2010 Topps Series 1
What I pulled--
Gold Parallels (#ed to 2010) – Alex Rios, Neftali Feliz, Pirates Franchise History, Chris Davis, Giants Franchise History, Jarrod
Washburn
Topps Town – full set of 25, plus 7 duplicates
Topps Town Gold – Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Braun, Brian McCann, Albert Pujols
Million Card Giveaway – Roger Maris, Carl Yastrzemski, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson, Roy Campanella
(cards on promo, not cards redeemed)
Turkey Red – Johnny Bench, Curtis Granderson, Tim Lincecum, Ernie Banks, Josh Hamilton, Chase Utley, Andre Ethier, Ryne
Sandberg, Matt Kemp
History of the Game – Baseball Invented, First Night Game, First All-Star Game, First Hall of Fame Class, First World Series,
Interleague Play Introduced
Tales of the Game – Manny Ramirez, Carlton Fisk, 1969 Mets, Ozzie Smith, Prince Fielder, Topps Dumps 1952 Cards
The Cards Your Mom Threw Out – Jim Palmer, Tony Gwynn, Stan Misial, Duke Snider, Evan Longoria, Paul Molitor, Johnny
Bench, Ozzie Smith, Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Howard/Cole Hamels, Ichiro, Ivan Rodriguez
The Cards Your Mom Threw Out Original Back – Ivan Rodriguez
When They Were Young – Jason Berken, Johnny Damon, Brian Roberts, Aaron Poreda
Peak Performance – Alex Rodriguez, Evan Longoria, David Ortiz, Ichiro, Lou Gehrig, David Wright, Manny Ramirez, Joe Mauer,
Babe Ruth
Legendary Lineage – Musial/Pujols, Ripken/Jeter, Gwynn/Mauer, Seaver/Halladay, Jackson/Dunn, Speaker/Sizemore,
Smith/Reyes, Foxx/Ramirez, Robinson/Kemp
Peak Performance Jersey – Aramis Ramirez white with blue pinstripe
Review:
I start this review with a story…
It was late winter 1978, and I was playing little league basketball – and I was not very good. That
year, I made the only basket I ever made in three seasons of playing. I knew I wasn’t good, but I
tried really hard, and all of the coaches liked me and let me play as much as everyone for that
reason.
The day I scored the basket, I cannot tell you whether we won or lost. However, I remember the
coach of the other team calling his players over after the game and giving each of them a pack of cards
from the brand new Topps set. He had one pack left after he was done with his team, and he saw me and
gave the last one to and congratulated me on making the basket. I couldn’t wait to get home and open that
pack up!
That is how I feel every year when the new set of Topps Baseball comes out. It is a rite of passage for me
to crack open and inspect the king of all baseball card sets. And the 2010 version puts a huge smile on
my face.
With all of the changes in the industry, Topps is now the only fully licensed set, and the company takes full
advantage. From the huge team logos (is that a reminder to a certain other company that they are not
allowed to use those logos) to awesome pictures to the new Franchise History subset, the base set is, as always, a killer and
warrants the reputation as the single most important base set to complete every year.
This year, however, Topps pulls out all of the stops with the inserts. Just look at the list above for a peek into the quantity and
diversity of what else is included in packs of 2010 Topps Baseball. There are too many to go into all of them, so I’ll pick a
couple that I truly loved. The Cards Your Mom Threw Out are exactly that – cards from Topps’ storied past (and are quite
reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite sets, Topps Archive). This is truly a subset worth completing, since it will show the
breadth of Topps’ history as a card company. The other, and probably the most important of all, is the Million Card Giveaway.
Again, the name says it all. Topps is including redemptions in their packs for a copy of every card in their vast library. Granted,
the odds of your redemption to actual turn into a valuable card are very slim (my six resulted in four commons from the 80s,
one from 2009 and, the crown jewel, a player I never heard of from 1971). Put the actual results aside and look at the concept,
though, and this is one doozy of a giveaway – and worth the price of admission all by itself.
It gets tough to write a glowing review of Topps Baseball every year, but that is exactly what I do. Such is the case, though,
when the product is consistently good year in and year out........................
