Helping to keep everyone up-to-date on what is coming out and what might be worthy of your time in the Baseball Card Hobby for the current week. Check out our Discord for more discussion on this and any other hobby chatter - Prospects Live Discord.
This week we have two scheduled releases - 2022 Topps Archives Snapshots and 2023 Topps Series 1. This post will be updated if more news, product information and/or product drops occur throughout the week. ***2023 Topps Series 1 First Edition does have a checklist, but no details exist beyond that. *****Updated for Series 1 drops below
Check out the Youtube companion video.
2022 Topps Archives Snapshots
A low end online exclusive, 2022 Topps Archives Snapshots is currently scheduled for release on Friday, February 17th.
There are zero details on the 2022 product other than the release date. It will likely follow suit with past releases. A single configuration with 12 cards per pack containing one parallel and one auto (on-card in the past). They’ve sold for $25 per box in the past. The design is unknown. The checklist is unknown, but typically it’s a short 50 card base checklist with about 30 to 40 of those players also having autos. It is usually a checklist heavy on the rookies. Given the strength of the 2022 rookie class in general, this could be a product that gets snapped up immediately if J-Rod, Witt, Peña, etc. are included in it.
I love Archives Snapshots as the price point is nice and I like the paper stock with the glossy finish. If I can, I will likely snag at least one box when this drops.
2023 Topps Series 1
The first product of the 2023 baseball card product cycle, 2023 Topps Series 1 is scheduled for release on Wednesday, February 15th.
There are two hobby formats - a regular Hobby box and a Jumbo Hobby box. The regular Hobby box comes with one auto OR relic while the Jumbo Hobby box comes with one auto AND two relics. They are currently selling for around $90 (Hobby) and $160 (Jumbo) pre-sale. Topps sold regular Hobby boxes for $79.99 last year and have stuck to that price point for Flagship throughout 2022. There are also going to be all the retail formats imaginable and blasters have been on pre-sale at various places like Target ($25) and Dick’s Sporting Goods ($30). ***Update - Topps is selling Hobby boxes for $89.99 with a customer limit of 6, Jumbo boxes for $149.99 with a customer limit of 4, and Blaster boxes for $25 with a customer limit of 10. I believe this is the first time Topps is selling Jumbo Hobby boxes of Flagship on their website, which has a lot of interesting implications. Even more, they are selling it for $10 less per box than their own Suggested Retail Price (eyes emoji). 2023 Series 1 1st Edition dropped on Tuesday, February 14th. Price is $360 per box with a customer limit of 6.
The design is a throwback to Topps designs from 40 years ago (1983) and 60 years ago (1963). It’s a full white border with a player headshot included in the bottom section with the team logo, player name, team name, and position. It’s a good design, but like all Flagship designs, there have been some critics, especially with where the rookie card logo placement is. Also the parallels do not go for the full border treatment which was a strange choice. The 35th anniversary throwback is the Topps 1988 design, which is really bland. Not something I am that excited about even though there is a bit of nostalgia for me as this was during the heart of my young collecting days. Every base card has an image variation, called the Golden Mirror Image Variation and is denoted by having a gold back. That’s 330 image variations alone, plus all of the likely short prints and super short prints and super super short prints. We also get all the various inserts which at the moment the “AKA” set looks to be the most intriguing.
The checklist is full of desirable rookies including Gunnar Henderson, Michael Harris II, Adley Rutschman, Vinnie Pasquantino, Brett Baty, and so many more. You can check out my Product Preview on release day to see my thoughts on all of the player with base rookies cards in the product. There will also be some rookies that will only show up in inserts and/or autos like Corbin Carroll, Francisco Alvarez, and Josh Jung.
Every year the excitement for Series 1 is palpable. The first product of the baseball card product cycle leads to a rush of chasing new rookies. And this year, the rookie checklist is as good as I can remember for a Series 1 product. I will definitely be picking some up for myself.