2016 Topps Tier One Baseball Box Break & Review

Its incredibly impressive to see how many products Topps can release that contains so much on-card autograph content.  Topps tries their best to get as many on-card autographs in a product.  Whether that product is super high-end, or one of the lower cost options, Topps wants to get them in there because they know that’s what collectors want.  Listening to your customer base can only improve the quality of your products.  It would be nice if some other manufacturers did the same.  2016 Topps Tier One packs quite the punch by having a ton of nicely designed cards, but it’s a real gamble.

On-card autographs is the heart and soul of this brand.  There are a couple of sticker autographs, but that seems to be mostly isolated to some of the multi-signed cards.  As expected, they all look really well done.  One autograph insert did catch my eye though.  The Tier One Autographs which are numbered to (99) or less and are case ‘hits” can be a little difficult to see.  I’m a big fan of the use of paint pens for signatures, but the type of background these cards have camouflages the autograph in some cases.

When it comes to relics, bat knobs and barrels rein supreme.  These cards contain some of the most unique bat relics found in the hobby.  Orioles center fielder Adam Jones has a neat bat knob relic this year that displays the entire “Bird” mascot.  Including Josh Gibson was a nice touch by Topps.  Bat relics of modern day players are fairly common, and don’t command too much unless they’re low numbered and/or autographed.  Josh Gibson’s plain bat relics numbered to (75) sell for almost $100.  Congrats to the person who pulled the one-of-one bat knob of him.  Its nice to see a player that can still do that.  There is only a select group of athletes who’s high-numbered basic relics still reach those dollar amounts.

Topps tried something that has never been done before.  I wasn’t sure what to think of the cards that contain the pen tip used for autographs.  Each card is a one-of-one, and collectors seem to really like them.  It wouldn’t surprise me if we see more of these down the road given the response they’ve been getting.

Like almost every product today, there is a big gamble if your looking to get your money back.  Tier One can be one of the bigger gambles out there.  Picking up singles or taking part in group breaks might be the best way to go.

Here is what I pulled:

Autos

• Jim Rice Prime Performers Silver Ink Auto #’ed/10
• Jorge Soler Breakout Auto #’ed/199

Relic

• George Springer Tier One Jersey #’ed/199