2023 Topps Update...Wow?

 

2023 Topps Update is…meh.

            There.

            That’s the entire blog post.

            I don’t do this for almost two months, and that’s all I have to say.

            I suppose I can get into the whole Topps/Fanatics reducing the number of packs in a Hobby Box from 24 to 20 and reducing the number of cards in a pack from 14 to 12, even though they’d initially promoted the box as 24 and 14. But, if you pay attention in Hobby circles…that’s old news…that’s an old complaint.

            Still…Topps/Fanatics didn’t really try and hide what they were doing.

            A collector on Twitter told me that Topps always puts cardboard at the bottom of Hobby boxes. I’ve kept my Hobby boxes since 2019…there’s no cardboard at the bottom. Of any box. From any series. I don’t remember pulling out cardboard and discarding it. From any box. From any series. I’m guessing this is going to be the norm now. Collector outrage won’t matter to a corporation. This isn’t 1986. This isn’t New Coke.

            I was hemming and hawing over buying Update at all. The only reason I bought a box when I did was because I was on vacation in Philadelphia, I made it a point to visit an LCS, and with vacation money in my pocket I wanted to buy from a local shop instead of online. And it was inevitable that I was going to get Update, despite my hemming and hawing. I like base sets, building base sets. And while Update has its own sequence and series and isn’t part of the base set technically; it sure makes it known that the Rookie cards inside of it are official rookie cards. So, the product is tied to base, whether a collector like me likes it or not. This isn’t 1986. There aren’t any XRC cards here.

            And there are a few key rookies.

            There are certainly enough Rookie Debut cards to go around.

            Two “hot” takes. I’m apathetic toward pitcher rookie cards…unless said pitcher is in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform. And there are A LOT of rookie cards of pitchers in Update. Yes, there is some of the stodgy collector bias in me: none of these guys will reach 300 wins; none of these guys will throw more than 2 complete games a year; none of these guys will throw more than six innings a game. Old, stodgy collector/fan opinions. But…and this is a more sinister take…most of these guys will end up hurt and spending an extended time on the IL.

            Walker Buehler anyone?

            Casey Mize?

            Stephen Strasburg?

            Who, incidentally, most likely had his last Topps card in 2023 Update.

            I’m not picking on Stephen Strasburg. The man played 13 seasons. He collected 113 wins. From 2012 to 2019 he was one of baseball’s more imposing pitchers. The man is a WS MVP. But I just think of the career that could’ve been. The careers of pitchers that are going down the same route. Throwing 100 miles an hour is…awesome? But it also shortens careers and makes it hard to get excited about a pitcher.

            “hot” take number two. And I think I’ve stated this here before…I hate the Rookie Debut cards.

I find them to be some of the most useless cards that Topps produces. A beyond blatant attempt to suck the last bit of juice out of the season’s rookie card bonanza. But someone must like them because Topps produces a shit ton of them.  In the Update box I opened, 34 of the cards were Rookie Update cards.

In lowering the number of packs/cards per pack, Topps/Fanatics did make it clear that they weren’t short-changing collectors out of insert cards. No, there would still be plenty of bells and whistles to go around this October. And I guess that’s true.

Here are the bells and whistle cards that I pulled from my Hobby box of Update.

I did better on Pirates inserts than I usually do…which is to say, I hardly get Pirates inserts.

A bad year for me to get some Wander stuff.

And although it’s a stupid checklist card, I WILL be adding that 20/25 to my Pete Alonso PC.

Overall…meh. And actually kind of a letdown. The four less packs and less cards in packs meant that after opening and collating the cards, I still need 113 cards to complete the Update set. That’s ridiculous to me when, in past years, I’d maybe need 15-20 cards after opening a box. I don’t know if Topps/Fanatics is going to continue with less packs/cards in boxes, but, if they do, it is going to really change how I collect. I don’t think I’ll be hand-collating base sets anymore. I don’t want to spend that kind of money buying sealed product to do so, especially if I’m going to be doing the same thing with Heritage. I’ll just buy the set when it comes out, collect singles, and ignore putting Update together.

** sorry I've been irregular with the posts...a lot of fiction and poetry writing, and not much card buying since the trip to Buffalo. I am going to keep this blog alive, though. Probably not every week, and probably only when I feel I have something to say.***

thank you all for reading!

Happy Collecting!