bringing old man brooks to the archives!

topps did not disappoint with my most anticipated card from 2022 archives - it's old man brooks!

seeing this card was enough to get me to break out of my once a week posting and prepare an ode to this set.  kudos to topps for using an age appropriate photo of the hall of fame third baseman on his 1978 topps design card from 2022 archives. why did it take 45 years for this to happen ?!

of course, topps didn't quite get it all the way right, as robinson's pre-1964 stat rows are missing from the back

still, the card goes in to my final tribute collection along with past archives offerings such as a 1975 design al kaline and a 1980 design jim hunter.

i'll back this post up a bit - here's my box that arrived on thursday from steelecity collectibles:

and here's the boxtopper postcard i received:

and here's the full boxtopper with the packs exposed:

decent job at replicating the 1980s pack design.

first pack (top pack, lower left) yielded a hit:

jorge posada autograph! it's not a fan favorite auto, but instead a 1992 mlb debut autograph. not a bad pull, though. of course, before i got to that card i geeked out over the adalberto mondesi card. it's the first "base" 1978 card i've pulled out of a pack in 17 years (2005 topps all-time fan favorites). i enjoyed the moment, for sure. i haven't studied the cards too closely (is the stitching on the ball correct?) but i do know that the color schemes for mondesi's royals card and emmanuel clase's guardians card match the schemes used in 1978 for the kansas city and cleveland teams.

there will be more to say about the background on clase's card later on. also, it's weird to see a 1987 card in a pack that is not an insert.

i did ok with dodgers, picking up all but trea turner from the 1963 design portion of the set

of those three, jackie robinson's card looks the most authentic, but that is because his photo is closest in time to the original 1963 set. even though he's not really outside, muncy's card is pretty similar to some of the dodger cards from 1963 with a blue background and just a bit of something around the shoulder level. i am pretty sure kershaw's photo is also a studio shot superimposed on a netting background. there are other cards in this set that have the netting, too.

some other 1963 design cards that i thought turned out great are the reggie jackson, rickey henderson, and paul molitor cards

that molitor, however, should have been on the 1978 design - it would look perfect in that set as a solo rookie card that should have been.

speaking of which, topps did put ozzie smith on the 1978 design

but showed him as a cardinal rather than give us a look at what rookie ozzie would have been like in the 1978 set. i didn't pull an eddie murray card, and i am anxious to see what it looks like. he really should have been on a different design (although we've seen him on both 1963 and 1987 designs before) because his real 1978 card is such a classic.

i found half of the dodgers from the 1978 subset, including mookie betts

and duke snider - not pictured. i'll be sure to scan duke when i follow-up this post when i complete the subset (hopefully). if those clouds look familiar, that's because they are the same ones as on clase's card above - more on that later.

some of the 1978 cards that i think are spot on include:

randy johnson

complete with the yankee stadium background and marlboro sign

jose abreu

pretty standard pose for the 1978 set, although most of these poses don't include eye contact

don mattingly

there we go. look past the photographer like donnie baseball! mattingly always looked like a 1970's player so this card is really great.

here are four more - roberto clemente, john smoltz, mike trout, and albert pujols

i do wish topps had snuck in a managerial card, though. dusty baker would have been a perfect subject for this set, as the "then" part of the manager card could have been the image from his 1978 topps card. opportunity missed there for sure.

and i realize when the sell sheets come out, there are disclaimers that card designs/images are subject to change, but i was still surprised to see this vladimir guerrero jr image

which is markedly different than the one on the sell sheet. that one had a decent 1978 vibe to it with his pose, but i'm not complaining.

in addition to the cody bellinger card in the first pack, i found julio urias' 1987 design for my collection

the bright background is a little jarring, but i could see this image in 1987 topps. bill swift's card, for example, has a similar vibe to it. speaking of 1987, i think this willie mccovey card

is a great example of a card that would look right at home in the original set.  this next one, too, even though i don't know why topps gave us jack morris on a 1987 card, but they did

and it's really not too different from his first except that here, he's in tiger stadium.

i did find some parallels, including a nice looking keith hernandez red parallel (shown next to the base card for effect)

as well as a rainbow foil 1978 design card of trevor rogers

the online checklists said that these were numbered to 150, but they are really numbered to 199

while we are seeing a back, the main difference between these card backs and the original 1978 backs is that these have the city listed with the teams. 1978 topps only had the team name. in that regard, the angels cards (such as mike trout's card in this set) are the truest representation of the 1978 design.

the last variation i'll show happens to be a 1978 design color swap

the normal version is on the left, and the one on the right switches the border and team name colors. i see that the rc logo is also moved. at least that's not a separate variation. i don't plan to chase all of these, but i was happy to find one in my box, especially of a player such as torkelson.

the base set is extended again by a series of short printed subsets, the first of which is a riff on the 1955 scoops design applied to 2021 highlights. i got my 1:6 packs

but not the chris taylor card i had hoped for.

i also got my correct allotment of 1961 mvp style cards

that showcase various 2021 award winners.

also coming in at 1:6 packs are the 1992 mlb debut cards. i got a couple of good ones with bobby witt jr and tony gwynn

plus a couple of other guys. the clouds on that cj abrams card are the same as the clase and betts clouds. more on that in a bit.

my 1 per box 2005 draft pick short print was of a former padre

he was hurt just before he was traded to the nationals and wasn't able to rehab enough to get back to the majors before the season ended, unfortunately.

speaking of the 2005 draft pick design, my second guaranteed auto sported that design, but it wasn't wander franco

it's the first jarren in major league history! 

aside from the boxtopper and autographs, the only inserts to be found (in hobby boxes, anyway) are card sized versions of the boxtopper postcards. these are seeded at 1:8 and i got my three:

it's funny that the mike trout card says greetings from the angels because that translates to greetings from los angeles. i found that funny, anyway, even though there is only one team in los angeles and it's not the one trout suits up for.

i really enjoyed busting this box and i have a great start on completing the 1978 subset (want list here)! the only thing i really don't care for with this set is something that topps has been doing for a while now with heritage, and that is the fake backgrounds. enough with the clouds!  here we have max scherzer and whit merrifield's cards

they have the same cloud background, although whit's card is zoomed in a bit. even worse are these four with the same cloud background.

it's there in 1978, too, with these four examples (plus the clase up top)

and in 1987 with these three

and those are just some of the cards i pulled - i am sure there are others.  it really detracts from the set and topps should do better.

bring on 2027 heritage!