2012 Topps Baseball Update Series Box Break Recap And Review

Full of late trades, mid-season rookies and All-Star selections, 2012 Topps Baseball Update Series is the final act of this year’s flagship product.  Not only does this set include a wide variety of inserts,, including continuations from sets from Series 1 and 2 and all new inserts, Update also include Gold Base Parallels of all three series, 990 in total, that are numbered to 2012.

For the purposes of review, we classify Update Series as trading cards.  You can find Update Series in a wide variety of configurations in both retail and hobby.  We opened a hobby box that contained 36 – 10 card packs with a promise of 1 autograph or 1 relic card per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled.

Base Set

Andy Pettitte, front and back

Yu Darvish, Matt Cain

Roy Oswalt, Jonathan Broxton, Bobby Abreu

Johnny Damon, Trevor Cahill, Matt Harvey

Jesus Montero, Bryce Harper, Trevor Bauer

Jesus Montero, Bryce Harper, Trevor Bauer

Buster Posey, Matt  Kemp, Yu Darvish 

Prince Fielder, Clayton Kershaw

Mike Trout, Jose Bautista, Justin Verlander

Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, Miguel Cabrera

Gold Parallel

 Tyler Moore, Mark Trumbo, Jim Thome

 Quintin Berry, Jordan Danks, J.A. Happ

 Hunter Pence, Starling Marte, Josh Edgin

Series 1, 2 & Update Gold Border Parallels #/2012

Jason Isringhausen

Jorge De La Rosa, Mark Buehrle

Joe Smith, Sergio Santos

Prince Fielder, Donovan Solano, Andres Torres

Matt Harrison, Shane Victorino, Jacob Diekman

Kyle Farnsworth, Nick Swisher, Matt Downs

Gaby Sanchez, Nick Markakis, Carlos Lee

Todd Helton, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Lindblom

Zack Greinke, Brandon Phillips

Blcokbusters

Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan

Ichiro, Johan Santana, Carlton Fisk

Yoenis Cespedes, Catfish Hunter, Ryne Sandberg

Golden Moments

Ian Kennedy, Andre Ethier

David Price, Ryan Braun

Andrew McCutchen, Johnny Bench

Albert Belle, Matt Kemp

Josh Hamilton, Matt Cain

Golden Greats

Ozzie Smith, Mike Schmidt

Wade Boggs, Gary Carter

1987 Minis

 Paul Goldschmidt, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper

 Jim Rice, Nolan Ryan, Mark Trumbo

Mat Latos, Austin Jackson, Mike Moustakas

Golden Giveaway Codes

 Warren Spahn, Steve Calrton

 Tony Gwynn, Yu Darvish

 Bob Gibson, Bryce Harper

 Presidential Predictors

 Barack Obama win Florida, Mitt Romney win Tennessee

Silk Collection

 Javier Lopez #/50

The Hit

Jeff Niemann Golden Moments Autograph

Overall Look

As I have said in previous reviews for Series 1 and 2, this year is a mixed bag for me.  Some cards I like, some I don't.  Base design is decent. Photo selection is on par with that of Series 2, which I found to be much better than it was for Series 1.  Standout inserts for me are the Blockbusters.   Again, the full gold parallels still look muddy to me, as do the Golden Silks, but he gold border parallels #/2012 look sharp.

Quality and Variety of Players

Topps has gone a long way this year to secure some of the best legends of the game with the inclusion of Roberto Clemente, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays added to the line up established last year of Sandy Koufax and Hank Aaron.  The legends included in the inserts are fantastic.  The advantage that Update has over Series 1 and Series 2 is the inclusion of the hottest mid season rookies.

Do the hits hold up?

There are some super autographs to be pulled. The Hall of Fame Plaques and Gold Ring Award Winners cards are impressive.  Update Series is loaded with other great looking hits from All-Star Game relics to Blockbusters Commemorative Hat Logos.  Bonus hits include General Manger Autographs, an idea I really like, and the Presidential Predictors code cards.  (To see which of these cards are eligible for prize consideration, use this link)  Overall this makes Update the best product in the flagship series for hit seekers.

Will you want to collect them all?

You will definitely want a complete base set to wrap up your year. Those who are most adventurous will chase a complete 990 card Gold Parallel set.

Rating 

 4 1/2 out of 5

In an unusual turn of events, 2012 Topps Baseball Update Series upstages the releases that came before it.  For those that normally just stick to collecting Series 1 and 2, Update is a set that should not be ignored this year.


Review box provided by Topps