Reviewing Topps' flagship Baseball Card release is just an exercise in personal taste. It is a given that any Baseball card collector should include Topps Baseball Series 1 & 2 in their collection each year. 2013 Topps Baseball is all about "The Chase" and that theme permeates from base to inserts to hits. Everything about this year's version is on par with past releases, walking the middle ground when it comes to design which should appeal to a wide range of tastes.
For a detailed description of the cards with Everything You Need To Know About 2013 Topps Baseball Series Cards, use this link.
For the purposes of this review, we classify Series 2 as trading cards. You can find Series 1 in a wide variety of configurations in both retail and hobby. We opened a box hobby box which 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
Jose Bautista, front and back
Robinson Cano, Ervin Santana
Aaron Hicks, Matt Moore, Neil Walker
Paul Goldschmidt, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana
Koji Uehara, Jason Marquis, Andy Pettitte
Jake Peavy, John Lackey, Brandon Belt
Zack Greinke, Chris Perez, David Price
Hisashi Iwakuma, Albert Pujols, Wei-Yin Chen
Josh Hamilton, David Ortiz, Evan Gattis
Billy Butler, Jose Fernandez, Yoenis Cespedes
Jay Bruce, Matt Garza, Hyun-Jin Ryu
B.J. Upton, Jon Lester
Mariano Rivera, Miguel Cabrera
Pablo Sandoval, Nick Markakis
Everth Cabrera, Stephen Strasburg
Ian Kinsler, Todd Helton
Base Set - Record Chase
Derek Jeter, Juan Pierre
Alfonso Soriano, Tim Hudson
CC Sabathia
Base Set - Yearly Awards
Mike Trout AL ROY, Bryce Harper NL ROY
Buster Posey NL MVP, Miguel Cabrera AL MVP
Michael Bourn NL Defensive ROY, Mike Trout AL Defensive ROY
R.A. Dickey NL CY Young, David Price AL Cy Young
Base Set Parallels
Green
Josh Vitters, Brandon Moss, Mark Buehrle
Henderson Alvarez, Jeff Nieman, Alfonso Soriano
Gold #/2013
Brian Dozier, Josh Hamilton, Logan Morrison
Donovan Solano, Mike Baxter, Brett Wallace
Camo #/99
Andrew Cashner
Inserts
The Elite
Ryan Braun, Ernie Banks
1972 Topps Baseball Minis
Josh Johnson, Matt Williams, Fred Lynn
Robinson Cano, Tim Lincecum, Reggie Jackson
George Brett, Gary Sheffield, Willie Stargell
2nd Chance Vintage Card Giveaway
front and back
World Baseball Classic
Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto
Justin Morneau, Ryan Braun, Carlos Gonzalez
Making Their Mark
Mike Olt, Jason Kipnis, Dylan Bundy
Todd Frazier, Anthony Rizzo, Lance Lynn
Chase It Down
Bryce Harper, Josh Reddick
Jason Heyward, Pablo Sandoval
Million Dollar Chase Code Cards
front and back
Chasing History
Tim Lincecum. Joey Votto
Fred Lynn. Mark Trumbo
Roy Halladay. Matt Holliday
Buster Posey, Mariano Rivera, Roberto Clemente
Cut to the Chase Die Cuts
Prince Fielder. Alex Rodriguez, Chris Sale
The Hit
Scott Rolen Chasing History Relic
Overall Look
I like this year's base card design, even more than the insert design. Standout inserts for me are the Cut to the Chase die cut cards I'm also digging on these minis. Hit cards are rather standard design, what we've come to expect from Topps flagship.
Quality and Variety of Players and Subsets.
Topps has gone a long way this year to secure some of the best legends of the game which is fantastic. The base set is as complete as you could expect.
Do the hits hold up?
There is a wide enough variety of hits, autos, relics and manufactured that are desirable.
Will you want to collect them all?
The set is compelling enough this year to make collectors toy with the idea of going for a master set.
Rating
4 1/2 out of 5
2013 Topps Baseball Series 2 is great for both beginning and seasoned collectors. Your Baseball collection is incomplete without them.
Review box provided by Topps
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