Friday, June 10, 2016

REVIEW:2016 Topps Archives Baseball (Auto Giveaway!)

Fan favorite Topps Archives returns for yet another season packed with what everyone loves, retro designs with players of today, tomorrow and the past. And no Bull, well, no bull at least on the fact this product has ON CARD autographs. But, 2016 does include some Bull. Read on!
In every box of 2016 Topps Archives baseball, you will find 24 packs with 8 cards per pack. There is a good mixture of base, an insert once in awhile and possible autographs. Every box will have 2 on-card autos per and boxes currently are running for $95.

The base set kicks off the fun. This covers collectors of all ages with veterans and rookies featured on designs of the past and all time greats featured on newer designs. Makes for a what-if approach that I thoroughly enjoy.
You can find Jackie Robinson to Ken Griffey Jr to key rookies of Corey Seager, Stephen Piscotty, Kenta Maeda, Ketel Marte, Kyle Schwarber and more.

There are 300 cards in the base set along with 10 Sp's.

Those are :
301 Kenta Maeda SP RC
302 Randy Jones SP
303 Tom Gordon SP
304 Al Kaline SP
305 Steve Garvey SP
306 Tito Francona SP
307 Phil Nevin SP
308 Charlie Hayes SP
309 Kris Benson SP
310 Sandy Koufax SP

Designs for this years product are, 1953

 1979:

And 1991, one of my favorites. There are parallels to these. More on that soon.

Another fun aspect to this years Archives are the full stats on the back of the cards along with the "vintage feel"

Now onto the parallels.
The base cards also have parallels. 
There are
- Blue Border Parallel are below and numbered to 199.
- Red Border Parallel: sequentially numbered.
- Black Border Parallel: numbered 1/1
- Printing Plates: numbered 1/1

Nice Koufax in my box. These fall 1:14 packs.

Another fun parallel that Topps snuck in there are    . Now I didn't pull one in my box, but they are the Operation Desert Storm cards that existed in the 1991 Topps set. There are 100 cards to chase that fall 1:328 packs. To find out a background on these cards, why the parallel back then and why it's celebrated now, follow the link to the story on Cardboard Connection HERE.
Now onto the other inserts.
These are 1969 Topps Super Insert Cards. Pretty cool full color photography cards.

There are also parallel finds for these that are
- Red Parallel: sequentially numbered.
- Black Parallel: numbered 1/1.
- Printing Plates: numbered 1/1.
These fall, 1:6 packs.

I really liked this concept. This set featured Topps #1 Draft Pick design from the 1985 set. All of the players in the set were #1 overall MLB Draft picks from years past. 

There are also parallel finds for these that are
- Red Parallel: sequentially numbered.
- Black Parallel: numbered 1/1.
- Printing Plates: numbered 1/1.
These fall, 1:8 packs.

And another cool insert combining the best Father-Son duos in MLB. Wished I had pulled the Griffey one, but I did land these two. Unique design and these fall 1:12 packs.

Now is not the time to cut the bull, not with these really cool Bull Durham inserts!! These fall 1:12 packs and come with these parallels too.

- Red Border Parallel: sequentially numbered.
- Black Border Parallel: numbered 1/1.
- Printing Plates: numbered 1/1.

Now onto the autographs. As I stated above they are on card. A lot of these guys you may have forgotten about but that's what makes this product fun. Not everyday autographs.

My two autos were both Fan Favorites Autographs. They are on card autographs on vintage Topps card designs.

They to have the following parallels:
- Blue Border Parallel: sequentially numbered.
- Red Border Parallel: sequentially numbered.
- Black Border Parallel: numbered 1/1.
I pulled Randy Jones
And Fernando Tatis.
Other autographs not featured today but you can find are....
Topps Originals Autographs that are an assortment of buybacks from throughout the decades and each numbered.

Autograph versions of each Insert card design, including the 1969 Topps Super and of course Bull Durham. Can you say Costner or Susan Sarandan auto?!?!?!!
Overall, Topps Archvies was fun to open. My hits weren't the best, but for me that wasn't what I liked opening the product for. If you are chasing big hits, I probably would say this isn't for you. But, if you are looking for a good time with a possible chance at hitting it big, well, it's here. Revisiting designs and players of the past we sometimes forget is a huge draw in here. The Bull Durham cards are really a nice touch and the autographs will be a hot find.
Now onto the giveaway which will be this auto card:
 

