2015 Topps Update Series Baseball Box Break & Review

Baseball card collectors are a funny bunch.  Especially when it comes to set collectors.  Where else could you get away with using the same base set design three times in one year?  The answer is nowhere.  If this was done with any other sport people would be throwing a fit.  But not with baseball collectors.  That just shows you how high up collectors hold the Topps flagship brand.

The 2015 MLB All-Star Game has a huge presence within this set.  These cards came out really well and feature all kinds of patches/autographs.  Unlike the Pro Bowl, the All-Star Game still means something and has a huge collecting base.  This is actually the first product this year to feature 2015 All-Star Game stuff.  You can also find the first true flagship rookies of guys like Carlos Correa and other popular rookies who made their debut this past season.  Throwing in the parallels and photo variations makes for a nice chase too.

Topps has created some very popular apps over the last few years that allow collectors to trade digital cards.  Some of these digital cards command huge money on the secondary market.  I think it was a great idea that Topps included crossover cards.  These are physical cards that you can pull and can be used to redeem digital cards inside the Topps Bunt app.  This is something they did with Series 2.  Within 2015 Topps Update Series these cards are called Universe and have a space theme.  They’re difficult to pull as each subject is numbered to 25.  Its impressive to see how much these physical and digital cards go for, especially for not containing any type of autograph or relic.  Its a refreshing blast you don’t see coming from any other manufacturer.

One of my favorite cards from the whole product is that of William Hoy.  You’ll find it in the Pride and Perseverance insert set.  This 12-card set covers players that overcame challenges in their life and made it all the way to the big leagues.  Hoy was deaf, and is one of the main reasons why they created hand signals for safe and out calls.  He doesn’t have many cards.  I believe his last card can be found in 2009 TRISTAR Obak.  Topps used the same photo, but added some color to it.  That original photograph was taken in a studio despite looking like it was taken outside.  A lot of photographers took pictures like that back then.  I’d like to see Topps revive some more old pictures from that time period in the same way.

Here is what I pulled:

Relic

• Anthony Rizzo All-Star Game Event-Worn Workout Jersey

Photo Variation

• Colby Lewis #US151

Parallels

• Frank Garces RC Pink #’ed/50
• Will Harris Black #’ed/64
• Kris Bryant Gold #’ed/2015
• Miguel Cabrera Gold #’ed/2015
• Darren O’day Gold #’ed/2015
• Travis Shaw/Allan Dykstra RC Gold #’ed/2015
• Tommy Pham RC Gold #’ed/2015
• Francisco Lindor RC Gold #’ed/2015
• Pat Venditte RC Gold #’ed/2015
• Jason Heyward Gold #’ed/2015
• Yoenis Cespedes Gold #’ed/2015
• Jonathan Herrera Gold #’ed/2015
• Casey McGehee Gold #’ed/2015
• Joe Smith Gold #’ed/2015
• Amazing Astros Gold #’ed/2015
• Daniel Norris RC Gold #’ed/2015
• Chris Rearick/Cory Mazzoni RC Gold #’ed/2015
• Brian Dozier Gold #’ed/2015
• Tommy Hunter Gold #’ed/2015
• Dan Uggla Foil
• Blake Swihart RC Foil
• Justin Bour RC Foil

Inserts

• Steve Carlton/Gaylord Perry/Wilbur Wood 1973 Topps – ’72 Victory Leaders Buyback #66
• Enos Cabell 1979 Topps #515 Buyback
• Reggie Smith 1970 Topps #215 Buyback
• Larry Dierker 1976 Topps #75 Buyback
• Warren Brusstar 1978 Topps #297 Buyback
• Earl Wilson 1971 Topps #301 Buyback
• Jim Breazeale 1973 Topps #33 Buyback
• Albert Pujols Highlight of the Year #H-89
• Tom Seaver Highlight of the Year #H-72
• Fernando Valenzuela Highlight of the Year #H-80
• Ubaldo Jimenez Highlight of the Year #H-88
• Sandy Koufax Highlight of the Year #H-71
• Bob Lemon Highlight of the Year #H-68
• Hoyt Wilhelm Highlight of the Year #H-70
• Ken Griffey Jr. Highlight of the Year #H-82
• Hank Aaron Highlight of the Year #H-69
• Josh Gibson Tape Measure Blasts #TMB-15
• Bo Jackson Tape Measure Blasts #TMB-9
• Giancarlo Stanton Tape Measure Blasts #TMB-7
• Roberto Clemente Tape Measure Blasts #TMB-12
• Andres Galarraga Tape Measure Blasts #TMB-2
• Shawn Green Rarities #R-2
• Billy Williams Rarities #R-15
• Don Mattingly Rarities #R-12
• Mike Mussina Rarities #R-8
• Daniel Nava Rarities #R-3
• Tom Seaver Rookie Sensations #RS-20
• Jose Fernandez Rookie Sensations #RS-8
• Jose Abreu Rookie Sensations #RS-14
• Mike Trout Rookie Sensations #RS-3
• Fernando Valenzuela Rookie Sensations #RS-10
• Hanley Ramirez Rookie Sensations #RS-1
• George Springer Pride & Perseverance #PP-3
• Sam Fuld Pride & Perseverance #PP-10
• Buddy Carlyle Pride & Perseverance #PP-1
• Jim Abbott Pride & Perseverance #PP-6
• Joe DiMaggio Whatever Works #WW-7
• Tim Lincecum Whatever Works #WW-2
• Nomar Garciaparra Whatever Works #WW-4
• Richie Ashburn Whatever Works #WW-9

Notable Base

• Kris Bryant RC #US78
• Kris Bryant RC #US283
• Carlos Correa RC #US174