Tuesday, February 23, 2016

My Thoughts on the Complete Set of Topps 2016 Series One

I've wrapped things up with the Cubs from series one, so it is time to move on to the complete set.

This makes my 48th consecutive year of Topps sets, as I've got each set from 1969 moving forward.  Here's a look at my collection.


I keep the oldest and most valuable sets  (1969 - 1979) on the top of the shelves, stored lying flat.  This is to prevent the pages from folding over and bending the cards. The rest are on shelves of the unit on the left, vertically, with a shelf per decade....80's, 90's, 2000s, and the 2010s are on the bottom shelf.  The unit on the right has my other brand complete sets.

Each binder has a label that I've made. Some labels are based on the wax packs while others borrow their design from the complete set box.  The past few years I've made my own using images from the sell sheets.


This is the label I made for 2016.

**As for the cards and the set, they're fine. I'm a Topps collector, so I'll buy the set no matter what.

**The borderless cards don't bother me.

**The pictures are mostly tight, game action shots.  They are also starting to get a little cliche.  You have pitchers making a pitch, batters taking a swing, and fielders letting go of the ball.  It's becoming the same old thing, like the same old poses used back in the day.  What the action shots don't do is capture the personality of the players.  Their game faces all look the same.  There is no smile, no life in the action shots.


This is what I'd like to see more of...personality.


**There don't seem to be very many cards that show players in throwback jerseys.  I don't know if it was because there weren't many worn by teams last year of if Topps didn't pick photos from those games.


**Every card got a smokey white top corner.  It moved from left to right depending on the picture.  Wouldn't it make sense to assume its purpose was to make the Topps logo more visible?



No.


**This has to be the smallest player I've seen on a card in a while.  I'm not sure whey they went with a horizonal card.


Vertical would look fine.


It reminds me of the action shots from the mid-Seventies.

11 comments:

  1. That's awesome. Is it just series one for each year or do you do update and traded as well?

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  2. 1) The Smoke is there to allow for parallels. 2) I think there is a Throwback insert planned for a future set (Opening Day?) that may be the reason for less Throwbacks in 2016 Topps. Nice work on those sets.

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    1. Looks like Heritage will have several throwback variation cards.

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  3. "There don't seem to be very many cards that show players in throwback jerseys. I don't know if it was because there weren't many worn by teams last year of if Topps didn't pick photos from those games."

    There were plenty of throwback games last year. Besides a couple on the Pirates (that you have shown above), I only have found one other throwback uniform card - Melky Cabrera wearing the '59s when they played the Cubs at Comiskey. And it's a shame because there were a lot of great throwbacks last year. The Cubs had at least 3 games in throwbacks. The Cards have they gorgeous chain stitched "St Louis". The annual Negro league game in Detroit. In fact, Wikipedia has a whole list:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Major_League_Baseball_season#Throwbacks

    The hope is a few of those show up in Archives, Heritage or GQ.

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  4. I dig your comment about showing the player's personalities. I guess it would take a lot more work on Topps' part to get the photos but I'd sure buy more cards if they did. Take a quirky guy like Ryan Dempster. I don't think I've ever seen a card that even hints at his sense of humor. Of course, your organizational abilities are legendary.

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  5. It's even more awesome with the binders being the same.

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    1. I think I have eight binders for my cards and three of them are the same. The other 5 are very different (and it drives me batty).
      Uniformity, organization... your collection is the bee's knees.

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  6. I was hoping to see a card in the Whales throwback, as they did with the ChiFeds and Rizzo in 2015.

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