First look: 2014 Topps Opening Day baseball cards (with preliminary checklist)
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
Opening Day is coming early — and you can get your hands on game-used cards then, too.
Topps revealed the first looks at 2014 Topps Opening Day on Wednesday, and the company’s announcement came with one new inclusion not typically seen in the 99-cent-per-pack product — game-used memorabilia cards.
For the first time in the history of the product, it will include game-used Relics. Five players out of 10 total are listed on the preliminary checklist — Derek Jeter, Freddie Freeman, Jose Bautista, Koji Uehara and Torii Hunter — for the product arriving on March 19.
Each year, the brand has brought a condensed version of the Topps flagship brand and more beginner-friendly focus to the masses and the 2014 release is no different with a 220-card base set comprised of veterans, rookies and more. Each card will have a blue-bordered Opening Day parallel numbered to 2,014 copies as well as four 1/1 printing plates.
Insert cards will be found one per pack with 25 team mascots once again getting the nod alongside 25 Superstar Celebrations, 25 Opening Day Stars, 30 Fired Up! cards, 20 Breaking Out cards and 10 Between Innings inserts.
Mascot autographs will return for five mascots, while 10 big-leaguers are slated to sign for the product. The mascot ink was not disclosed, but Mike Trout, Wil Myers, Todd Frazier, Glen Perkins and Kyle Seager were listed on the preliminary autograph checklist.
Click here to view the preliminary checklist.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
I hope the blue parallels are similar to 2013 which were so popular.
My least favorite release of the year. I wish they would get rid of this set and bring back Bazooka or Topps Kids.. Something fun and cheap.. This set is just boring, even with game used.
Love the Opening Day Stars 3-D cards. One of my must-buy sets every year.
nothing impressive, but 99 cent packs are nice.. game-used cards are pretty much over-produced now anyway, so, their value is pretty low at the end of the day.. so are autographs, but i’ll take an autograph over game-used..
Get ready pack searchers… Now you’ll only have to spend a buck to rip off your fellow collector rather than the typical 3 bucks.
I wish Topps did something DIFFERENT with a low price point like this. Like AE said, Bazooka, or maybe a whole set like the SI For Kids inserts they did in 2006 Opening Day.
Although I like some elements of Opening Day, namely the price point and the 3-D inserts, I do agree that Topps could do something different, rather than basically re-issuing the same cards as its main set. But I also feel the same way about Topps Chrome, which I have never been interested in and never will. Topps could just do a whole new set with a new design in the chrome style, rather than issuing a parallel set. Between base Topps, Opening Day, Chrome and now Topps Mini, how many different versions of the same cards do we need?
is it here yet? – Topps update was fun- but I love this set – love the mascot cards
They should bring back Topps Total.