To me, Topps Archives plays the hobby role of "Things We Wished That Were But Weren't Until Now".
I mean who doesn't like seeing older iconic designs with players of today on them. It adds an extra special fun aspect and of course a nostalgic one to busting open packs.
This years product features the 1960, 1982, and 1992 Topps designs.
In every box of 2017 Topps Archives baseball you will find 24 Packs Per Box with 8 Cards Per Pack. There are two on-card autographs per box as well. Boxes currently are running a bit high at about $115, but it's a fresh new hot release so it's expected.
Like I said earlier, the base card designs are based off from the 1960, 1982, and 1992 Topps designs and is a 300 deep checklist that splits 100/100/100 for each design.
The base set is also built up of players past, present, future and Jeter. That's right, Derek is back in base sets! One thing I found intriguing is teams that were chosen for former players who played for multiples. They seemed to had chosen their beginning teams and I dig it. I really liked seeing Big Unit in an Expos uni. How often do we see that in base sets today???
I put a few images up for the base to give you an idea of what you will find.
Key Rookies to find in the product are Aaron Judge, Yoan Moncada, Andrew Benintendi, Dansby Swanson, Yulieski Gurriel, Alex Bregman, Tyler Glasnow. I surprisingly didn't land many of these names. I was also really hoping Judge would be found for my new growing PC but not in this box.
There is also 20 tough to find base card variations as well.
Just like with past Topps releases, you can easily define the variations using them. They are located on the back at the base of the card.
- Base Code ends in #2782
- Variation Code ends in #2799
The parallels in are easy to find in packs which is always a big help.
There is
- Peach Parallel numbered to 199 fall 1:14 packs
- Blue Parallel numbered to 75 and fall 1:37 packs
- Red Parallel numbered to 25 and fall 1:110 packs
- Black Parallel: numbered 1/1 fall 1:2763 packs
I was fortunate to pull a red in my break but not the best of players. I also got 2 peaches which is a unique parallel and a blue.
Other parallels include 1960 Grey Back (has a grey back)/ 1982 Blackless (they remove the signature)/ 1992 Gold "Winner" Parallels. The Gold Winner parallels are pretty easy to spot with the gold foil on them just like the good ole days and the word winner. The odds of pulling any of these are a tough 1:110 packs.
There are not a lot of inserts in Archives, but I think the ones that are in do count and fit the theme.
The excitement for Derek Jeter's cardboard return is defintely shown in this product with DEREK JETER RETROSPECTIVE INSERTS that fall 1:12 packs. There are usually two per box and that's what I got.
There are 21 cards in the set celebrating Derek in Topps designs from 1993-2015.
For those of you who like inclusions like these or you are a Derek Jeter fan or Yankees fan, the Jeters also have fun chases as well with Sp's and parallels.
Parallels for the set include:
- Blue foil numbered to 150
- Green foil numbered to 99
- Gold foil numbered to 50
- Red foil numbered to 10
- Black foil numbered 1/1
There are also 3 tougher Sp finds that fall 1 per case besides the easier 21. The three include the 1993 Topps Draft Pick card, the 2015 Topps card, and the 2007 that had the Mantle/Bush on it. These have parallels as well.
- Green foil numbered to 99
- Gold foil numbered to 50
- Red foil numbered to 10
- Black foil numbered 1/1
I must also toss in the fact there are Jeter autographs of these as well!
Well, now that we are done discussing Jeter's role in 2017 Archives, let's discuss the other inserts.
2016 Retro Design. These fall 1:12 packs.
1959 Bazooka baseball inserts that has active and retired stars. These fall 1:6 packs.
And finally, 1960 Rookie Star insert that includes rookies of today. Was hoping for Judge, but Moncada not terrible.
Now onto the main event.....THE AUTOGRAPHS!
We already discussed the Jeter autographs, so let's move on to the Fan Favorite autos featuring players and personalities you don't see everyday signing cards anymore.
My first was Kevin Seitzer. I like the added Bible verse.
And a peach parallel /150 of Terry Mulholland
Other parallels include:
- Peach Parallel numbered 150
- Blue Parallel numbered to 75
- Red Parallel numbered to 25
- Gold Parallel numbered 1/1
Other hits not found in my box besides Jeter,
1959 Bazooka Baseball Autographs, 1960 Rookie Star Autographs and Topps Originals Autographs.OVERALL THOUGHTS: Well, my hits were not the best in the break for the price. My overall break was a little weak from base to rookies to parallels to hits but I would not let that push you away from giving it a go. I have also seen many really solid breaks. If you also don't feel like pouring out the money for a hobby box, you could go check out retail blasters. You could pull an auto but if not, you will at the very least get some cool coins that are a throwback to the early 90's.
You could also check out some box breaks like the ones at Top Shelf Breaks.
I feel the nostalgia factor is also a draw-in here for those of us who enjoyed these designs. There is also a solid autograph checklist for the offerings.
I like how they did the Jeter inclusions in the product, but I bet many Red Sox fans won't. #GoYankees.
To finish my review, I must say everyday there has also been a lot of chatter on Twitter with the autograph additions of Zack Hample and Skip Bayless in the product that many collectors are bashing and complaining about. What are my thoughts on this, well, when do we get blogger ones?? That would be a dream come true. Can you imagine, Topp(s) Bloggers subset and autographed ones.....
Please make sure to take a minute out to thank
Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the MLB Pick Em promotion. Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their site, as well. Look for one of these autographs to be July's prize!
