I don’t really have much to say about Archives. It doesn’t really feel to me like it’s needed, when there is a Heritage release. In recent years with all the tributes to sets from the 80s showing up in the flagship release, it feels like reusing old designs is getting overdone.
Archives usually focuses on three designs. This year, the main designs are 1958, 1975, and 1993. We also see 1978 Record Breakers, as well as 1994 Future Stars. The base set features 300 cards, with an additional 30 Short Prints. Unlike some of the other releases, the SPs seem to be pretty achievable.
Heritage High Number is essentially a traded set for the original Heritage release from early in the year. We once again see a lot of rookies from this season, along side traded veterans.
There aren’t really many surprises in this release, but that’s not what the set has ever really been about. Most of the insert sets are continuations of sets from the first release. While the hits aren’t really the focus, there is one hit advertised per box. The hits are mostly relics, but there are also a limited number of on card autographs also included.
A box contains 24 packs each with 9 cards. Each box includes either an autograph or relic card.
This is one of my favorite every year. I like the baseball focus, but with the inclusion of a lot of randomness. It feels like there is a little bit less of that this time around. Dreams of Blue Ribbons is a step in that direction, but the rest seem fairly normal.
This year, there were apparently some distribution problems. While many people still received the product on release day, it took until the following Monday for me to be able to get it. While waiting for it to arrive, another product was brought to my attention that I may have to look at. It seems it has a lot of what I like about Allen & Ginter, but I’ll have to see for myself.
This is a new release for 2019, as part of a revamped WWE lineup from Topps. Earlier, we saw a Raw release essentially replacing the WWE flagship. Now we’re stepping in to a release for a specific pay per view. They already have the Road to Wrestlemania early in the year, so it’s not completely out of the blue with SummerSlam was one of their big yearly shows.
This is a new release, but it’s a familiar layout. The base set consists of 50 roster cards and 50 matches and moments. These have a normal set or parallels. There is also an assortment of parallels included. On an initial pass through, it wasn’t always obvious to me which were inserts and which were base moments. The designs are a bit similar. One selling point for this release is that most of the autographs are on card, rather than stickers.
A box advertises 24 packs with 7 cards per pack. This includes 2 hits per box, one of which is an autograph.
Stadium Club is known for many things, primarily high quality cards with even higher quality photography. This year is no exception. You’ll find some of the most interesting photos available on cards. The formula is pretty straight forward. There are still parallels and insert sets, but even many of the insert sets are the same as previous years.
That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with that. It’s a great set featuring a combination of veterans, rookies, and all time greats. The cards really speak for themselves, as it’s a set that doesn’t really on gimmicks to get attention. You’re not chasing a ton of Short Prints to complete the base set, but there are alternative image variations available.
A hobby box contains 16 packs with 8 cards per pack. Two on card autographs are advertised per box.
