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The box: 2017 Topps Archives baseball cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 8
Cards in this box: 192
Base set completion:
176 of 300 (59 percent)
Duplicates: 0
Notables on base cards – Dennis Eckersley, Sandy Koufax, Anthony Rizzo, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Alomar, Anthony Rizzo, Eddie Murray, John Smoltz, Gary Sanchez, Ivan Rodriguez, Clayton Kershaw, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Correa, Tony Clark, Jimmie Foxx, Francisco Lindor, David Ortiz, Jose Altuve, George Brett, Derek Jeter, Ted Williams, Warren Spahn, Tom Seaver, Randy Johnson, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Roberto Clemente, Joe Morgan, Rollie Fingers, Ichiro Suzuki, Tony Perez, Carl Yastrzemski, Don Mattingly, Mike Piazza, Willie McCovey, Albert Pujols, Bo Jackson, Jim Palmer, Lou Gehrig, Buster Posey
Rookie Cards (24) – Ryon Healy, Raimel Tapia, German Marquez, David Dahl, Manny Margot, Tyler Glasnow, Jorge Alfaro, Rio Ruiz, Roman Quinn, Jose DeLeon, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Cecchini, Carlos Asuaje, Andrew Benintendi, Yulieski Gurriel, Jake Thompson, Alex Bregman, Hunter Dozier, T.J. Rivera, Tyler Austin, Jacoby Jones, Matt Strahm, Seth Lugo, Matt Olson
Inserts: 14 (all inserts in gallery below)
Retro Original (2) – Gary Sanchez, Anthony Rizzo
Derek Jeter Retrospective (2) – 1998, 2013
1959 Bazooka (4) – Nolan Ryan, Corey Seager, Omar Vizquel, Ozzie Smith
Blackless variation (1) – Harmon Killebrew
Rookie Stars (2) – Aaron Judge, Tyler Glasnow
Blue parallels (1) – Felix Hernandez (/75)
Peach parallels (2) – Dansby Swanson, Dexter Fowler (/199)
Autographs/Memorabilia: 2
Fan Favorites Autographs (1) – Turk Wendell
Fan Favorites Light Blue Autographs (1) – Dave Stieb (/75)
What’s Buzz-worthy: This box perfectly sums up one of the possibilities with Archives — you will have boxes where your two autos are memorable but lesser-valued players. If you’re buying merely for hits, you’ll have to buy by the case to assure you a shot at The Big One. (Big here is Derek Jeter and a number of oddball autos we’ve previously discussed here on The Buzz along with the likes of Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Andrew Benintendi, Nolan Ryan and others you’d expect to see on the baseball side.) The base set is a quiet star in this one with nearly every card being of a name player with some lesser names sprinkled in among the stars, notable retirees and Hall of Famers. The inserts offer a decent amount of variety when ripping a hobby box and the three sets in one (1960, 1992 and 1982) also offer an interesting mix with a correct take on the card stock and smart ways of applying uniform variations across the board for those years (grey stock, gold foil and blackless). All in all this was a decent box with a parallel auto (only noticed because of the numbering — the blue on the 1990s is barely applied to the background of the photos) and some good rookies among the inserts. About the only drawback is that the 1992s (particularly their parallels) show nicks easily and some of the inserts also have light stock. Otherwise, this is a fun collector-minded product with some big potential in cases — just not one where you should expect it in every box.
Product Grade: A-
Box Grade: B
Fun Grade: A
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