is it archives if it's not?

topps archives is one of my favorite releases every year. i will typically buy a box of the product and i really enjoy seeing new (and old) faces on random topps designs. shoot, even when archives was just reprints in 2001 and 2002 i was still all in on it.

this year i was a bit confused when i saw the first card images on the sell sheet. jackson merrill's card was one of the cards shown

it is, of course, the 1970 topps design, but with one (or two) big flaws. the text used for the name is nowhere near the cursive style of the original 1970 cards, and the position text is a lot smaller. here's a real 1970 card to refresh your memory

it's only been five years since topps trotted out the 1970 design as part of their heritage releases, and back then they stuck to the cursive font. they also maintained the same position descriptions ("outfield" instead of "outfielder") but the more recent change doesn't bother me so much.

perhaps the most ridiculous part of this is that they used another set in this year's archives that features the same cursive font!

go figure.

anyway, i mentioned in last week's post that i had pre-ordered some blasters, but then i got an email from topps about their "product drop" wherein i could try to buy a box at a price well below what they were going for from online resellers. i bit, and made the drop list and so i received a box to open the other day.

two autos and eight pink parallels, guaranteed.

no boxtopper this year though.

i will show the six packs from the lower left quadrant of the box. they were the first ones that i opened. 

pack 1:

starting with a dodger! i should have mentioned that 1961 is the other design chosen by topps. it is a bit jarring to see an action shot on the 1970 design and not have it be a super short print parallel. the insert in this pack is a take on the 1999 new breed inserts.

pack 2:

the own the game insert was originally included in 2006 topps.

pack 3:

there's our first pink parallel, and another dodger to boot.

pack 4:

second time this year seeing that frank thomas photo (also used in stadium club), and the ichiro is a bit of a tight crop. the "at the break" insert was originally seen in 1995 topps traded. that blew my mind back then, seeing an insert set with a traded set.

pack 5:

there's the first auto of the box. it's shoto imanaga on a new breed design. the card front is matte as opposed to the non-auto inserts which is a thoughtful touch by topps.

pack 6:

take note of josh jung's card for future reference. nice to see mickey mantle, and we also have our second pink parallel which features a familiar photo of monte irvin. the sandy koufax there also uses a familiar photo, but i had never seen the photo that was used on the back before:

the photo gives us a glimpse of dodger stadium in its early days when the dimensions were ten feet greater and the fiberglass was yet to be installed against the side of the pavilion. i might track down another one of these for my dodger stadium collection.

the one insert type that was not included in any of these six packs is the wrecking crew

which was from 1996 topps series 2. there are other, scarcer, insert types from four other topps sets but i didn't come across any of those.

here are some cards from the other packs that i took note of....

fernando tatis

just like jackson merrill's card up top, tatis' card gives a good look at the peter seidler memorial patch. i plan to stick with my original choice to represent the patch in my collection, however.

cole ragans

ragans is wearing the number 4 patch for lou gehrig on lou gehrig day. this, and the similar "21" patch worn by some on roberto clemente day, is not a memorial patch in the traditional sense, so i don't put these cards in my collection. they still catch my eye, though.

rickey henderson

this is the first rickey card i've pulled since he passed away and it was bittersweet.

paul skenes

obligatory rookie card inclusion

lou piniella

nice to see piniella as a royal. this is the first time topps has featured him as a royal on a base card in a regular (non-online) release since 2005 topps rookie cup. and rookie cup was the first time he was seen as a royal since 1974. at least from topps - the orioles issued their all-time orioles set in 1991, and piniella's card shows him as a royal.

don mattingly

this is just a classic looking card. yankees look great on the 1961 design.

ted williams

every year when i find out what designs are going to be used in archives, i think about the potential "cards that should have been" like the 1978 brooks robinson with his career stats on the back that we finally got back in 2022. maybe someday topps will put ted williams on their 1961 design to create a "final tribute"

what a missed opportunity this year though. they did give us another 1994 design george brett card

but it pales in comparison to his original final tribute.

hank aaron

like the mattingly above, this is another great looking card. of course, hammerin' hank was featured in the original 1994 set

topps did pretty well with the 1994 cards i think.

kevin pillar

pillar is back on cardboard after not getting any base cards in 2023 (he was on an insert in 2023 topps update but not a base card). his four game stint with the dodgers in 2022 didn't warrant a card, unfortunately.

elly de la cruz 

another obligatory rookie card share

i had pretty good luck with dodgers in addition to the ones shown above - freddie freeman

duke snider

fernando valenzuela

andy pages

i had a similar reaction to fernando's card as i did to rickey's.

no mookie betts base card, but i did get him as one of the pink parallels

along with ken griffey jr

here are the rest of the pink parallels from the box

the main non-auto hits from the box were a couple of numbered parallels.  this josh jung card

is a design variation red hot foil parallel numbered to 50

the design variation is the font used for the team name, which mimics the cursive name font from the original 1970 topps cards. it's pretty dumb to use that as a variation when the font wasn't used for the player names but whatever. i think the 1961 design variations moves the card number and player bio on the back to the bottom of the card and that is a worse type of variation.

here's a blue foilboard parallel of edwin diaz' card

it's numbered to 25 on the back

i also opened up a couple of the blasters i ordered. those come with a guarantee of four black parallels, and they are pretty sharp. here's mike schmidt

i tell you what. 2025 topps had better put schmidt on one of the series 1 1990 35th anniversary cards so we get him on that design with his full career stats on the back.

landon knack

was another black parallel i found. i also got a yoshinobu yamamoto new breed insert 

and a mookie betts at the break insert

so i did pretty well for dodgers but still missing a handful of their base cards.

as for the second autograph in my box, it was a 1995 fan favorites auto of dave stieb

here's the back:

stieb was featured in archives with a fan favorites auto back in 2017 (he was on a 1990 design) as well. i am going to keep this one in my "meaningful and just because" collection since i was a fan of his during his career, and he is pretty much the first guy i think of when it comes to the blue jays. after ron fairly, maybe.

i've only made one individual card purchase so far, and it was to secure steve garvey's 1995 fan favorite auto

here's the back:

this is the first time that garvey has appeared on the 1995 topps design, so that's nice. the other non-premium fan favorites dodger auto in the set this year is shawn green. green has been featured before but i may still see about picking up one of his cards - he's featured on the 2000 topps design. i am still holding out hope for a rick monday fan favorites auto someday.

so, that's archives for this year. i would say the 1961 and 1994 cards are pretty good, but the 1970 cards are merely inspired by the original topps design, which is disappointing. i count the 1970 set as one of my favorites - it was the first "older" set that i put together and the cursive names were a hallmark of the set that should have been replicated here.