It's as easy as can be to enter to win the Randy Jones autograph above. Just read and follow these rules:
  1. Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to host this/these nice giveaways with. Follow them on all social media sites and visit their site, HERE, as well.
  2. ***VERY IMPORTANT***MUST BE A U.S. RESIDENT to enter or have a shipping address in the U.S. Shipping costs have gone haywire and I can't afford to ship everywhere.This is always hard to do as I appreciate all readers but I hope you all understand non-U.S. readers.
  3. Random winner will be chosen after 7 randoms
  4. Card may be shipped PWE. I like to forewarn on this.
  5. LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW telling me your thoughts on this product
  6. EARN AN EXTRA ENTRY FOR SHARING THIS CONTEST ON YOUR BLOG AND/OR ON TWITTER. Make sure to leave your link in comments too so I can count it. If not, I won't be able to give you the credit. Commenting with it is very important or you WILL LOSE OUT an extra entry!
  7. Sport Card Collectors or it's owner (person who runs the blog), WILL NOT be held responsible for lost, stolen or damaged mail. Sorry had to add this in since someone tried to scam me once about this.
  8. Contest starts today, ends on June 17th 2016. Winner will be announced in a separate post on June 18th 2016. 
  9. Don't forget to thank the above sponsor of this contest and I won't mind a thank you as well :)
Good luck to all that enter and thanks for reading!

UPDATE
Just found out I pulled a base card Sp upon further searching. So chalk this up as another pull from my box :)

BONUS!!!!
GET THIS TO 30 ENTRIES, A SECOND WINNER WILL TAKE HOME SOME INSERTS!!!

23 comments:

  1. It was pretty cool of Topps to provide the box. I like the Archives product a lot, but I feel like some of the fun inserts and parallels from the 2012-2013 sets were lost in the move toward tying the product to some big celebrity or movie. I do like the Fan Favorites autographs, though, and the base set that revisits older Topps designs. I just feel like there should be a little more content than there has been the last couple of years.

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  2. Love the use of the old designs. Very fun product

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  3. That was a fun break. Kudos to Topps for providing you the review box. Good too see that the price has dropped under $100 again this year after skyrocketing the past few years with the Major League and Will Ferrell cards. This has got to be my favorite product of 2016 so far, even though the Reds got no love on the fan favorites autos this year. Count me in for the contest.

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  4. Thanks again for the contest and thanks to Topps for providing you with great products time after time. Archives is such a fun set to chase and I love the fact it's not strictly a hobby only product, as you can find blasters and such at Walmart and target. The Bull Durham insets are pretty neat and overall this year seems to be a pretty good year for archives. Thanks as always

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  5. I AM A FAN OF THIS PRODUCT. I WILL TWEET ABOUT YOUR CONTEST!

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  6. Products like this are great for the hobby in my opinion. It's a product that's meant to be nostalgic and entertaining, instead of all this upper-crust, high-end shenanigans. I think Bryce Harper would agree that this product "makes baseball [cards] fun again!"

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  7. I like the looks of these cards. Reminds me of some of the ones that I opened as a kid as well as saw in repacks and the like. I'm in.

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  8. Archives is my favorite product each year. Love the Fan Favorites autograph set.

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  9. Thanks for the contest and big thanks to Topps for providing the box. I haven't opened Archives in a few years, but this years edition is tempting. I'm in for the contest.

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  10. I've picked up a few of the 1991 designed cards. Love that Miguel Sano's rookie is in this style. Fun product.

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  11. That Tatis is pretty awesome. I remember his two grand slam innings. And thanks for the giveaway!

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  12. Even though I don't like the '53 cards as much as the others I really like the McGwire card. I hadn't seen that one yet. Great post and it looks like you got a pretty good pull. Thanks for the contest.

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  13. Until last year, this was my favorite trading card product. The parallels were done very cheaply compared to the prior year. Also, it seemed like they didn't issue as many inserts. This year's product looks fun but definitely not worth $95. As a huge Padres fan, I would love the Jones auto though!

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  14. I love the Throwback Design and the older players. @JGfan24ever

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  15. I love the 92 Topps, reminds me of simpler days.

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  16. This set looks like a lot of fun, and I love the retro look. Love the Cardinals pull you got! Thanks for the contest!

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  17. Retro is always fun, while I'm not a fan of unnumbered SPs the on card autos are nice. Thanks!

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  18. Fun product Topps! Great review here too! The Bull Durham are great & thanks for the chance at the auto!

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  19. I love your blog! Thanks for the review I love this set just like so many others 1991 I was a freshman in high school and loved this design and I still have a bunch of desert storm cards as well. Thanks for the chance and the review!

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  20. I really like the look of these cards and the autos too. Really brings back a lot of memories. Cool of Topps to provide a box for you to review. Thanks for the giveaway! Take care.

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  21. Love the throwback designs as it brings back the good ole days.

    https://twitter.com/scoochnew/status/742437186545455105

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