Topps has been releasing factory sets for their base brand annually since 1982. This set was released on July 3rd, 2019. It contains all the regular cards from the Series One & Two sets. There are a total of 701 cards not including the bonus cards. The extra cards come in a sealed pack. Two cards are numbered 700. These are Alex Berg and then the addition of Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s Rookie Card. There are 12 sets per case.
Of course, there are more than five different versions of this set. These include:
- The Retail set – Blue Box
- The Hobby set – Red Box (available at card shops)
- The 1st Target Edition – Green Box
- The 2nd Target Edition – Orange Box
- The All-Star Edition – Blue Box (available at www.topps.com) This also has 5 MLB All-Star Cards
- The Walmart Set (details not available at this time)
These sets are basically the same with some slight variations. Which one should you buy? It depends on the price and which of the extra cards you are interested in.
Note that the first Target edition is the same as the retail except for one extra card. The price of the set is about $50 at Target.
- The Target set is probably a slightly better value if it is found at the same price as the retail set.
- I have seen the Hobby set selling for $65+. Hobby boxes of wax packs can be worth a premium over retail but I don’t see the rational for paying an extra $15 or so for the Hobby factory set.
This is a good way to get the entire set but you miss out on all the special inserts that are included in the wax packs.
Following their new tradition, the #7 card was issued to Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres in honor of Mickey Mantle.
Key Cards include:
- #100 Mike Trout
- #150 Aaron Judge
- #300 Christan Yelich
- #400 Bryce Harper
- #500 Manny Machado
- #600 Shohei Ohtani
Rookies
The following Rookie cards are in this set:
- #475 Pete Alonso (Only the second Rookie to hit 50 home runs)
- #700 Vladimir Guerrero Jr (This is a different photo from the unnumbered card from the series two packs)
This set is a great gift idea, especially for a child born in 2018.
Updated 9/27/19