As Topps gets closer to its Feb. 1 release for its Series 1 baseball card set, the company continues to send out a news release each day touting something different about its product. No complaint from me, since it gives me a chance to write about it.

But soon, expectations will be done, and the time to see the actual product will be near.

Gold continues to be a theme for the 2012 set, and there will be three special themed relic subsets collectors will be looking for.

The first will be Golden Great coin cards. This will feature 15 different legendary players (like Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Tom Seaver and Mickey Mantle)
with a coin embedded into the player’s card. These limited pieces will be sequentially numbered to the player’s jersey number.  Since Babe Ruth wore No.3 and the Mick was No. 7, we can guess which will be the rarer cards.

The second set will be Golden Retired ring cards. These will be interesting, as the card will show off the tops of golden rings.  Each ring is engraved with a legendary player’s jersey number that has been retired. Players in that class include Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Cal Ripken Jr. and Don Mattingly.

Golden World Series Champion Pin cards is the final set. A World Series pin will be imbedded into a card, and 20 Fall Classics will be honored. Players like Lou Gehrig, Tim Lincecum, Sandy Koufax and Dustin Pedroia will be featured.

Topps sent me a nice collage of photos to illustrate these upcoming inserts, plus that short-printed, airbrushed card of Albert Pujols.

One more news release tomorrow before the hobby boxes are released, so stay tuned.

*GOLDEN WORLD SERIES CHAMPION PIN CARDS – These eye-catching cards included a specially designed World Series Pin embedded into the card and include 20 different Fall Classic standouts.  Find cards of Tim Lincecum, Lou Gehrig, Sandy Koufax and more.