Edition sets produced along with three other sets that I know of, Jose Canseco (20,000 sets), Kevin Maas (7,500 sets), and Don Mattingly (15,000 sets). He also printed All Star team boxed sets of 24 cards in 1992 and 1993.

Check out the 12-card set below:

The backs are white but some for some reason a few of them came out looking gray on my scans.

I’m Baaaaaack!

With the release of 2016 Topps Series 1 this week and the purchase of a few packs, I have the urge to blog again. Hopefully I can be more consistent this time around!

Of course my main topic I will be blogging about is Will Clark and my pursuit of his trading cards. I have a few arriving in the mail and can’t wait to share them on here.

Additionally, I will blogging about my pursuit of completing the 2016 Topps base set plus a few other miscellaneous topics now and then.

I am working on my review of the 2016 Topps set and will post soon.