Wednesday, January 14, 2015

2014 Topps High Tek Baseball Cards Box Break Recap And Review

There were some good things to come out of the 1990s, some not so good things. Ask any collector who remembers opening packs from that time and they will give you a wide variety of opinions about the cards. So it makes sense that present day collectors have a wide variety of opinions about a call back to that time, 2014 Topps High Tek Baseball. As a matter of fact, its reasonable that the same collector have differing opinions about High Tek, as do I.

With cards that look different than anything out there on the plus side to the wide variety of swirls and geometric patterns that make up the foil accents sandwiched in the acetate which sometimes comes off as distracting and render the stat back pointless on the negative side.  But this solely acetate product does have a strong checklist.

2014 Topps High Tek Baseball cards fall under our premium cards category and come in a hobby exclusive box with 8 cards, one of which is a base parallel and one of which is an autograph.

Here are the cards that were in the box.



Gregory Polanco, front and back
Ernie Banks, Nick Castellanos, Frank Thomas
George Springer Spirals Patttern
Alex Guerrero Grid Pattern
Fred McGriff Black & White Image parallel #/15
Shelby Miller Base Autograph (no numbering)

Overall Look
This is definitely a case of beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I happen to like acetate cards and the concept of using them for everything from base cards to hits is appealing. Unlike some of the cards of the 90s that had grids and lines all over the place, these cards tend to leave the player photo alone, at least for the most part.I’m not a big fan of the reuse of the same player photo on the back. The back stats are tiny and don’t invite spending much time looking at them. But overall the cards look good and much better in person. Photos don’t really capture the true look and since most of the card are is clear, seeing the scans with the white background doesn't tell the whole story.

Quality and Variety of the Players
Make no mistake, this checklist is deep. Most autographs are not numbered so its hard to determine if the distribution and ratio of big name hits is as good as the depth of the checklist.

Do The Hits Satisfy
For the most part yes. While acetate is a great looking medium for design, its not so friendly to the pen at times. Things that detract from an autograph for serious collectors such as streaking, smearing, different pen pressure is amplified many times over by the acetate. Our auto, as far as those concerns, was one of the better autos we've seen.

Will you keep coming back for more?
It starts with how you feel about the design and then gets a small boost by the players that signed for High Tek. This is a product that most collectors will vacillate on. Those that are adventurous and decide to pursue a master set will wind up with a pretty cool item on their hands.

Rating
4 out of 5


2014 Topps High Tek Baseball is unique and has a lot to offer but might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

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