2006 Topps Opening Day
What I pulled--
Inserts and Parallels:
Red Parallels (#ed to 2006) - Robert Andino, Jorge Cantu, Eric Gagne, Tom Gorzelanny
Sports Illustrated for Kids - Full set of 25, plus 11 duplicates
Review:
I never understood the purpose of sets like Opening Day. Until now.
Topps Opening Day has always been a lower priced alternative to the basic Topps set, usually with a
slight coloring modification to the basic set. This year, it is no different. But Topps has added so wrinkles
to the set to make it a little more appealing to the consumer.
Let's be honest from the start. Opening Day is clearly targeted for young collectors. The set is the same as
the regular set, but with blue foil instead of silver, and an Opening Day 2006 logo printed n the card. In the
past, that was where the set ended, making opening packs rather boring. Yes, the price was lower, but
when the base set already has a low price, I never saw the reason for Opening Day. This year, Topps
added a red foil parallel #ed to 2006 that falls on in every eight packs. The variety this brings makes
opening the packs a little more interesting and should be fun for set builders to put together.
The other wrinkle in this year's Opening Day is the addition of Sports Illustrated for Kids cards. There is
one in every pack, with 15 Max Action and 10 Funny Photo cards comprising the 25 card set. Obviously, the
title of the insert set gives a distinct clue as to the target audience. There are also Promo Cards for an
Ultimate Fan Experience seeded on in six packs, with 2007 Season Tickets going to the winning ticket.
With the initiatives MLB is taking to widen baseball card collecting for children, this is a set that has been
tweaked in all the right ways. I've always slammed this as superfluous in the past, but have seen the
errors of my ways. Making a set geared towards children to supplement Bazooka is a great way to go.
When taken at face value, in the context in which it is intended (please remember that, adults), Opening Day get an......................
A
