Gallery: 2016 Topps baseball cards

s-l1600-3
Contest >> Click here to win a box of 2016 Topps Series 1

This one will be purely visual — a sampling of 2016 Topps baseball cards already pulled by collectors. Keep reading to see more and Buzz will update this one as more interesting cards surface. (Looking for the First Pitch cards? You will find them here.)

Look for camouflage uniforms as part of the photo variations in this set, too.

5 thoughts on “Gallery: 2016 Topps baseball cards

  1. Gary February 2, 2016 / 12:26 pm

    I really like the layout of the base cards. I especially like the “Perspective” subset, they look sharp.

    Like

  2. Kyle Gaffney February 2, 2016 / 5:23 pm

    I love the variety of cards on display here, especially those MLB Debut cards. Can’t wait to see them in person.

    Like

  3. Ryan Kalmoe February 3, 2016 / 7:39 am

    I think Topps has done an outstanding job with their flagship product this year. Here’s a breakdown:

    Design: Very clean, sharp. I’m a big fan of the lack of truly defined borders. The diagonal slash with the logo helps the design tremendously, giving it a kind of gift-wrapped appearance. The overall appearance is very modern, looking like screen shot off of a TV broadcast while the player is at bat. For me, that really works.

    Parallels: Either you love them, or your hate them. I find myself loving what they did with the parallels. The gold parallels, a staple of the flagship products for years now, are incredibly attractive. With the honeycomb pattern filling in the fading corners and a marquee-esque ‘Topps 2016’ border that materializes out of the white, the cards are different enough to be unique and not just some color variation of the border, but still the same card enough to be a parallel. Bravo Topps, bravo.

    Inserts: I really like the Berger’s Best cards. I’ll be honest, when I read the sell sheet I scratched my head and went “What on earth are those?” I didn’t bother Googling it or anything. As the sort of ‘main’ insert set for the series, I practically wrote off the set before I even saw any cards. Now that I know what they are, and despite it basically being done before (read: reprints) I think they are quite nice. You get a great mix of active and retired players, so there is something for everyone. As the go-to set to bring young kids and new collectors into the hobby, I have to admit that a set really should have some sort of tip of the hat to the hobby’s heritage. The First Pitch inserts are back, and those were a tremendous hit last year and look to be again this year. You can’t beat added value in a hobby that is so hit-dominated these days. I’m also a big fan of the Pressed Into Service inserts. As a proud veteran myself, I really cherish being able to share that connection with some of these players. The Perspectives inserts are also quite sharp with their 3D text stretching into the frame. Whoever came up with the idea for the die-cut team logo food cards needs to get a raise. Or an award. Or both. As a final note on inserts, the Laser Cut booklet cards are just fantastic.

    Hits: The designs are all pretty standard for your run-of-the-mill hits. The designs don’t look like they have changed tremendously from previous years. The relics look a lot like 2014. Same with the autos. But those have never been the real appeal of the product, it’s always the bigger hits. The World Series hits will always be a big attraction, and the usual autographed and relic variants of the inserts are there. Fortunately the inserts are all really quite good, so that will be the saving grace of the hits for this product. I’m never a big fan of the manufactured relics, with the exception of 2010 with the manufactured bat barrels, and 2011’s manufactured glove nameplates were alright as well. I do not like these pins/coins/signets/whatever. If it is metal, I’m not a fan. But that’s just me, I know a lot of people do like them.

    Overall: Sharp, clean, and mostly different. I’m looking forward to the product to say the least!

    Like

Leave a comment