
That’s because Topps has released its flagship baseball product, beginning with Series 1, which hit store shelves and internet sites last week. A hobby box can be bought in the mid-$50s range; I bought mine through an online retailer for $57.99. If you buy a hobby or jumbo box online, the dealer should send you a special Topps Baseball Silver Pack, which includes four cards.
A hobby box contains 36 packs, with 10 cards to a pack. Topps promises one autograph or memorabilia card per hobby box. Jumbo boxes have 10 packs, with 50 cards per pack.
Collectors who buy jumbos can expect an autograph card and two relics per box.
As has been the case in recent years, Series 1 consists of 350 cards. The design is basically full bleed, with horizontal and vertical layouts on the card fronts. Being an old-school Topps guy, I’ve always preferred the vertical design. Plus, they look nicer in binders. The Topps logo is stamped in silver on the card front, with a team logo anchoring the bottom of the card. The player’s name and position take up one line, while the team name is underneath. A ribbon-like swirl begins under the team logo and curls up above the player’s game.

The hobby box I opened gave me 325 out of the 350 base cards, which is always a great start if you are a set collector. Some of the subsets include League Leaders, Team Cards, Future Stars, World Series Highlights and Combo Cards.
Collectors should remember that Topps likes to throw in short print and super short print variations. The best way to tell is to check the code on the card back. Base cards end with 87, while short prints end with 43. The last two numbers on super short print cards are 44.
It didn’t look like I found any variations, but I will double check once I put the cards in my binder and examine the card backs.
Parallels should be familiar for Topps collectors. Rainbow parallel fall once every 10 packs, or three to a hobby box on average. I pulled four from the box I opened. Other parallels include Gold, which are numbered to 2018; Vintage (99), Independence Day (76), Mother’s Day Pink (50), Father’s Day Blue (50), Memorial Day Camo (25) and 1/1 Platinum and printing plates. Hobby and jumbo exclusives include Black (67) and Negative, with Clear parallels (10) exclusive to hobby boxes.
As for inserts, one pays tribute to the 35th anniversary of the 1983 Topps set. There are 100 cards in this set, and a hobby box should yield nine on average. That is how many I pulled, including names like Corey Seager, Trey Turner, Addison Russell and even Jose Canseco.
MLB Awards is also a 50-card insert set and honors award winners in hitting, pitching and fielding. I pulled six of these cards (two above the average Topps projects), including Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Daniel Murphy, Brandon Crawford, Charlie Blackmon and Marcus Stroman.
Superstar Sensations is another 50-card subset that offers an interesting card front. There is a small color action player on the right side of the card, accompanied by a larger black-and-white shot. I pulled the average — four cards — and got Giancarlo Stanton, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander and Ichiro.
Topps Salute is a 100-card insert set that continues to pay tribute to holidays like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day and Jackie Robinson Day. Legends and rookies are also celebrated in this subset.
The Topps Now counts down the top 10 cards bought the day after a player turned in a strong performance, or whether a key event was held. I pulled two cards – one of Judge and one of Derek Jeter. The odds were pretty good I’d pull both of them — Judge appears on seven cards in the set, while Jeter is on two of them. The only non-Yankee in the set is the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger.
The Home Run Challenge insert falls one per hobby box. The back of the card has a scratch-off space with a code. Collectors go to Topps.com/Promotions and choose the game you think the home run hero will connect for a round tripper. If the player homers in that game, you win a prize and are entered in the grand prize drawing — a trip to the 2019 Home Run Derby, which will be contested at Cleveland’s Progressive Field. I pulled Jake Lamb of the Diamondbacks, who hit 30 homers during the 2017 season.
Collectors who enjoy buying retail will find different inserts to chase. Target has a 30-card tribute to Jeter, while Walmart has a 30-card look at the Cubs’ Kris Bryant. Legends in the Making is a 30-card subset available at both retail outlets, along with the 30-card MLB Opening Day set.
The hot card in the hobby box I bought was part of the Major League Materials relics set. The card I pulled was of Dodgers’ pitcher Kenta Maeda, and it contained a gray uniform swatch. For fans of retail, blaster boxes will contain an MLB Players Weekend Commemorative Patch.
The Silver Pack I received for buying the hobby box yielded four 1983 Chrome Promo cards. I pulled Jose Altuve (Astros), Garrett Cooper (Yankees) and Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks). The fourth card I pulled was a gold parallel of Astros shortstop Carlos Correia, numbered to 50. There are 50 of these chrome cards.
As usual, Topps gets out of the gate quickly and effectively with Series 1 baseball. The photography is sharp, and the action shots can be fresh and innovative. There are, of course, the usual stock poses, but the vibrant colors make them seem colorful.