2020 Topps Baseball Series 1
Release date: Feb 5th 2020
Cards per pack: 14 (Hobby) 46 (Hobby Jumbo) 16 (Retail)
Packs per box: 24 (Hobby) 10 (Hobby Jumbo)
Boxes per case: 12 (Hobby) 6 (Hobby Jumbo)
350 cards in the base set (Code 269)
This is the flagship Topps set that they have been putting out since the early 1950’s. While you can buy the compete set later in the year; this set is popular among those that like to put their own complete set together. It is also well liked by those who love the inserts that are not included in the complete base set. The photographs on the cards are fantastic. They are Stadium Club worthy. One thing that I don’t like is that the name is on either the left or right side. I think it is easier to read when it is at the bottom. There seems to be a plethora of landscape cards. I have never been a fan of these. The gold cards don’t look appealing. They look more brown than gold. The cards have a border on just one side. The backs are clean and I’ve always liked the way Topps lists the complete career stats.
Retail Cards
- Retail packs have 16 cards and cost about $3.
- Fat Packs have 34 cards and cost about $5. (This might be the best value)
- Hanger Boxes have 67 cards and cost about $10.
- Blaster Boxes have 98 cards (7 packs of 14) plus a patch. Note that this also includes a number of Topps coupons.
- Tins have 75 cards and cost about $15. I believe there are six designs.
Hobby Box should have:
- 1 Autograph or Relic
- 1 Home run Challenge
- 1 Derek Jeter Retrospective
- 2 Rainbow Foil Parallels
Each Hobby Box will include a silver pack inside.
Jumbo Hobby Box should have:
- 1 Autograph and two Relics
- 1 Home run Challenge
- 5 Gold Foil Parallels
Each box will include two silver packs
Silver packs have 4 1985 Topps Chrome cards. It is possible to get an autographed one.
Subsets include:
- World Series
- League Leaders
Inserts include:
- Decade’s Best (100)
- Topps Choice (30)
- Decade of Dominance
- Decade’s Next (30)
35th Anniversary of 1985 Topps Baseball-These include current and retired players
Turkey Red (100) & Turkey Red Chrome – Retail packs have 1 per regular and blaster pack, 2 per fat pack and 4 per hanger.
- Home Run Challenge returns for the third year (30)
- Golden Ticket for a special event (only 25 available)
There are special inserts that are only available at certain locations. These include:
- Vladimir Guerrero Highlights (30) Target packs only.
- Walgreens Yellow Inserts.
Parallels
Rainbow foil is 1 per 10 packs in a Hobby Box
Gold Foil is 1 per every two packs in a Jumbo Hobby Box
- Gold
- Vintage Stock
- Independence Day
- Black
- Father’s Day Blue
Short Prints
These include SP and SSP. The SP is more common. The SPs use code 284 and the SSP uses 285. There are also a number of rarer cards that have code 578. An example of this is the Aaron Judge card that has Babe Ruth in the stands.
SP are about 1 per 43 hobby packs and 1 per 13 jumbo. For the retail they are 1 per 9 hanger box and 1 per 43 blaster.
Key Cards:
- 1 Mike Trout
- 7 Aaron Judge (This is following the new tradition to save this number for a Yankee in honor of Mickey Mantle)
- 125 Shohei Ohtani
- 150 Ronald Acuna Jr
- 200 Christian Yelich
- 250 Bryce Harper
- 350 Pete Alonso (Rookie Cup)
Key Rookies:
- 20 Aristides Aquino OF Cincinnati Reds Age (25)
- 64 Kyle Lewis OF Seattle Mariners (24)
- 69 Brendan McKay P Tampa Bay Rays (24)
- 78 Bo Bichette SS Toronto Bluejays (21)
- 235 Dustin May P Los Angelos Dodgers (22)
- 276 Yordan Alvarez OF Houston Astros (22) 2019 AL Rookie of the Year
- 292 Galvin Lux 2B/SS Los Angelos Dodgers (22)