First look: 2012 Topps Solid Golden Greats
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
With five days remaining until the arrival of the hobby’s most collected baseball card set, Topps has pulled back the curtain on a set of rather lustrous cards that will be found in packs of 2012 Topps as redemptions.
They are the Solid Golden Greats, 1/1 cards made out of 14-karat gold that have been slabbed in a custom holder by Beckett Grading Services, the grading and card authentication division of Beckett Media.
There are 16 cards — stars from the past and present — to be found in packs of the flagship baseball card line and they can only be found in hobby boxes.
The preliminary checklist:
SGG-HA Hank Aaron
SGG-RC Roberto Clemente
SGG-TC Ty Cobb
SGG-JD Joe DiMaggio
SGG-LG Lou Gehrig
SGG-DJ Derek Jeter
SGG-SK Sandy Koufax
SGG-MM Mickey Mantle
SGG-WM Willie Mays
SGG-AP Albert Pujols
SGG-CR Cal Ripken Jr.
SGG-JR Jackie Robinson
SGG-NR Nolan Ryan
SGG-BR Babe Ruth
SGG-TS Tom Seaver
SGG-ICH Ichiro Suzuki
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
Wow, that card looks great. As much as I hate redemption, if I pulled the Robinson, Ripken, Jeter or Mays I would have to keep i t.
No conflicts of interest there.
Nice item though.
[…] Solid Golden Greats set of 1/1 cards made out of 14k gold and encapsulated in BGS holders. This Beckett article has some more info on it (but how is it a "preliminary" checklist if they are the ones who […]
I don’t know why, but Ichiro doesn’t seem to belong on that list. I love him as a player and he’s a very humble person, but if they wanted a checklist of that many people, there are so many others that could have been chosen. And I can’t wait for a company to do something similar, but with Platinum instead of Gold. :)
I was hoping for a Cub in there someplace. Not that I could afford it, but I like to dream.
JonathanI
These cards look great. Just saw the packs odds and looks like a 300% increase in production vs. Update. All the great looking hits from the sell sheet will be few and far between.
RJ: There isn’t — the cards aren’t priced because they are 1/1s. I just found out about these being slabbed when others did. Grading department is also separate from editorial — and a lot of companies get cards graded like this.
Why so few yankees?
I would put Rickey Henderson over Ichiro
a…….because the Yankees SUCK !!!!!
and b……..are these serial numbered 1 of 1 ? or is it a card number in set ?
With all do respect, Ichiro DOES belong on the list. One the greatest pure hitters of all time.
I would like to see the list expanded a bit do that every decade of Topps had a few per, but
Ichiro and Pujols perfectly represent the 2001-2010 time period.
It would be to see Winfield, Yount, Brett, Ozzie, Gwynn, and Rickey Henderson added.
Then add guys like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Griffey Jr and other soon to be in the HOF.
Lots of other good guys, but too many are now on the Steroid suspect list like Arod.
A….
B….Holy sarcasm batman…
See…Cards dont need autos or jerseys, they just need GOLD!
i think frank thomas wouldve been a better choice then ichiro
I just don’t care! Too many players that already have WAYYYYY too many cards made of them (ESP. being 1/1’s) and ONLY 3 current players?! Yes, everyone listed is a HOFer or future HOFer, but that list just seems a bit weak. I think they could benefit by dropping the pre-1950 players and adding more players from the last 2-3 decades.
Finally, redemptions suck, but I see no way around it for these cards. I think it is a good idea that will work well with a couple of tweaks.
I recently witnessed a friend of mine pull the mickey mantle gold redemption card out of a hobby pack wow how lucky he is!!!!!!
May want to add another name to that list. I pulled the Reggie Jackson about six weeks ago and it was sent certified mail and is currently sitting in my safe.
I have a 2012 topps baseball 14 karat solid golden greats Nolan Ryan 1 of 1 cards can someone tell me what it may be worth please