2015 Topps Update Series Baseball no-foil cards not intentional
By Ryan Cracknell | Hobby Editor
Correction: We originally reported that it appeared that the foil-less No Logo cards were an official parallel based on reports from several collectors. Topps has confirmed these were not intentional. However, that does not change the fact there are many out there.
It’s not uncommon to find flagship Topps baseball cards without the foil. From time to time, sheets stick together and a step in the production chain is missed resulting in cards that are missing something. It’s not intentional. That’s the case once again with 2015 Topps Update Baseball.
There have been many early reports of these cards popping up regularly in packs found in Walmart blaster packs, usually two per pack. It was so widespread that it looked like they were an intentional parallel.
No Logo
Base
The 2015 Topps Baseball design doesn’t use a lot of foil to begin with. While recent years have use it for names, logos and design accents, it’s pretty much only the company logo this year. The Future Stars subset is also missing its banner. The result is one of the more subtle printing errors you’re likely to ever find.
Because they’re not intentional, these can be categorized like other printing errors. They can draw some interest on the secondary market, particularly with player collectors. However, they’re not generally recognized as an official parallel.
Great catch, Ryan! I was wondering why some of my “Future Stars” cards had the foil on it, while others did not.
The variations seem to hold true for Walmart blaster boxes. However, I did NOT see any foil variations in the rack packs, and I opened dozens of them.
I have a 2015 Topps Series 1 card of Daniel Norris that didn’t have the logo/foil. There was a guy on eBay who had a bunch of them (I think he got a box full of them, not sure). I’m away from home but when I get back tomorrow I will scan it up and post on twitter and then re-post here with a link.
They’re printing errors. They’re not exactly common but they’re not terribly rare either — likely how these will shape up to be. From my experiences, they come in waves. I’ll get a pack here and there that has nothing but no foil cards.
Topps should have just come out and said they were unannounced variations and rolled with it. You would think anything that juices the retail market is a good thing.