Collect call: 2011 Topps Baseball Update

Posted Nov 5, 2011 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Nov 5, 2011 at 11:11 PM

Topps ends its Diamond Anniversary year on a high note with its Update set. The formula is pretty much the same as in Series 1 and 2, but this set is satisfying because the collector knows what to expect.

There are 36 packs in a hobby box, with 10 cards to a pack. The box I sampled yielded 247 of the 330 cards in the base set, or 75 percent. Plus, Topps’ collation remains stellar, as there are no duplicates.

Topps promises one autograph or relic card per hobby box. I was blessed this time to find two relics. In the second pack I opened, I found a Silk Collection card of Jeff Francis, numbered 47/50. That’s the first time I’d ever pulled a Silk card, so that was nice.

A second relic appeared in the 33rd pack I opened: a Leather Nameplate card of the Twins’ Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Nishioka’s name is stitched onto a leather background, definitely a different kind of card.

Back to the base set. There are some outstanding action shots in the Update set, with sharp, colorful photography. Here are some examples of the different, and effective, card fronts:

Card No. 135 shows former Rays reliever Grant Balfour screaming after getting a batter out, his veins sticking out on his neck. It’s a very, intense, compelling shot, but what else would one expect from Balfour. The notes on the back of his card mention that he is “the all-time strikeout leader among Australians.” OK, other than Balfour and Graeme Lloyd, name me some pitchers from Australia — surprisingly, in major-league history, there have been 20 pitchers from Down Under.

My favorite shot might be card No. 74, a wide-angle, overhead look at Henry Blanco awaiting a throw to the plate as the runner begins his slide.
Card No. 329 is a nice shot of Dodgers rookie shortstop Dee Gordon leaping over a sliding runner to complete a relay to first base.

Topps also uses some different angles of the same type of play to great effect. Card No. 144 shows Kevin Youkilis’ intensity as he looks skyward to track a pop fly. It’s a wide-angle shot near the dugout. Similarly, card No. 44 shows Royals catcher Matt Treanor looking up for a pop foul, but it is a more tightly cropped shot. I thought that was some nice diversity.

And the leg kick of Hunter Pence is shown in a nice angled shot on card No. 304.

There are plenty of inserts and parallels in the Update set. Topps continues its Diamond Collection, and typically those parallel cards are seeded one in every four packs. The box I opened was no exception, as I turned up nine of them.

A new twist for the Update, are Canary Diamond Collection parallels. It’s in the same format as the Diamond Collection, but with more of a golden brown look. There are parallels from Update and Series 1 and 2, so if you want a monster chase set, well, now you have 990 to find. The hobby box I looked through contained 45 canaries. While interesting, I would have liked those cards to have been base cards, to perhaps come closer to completing the set. But that’s me, since I am a set builder.

Another new sparkle parallel set is the Hope Diamond, numbered to 60. These are blue versions of the Diamond Collection, and there were two in the hobby box.

As for “regular” parallels, there were 15 gold ones numbered to 2011, and a charcoal parallel numbered to 60.

There are some familiar inserts to be found: Diamond Duos (one in every nine packs), Topps 60 (one in every four), Toppstown (there were five in the box I sampled), and Kimball Champions minis (one in every four packs).

There were six Diamond Giveaway cards in the hobby box I saw, where you enter the code for virtual cards and virtual rings. Nothing exciting among the cards except for a 1968 Mike McCormick card. Some nice virtual rings were unlocked, including a Stan Musial, Cal Ripken and a Yankees team.

Topps put together another fun product, one that will please set builders and parallel chasers. Collectors looking for autographs or big relic hits might be disappointed, but Topps’ signature product has remained simple and true to its roots.