This is an interesting release. There was a lot of confusion regarding this release. and the released checklists don’t really seem to address the questions very well. The box mentions 237 stickers to collect, and that’s true, but also a bit misleading.
The majority of stickers are full card sized, with a player card on the back. Some, such as those featuring trophies, have two stickers on one card, while the mascot stickers are one quarter of the size of the card. The original checklist also has four numbers not listed. It turns out these four stickers are included in the sticker album, and not available in packs. There are no hits or other inserts in this set. It’s a basic level set, that can be collected for the stickers in the album or for the cards on the back. It appears that a given sticker always has the same card back, but the numbers do not match.
A box advertises 50 packs with 4 stickers per pack. If they’re going to advertise the set as 237 stickers, that is pretty misleading. A pack contains 4 cards with up to 4 stickers on each card.
The first wave of 2020 Topps Total had a print run of 4812 packs. It’s not a cheap set, but by now, I think most people should be familiar with it. This wave features hot rookies like Yordan Alvarez and Aristides Aquino along with stars such as Bryce Harper and Mike Trout.
The configuration is basically the same as last year, with three parallels, numbered /10, /5, and /1. There are also a few possible autographs, although there is no guarantee. New this time is an insert of retired legends, featuring Ken Griffey Jr.
The print run continues to decline with Wave 7 of Topps Total. This release has a run of 3653 packs. This wave leads off with Kris Bryant and features stars and rookies such as Keston Hiura, Manny Machado, and David Price.
The one advantage of the smaller print runs is that the parallels are slightly more likely, although none are guaranteed with pack purchase. There are some possibly autographs, but they were not advertised before the purchase window completed.
The print run for wave 6 is down more than 200 packs from wave 5. This run leads off with Christian Yelich and includes other big names like Justin Upton and JD Martinez. It’s a well known format by this point, including possible parallels and very rare autographs.
I haven’t seen print runs mentioned on the autographs, but they seem rarer than any of the numbered parallels, and only have a few subjects.
Production for this wave is down a bit from the previous release, coming in at 4387 packs. One of the headliners for this wave is Bryce Harper, while also including stars and rookies such as Jacob deGrom and Eloy Jimenez.
