2012 Topps Archives Blaster

I keep reading about 2012 Topps Archives baseball on other blogs, but I have yet to really see many of the cards.  While I was in Target today I decided to grab a blaster to see what all the fuss is about.

8 packs for $19.99, your standard blaster fare.  According to the box I can look for Fan Favorites Autographs.  I'll look, but I don't think I'll find any.

Each pack contains 8 cards.  I'm not going to scan and post every individual card from the blaster, so instead I'll give you a basic breakdown of the set and then get into some of my favorite cards.  The base set checklist stands at 240 cards...

Cards 1-50 are done in the 1954 Topps design.  So that's what a '54 Topps Mantle would have looked like I guess.  Something tells me that photo is from a lot later than 1954.

Cards 51-100 use the 1971 Topps design.

Cards 101-150 pay homage to 1980 Topps.

Cards 151-200 are done in the 1984 Topps design.

Cards 201-240 are short printed, falling at 1:4 packs.  The short prints use the design from a variety of Topps sets.

In terms of inserts/parallels, here are some of the less interesting pulls from my box...

I believe this Pujols card is officially dubbed a "Gold Rainbow Foilboard" parallel.  Whatever.

There's a 10-card insert set done in the style of the 1958 Topps combo cards.  I would have preferred almost any of the other 9 cards on the checklist over this one...

I pulled one 1968 Topps 3D insert, and again it's probably the one card I'd want least from the 15-card set.  I'm a sucker for 3D cards though and I do like how these look.

My '67 Topps Sticker insert was Derek Jeter.  Anyone have an Adrian Gonzalez or Carl Yastrzemski they'd part with for Derek?

There are 50 Reprint inserts, seeded at 1:4 packs.  They're all stamped with the Topps Archives foil logo.

Nothing all that exciting up until this point, but I actually did find the box to be a pretty entertaining rip.  Here are my top 8 cards from the blaster...

#8 - Derek Jeter base card - Just a good example of the base set done right.

#7 - Ty Cobb base card - When I first saw this one in the pack, I thought it looked awfully familiar.  Well, I found out I had pulled nearly the same card a while back from a 2010 Topps Update Series pack:

I think I like this one better actually...

#6 - Tom Seaver reprint - Here's my other reprint from the box.

#5 - Darryl Strawberry base card - Strawberry was the man in the '80s.  This has to be one of the nicer looking base cards in the set.

#4 - Willie Mays SP - Willie was by far the better of my two short prints.

#3 - Roberto Clemente base card - Clemente's is my single favorite base card from this box.  I don't think you can possibly be disappointed in adding a new Clemente to your collection, vintage or modern.

#2 - Gary Carter 1977 Cloth Sticker - There are 25 of these in all, and if I could hand pick one this would be near the top of the list.

I especially enjoyed pulling this one because Carter's 1977 Topps card has been a longtime favorite of mine.

Finally, my single favorite card from the blaster...

#1 - Carl Yastrzemski 1969 Topps Deckle Edge - This card is absolutely awesome.  In looking over the checklist, there's not another Deckle Edge insert I'd have taken over this one.

That was a decent blaster I have to say.  I ended up with 54 of the 200 base cards in the short set, 2 short prints, 1 parallel and 7 inserts.  I'd be willing to trade away the Pujols parallel, the Sandberg/Castro insert, the Sabathia insert, and/or the Jeter insert.  If you're interested, leave a comment and I'll set them to the side...