A+
What I pulled--
Gold Parallels (#ed to 2010) – Alex Rios, Neftali Feliz, Pirates Franchise History, Chris Davis, Giants Franchise History, Jarrod
Washburn
Topps Town – full set of 25, plus 7 duplicates
Topps Town Gold – Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Braun, Brian McCann, Albert Pujols
Million Card Giveaway – Roger Maris, Carl Yastrzemski, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson, Roy Campanella
(cards on promo, not cards redeemed)
Turkey Red – Johnny Bench, Curtis Granderson, Tim Lincecum, Ernie Banks, Josh Hamilton, Chase Utley, Andre Ethier, Ryne
Sandberg, Matt Kemp
History of the Game – Baseball Invented, First Night Game, First All-Star Game, First Hall of Fame Class, First World Series,
Interleague Play Introduced
Tales of the Game – Manny Ramirez, Carlton Fisk, 1969 Mets, Ozzie Smith, Prince Fielder, Topps Dumps 1952 Cards
The Cards Your Mom Threw Out – Jim Palmer, Tony Gwynn, Stan Misial, Duke Snider, Evan Longoria, Paul Molitor, Johnny
Bench, Ozzie Smith, Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Howard/Cole Hamels, Ichiro, Ivan Rodriguez
The Cards Your Mom Threw Out Original Back – Ivan Rodriguez
When They Were Young – Jason Berken, Johnny Damon, Brian Roberts, Aaron Poreda
Peak Performance – Alex Rodriguez, Evan Longoria, David Ortiz, Ichiro, Lou Gehrig, David Wright, Manny Ramirez, Joe Mauer,
Babe Ruth
Legendary Lineage – Musial/Pujols, Ripken/Jeter, Gwynn/Mauer, Seaver/Halladay, Jackson/Dunn, Speaker/Sizemore,
Smith/Reyes, Foxx/Ramirez, Robinson/Kemp
Peak Performance Jersey – Aramis Ramirez white with blue pinstripe
Review:
I start this review with a story…
It was late winter 1978, and I was playing little league basketball – and I was not very good. That
year, I made the only basket I ever made in three seasons of playing. I knew I wasn’t good, but I
tried really hard, and all of the coaches liked me and let me play as much as everyone for that
reason.
The day I scored the basket, I cannot tell you whether we won or lost. However, I remember the
coach of the other team calling his players over after the game and giving each of them a pack of cards
from the brand new Topps set. He had one pack left after he was done with his team, and he saw me and
gave the last one to and congratulated me on making the basket. I couldn’t wait to get home and open that
pack up!
That is how I feel every year when the new set of Topps Baseball comes out. It is a rite of passage for me
to crack open and inspect the king of all baseball card sets. And the 2010 version puts a huge smile on
my face.
With all of the changes in the industry, Topps is now the only fully licensed set, and the company takes full
advantage. From the huge team logos (is that a reminder to a certain other company that they are not
allowed to use those logos) to awesome pictures to the new Franchise History subset, the base set is, as always, a killer and
warrants the reputation as the single most important base set to complete every year.
This year, however, Topps pulls out all of the stops with the inserts. Just look at the list above for a peek into the quantity and
diversity of what else is included in packs of 2010 Topps Baseball. There are too many to go into all of them, so I’ll pick a
couple that I truly loved. The Cards Your Mom Threw Out are exactly that – cards from Topps’ storied past (and are quite
reminiscent of one of my all-time favorite sets, Topps Archive). This is truly a subset worth completing, since it will show the
breadth of Topps’ history as a card company. The other, and probably the most important of all, is the Million Card Giveaway.
Again, the name says it all. Topps is including redemptions in their packs for a copy of every card in their vast library. Granted,
the odds of your redemption to actual turn into a valuable card are very slim (my six resulted in four commons from the 80s,
one from 2009 and, the crown jewel, a player I never heard of from 1971). Put the actual results aside and look at the concept,
though, and this is one doozy of a giveaway – and worth the price of admission all by itself.
It gets tough to write a glowing review of Topps Baseball every year, but that is exactly what I do. Such is the case, though,
when the product is consistently good year in and year out........................
A+
