Trader's Retreat - Box Break and Review
2015 Topps Archives Baseball
By Jim Van Nest
June 24, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Configuration: 24 packs per box, 8 cards per pack – 192 Cards total
Set Breakdown
330 Card Base set (Cards 300-330 are short printed)
Cards 1-100 - 1957 Topps set, 101-200 - 1976 Topps set, 201-200 - 1983 Topps set, 301-310 - 1957 Topps Set, 311-320 - 1976 Topps set, 321-330 - 1983 Topps set
Parallels: Silver #/199, Gold #/50, Black #1/1, Printing Plate #1/1
44 Card Fan Favorites Autograph Set
Parallels: Silver #/199, Gold #/50, Black #1/1
33 Card Topps Game Insert Set
20 Card 1990 Topps All-Star Rookies Set
Parallels: Gold #/50, Black #1/1, Printing Plate #1/1
9 Card 1990 Topps All-Star Rookie Autographs Set
Parallels: Gold #/50, Black #1/1, Printing Plate #1/1
15 Card 1990 Topps #1 Draft Picks Set
Parallels: Gold #/50, Black #1/1, Printing Plate #1/1
8 Card 1990 Topps #1 Draft Pick Autographs Set
Parallels: Gold #/50, Black #1/1, Printing Plate #1/1
10 Card Presidential Chronicles Set
Parallels: Cut Signatures #1/1
22 Card Topps Originals Autographs Set
10 Card Will Ferrell Set
Parallels: Autograph #/10
Original Stamped Buybacks - Actual older cards stamped and inserted randomly into packs
There are plenty of reasons to be excited for 2015 Topps Archives Baseball. Fan Favorite Autographs are back!! Also, a sweet 10-card Will Ferrell insert set highlights Topps' old school set. And if that's not enough, you're promised two On-Card autos in every box!
Base and Parallels
One of the best things about the Archives brand is the eclectic array of players featured. You can literally open a pack that has both Kris Bryant and Babe Ruth in it. You also get a taste of what sets of the past looked like. In this year's Archives, 1957, 1976 and 1983 take center stage. As you can see above, the '57 style is very minimal. Nothing fancy, just the players. In our box we pulled 58/100 of the cards in this style. The next set, 1976, has a little more graphic to it as well as a green back. You can actually watch as cards become more cluttered with info on the front picture as you go through this set. We pulled 59/100 of the 1976 style cards. Finally, we get to 1983. These cards have an orange back and feature an action shot of the player and a head shot. Again, more info showing up on the front of the card. In our box we pulled 56/100 of these cards. Overall, we pulled 173/300 cards in the non-short print set, or 58% with no duplicates. Also we pulled none of the high numbered short prints in our box.
There aren't as many different parallels in Archives as in some other products, but we still pulled two parallels in our box. We pulled Silver parallels of rookie Brandon Finnegan and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench. Both cards have silver borders and are numbered to #/199. There are also Gold and Black parallels, but we didn't pull any of those in our box.
Inserts
2015 Archives features several different insert sets and we got plenty of them in our box. First up is the Topps Game Insert set. We pulled four of these cards in our box and they represent a Line Out, Fly Out and Strike Out as well as a Hit By Pitch. I have no idea how to play this game, but it seems loaded toward "Outs." These cards have rounded corners and feature a white background with only a headshot of the player.
The next two sets are similar. Both are set on the 1990 Topps design and they are the All Star Rookies and #1 Draft Picks sets. Of the former, we pulled Rymer Liriano and Michael Taylor. These cards are exact replicas of the 1990 version complete with full minor league stat lines. We pulled two #1 Draft Picks and a parallel of a #1 Draft Pick. We scored Max Scherzer and Bryce Harper base inserts. The final version is a Chris Sale Gold version, #21/50. Differing from the base set, this parallel does not have a different color border, but rather a gold tint to the background of the photo. These are really easy to miss, so pay attention to the back of the cards for the serial numbers.
The next set is a horizontal set called Presidential Chronicles. In our box, we pulled versions commemorating Gerald Ford and Abraham Lincoln. The back of both cards feature some facts about the president pictured on the front of the card. The last two sets are promised at a rate of 1/box. The first is the Will Ferrell insert. The card we pulled, as you can see, is Ferrell in the Cincinnati Reds uni. Apparently, he's a third baseman. The final insert in the set is the Original Buyback card. In our box, we pulled a 1974 card of Chicago White Sox second baseman Luis Alvarado. This is not a reprint, it's an actual 1974 card. It has been stamped with a silver foil Topps Original logo.
Autographs
Brought back after a short hiatus, Fan Favorite Autographs are promised in the Archives box at a clip of 2/box. Our box proved no exception. Our first auto is of young phenom Dontrelle Willis in his Florida Marlins uniform. The next auto is of Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry. Both autos are, as promised, on-card and look really good. They didn't fade out too much of the picture and the players did a pretty good job of making a legible signature in the space providd..
Final Thoughts on 2015 Topps Archives Baseball
Priced around $90/box, Archives is priced right around the top of the price point I would pay. I like the Archives set and the throwback cards. The autos are very nice, but there's not as much bang for your buck as there is in a lot of Topps sets. This is a set collector's set and it is still fun to pull Babe Ruth cards out of a brand new pack of cards. So, I go back and forth on it. The on-card autos go a long way to help the box more worth the price.
If you'd like to see the live break of the box that accompanies this review, well, just click Right Here!
Ratings
Innovation: 4
Fun: 5
Value: 4
Rebuy: 4
Total– 17/20 - I'd rate 2015 Topps Archives a B!
NPN Information
NPN 2015 Topps Archives BB
PO BOX 765
Pittston, PA 18640
Limit – 1 Request Per Household
Postmarked by: September 2, 2015
Received by: September 9, 2015
For our Canadian collectors, your entry will need to be accompanied by the answer to this skill question: 14 x 3 + 2 – 11 = ?
Once again, thanks so much to our sponsors at Topps for giving us the opportunity to review this great new product. For more information on all of their products, you can check them out at www.Topps.com. You can also follow them on Twitter: @toppscards. For all the great new trading card updates coming to BOP, be sure to give me a follow as well: @vannestjc. Til next time, take care.