2012 Topps: Observations, Hits, and Tradebait

I know everybody is sick of hearing reviews of the not-quite as new as it was last week 2012 Topps series 1.  I'm going to spare you a review but I do have a couple observations.

One thing I didn't touch on though is the black stripe behind all of the last names on the base cards.  It really makes the cards scan like crap.

I don't feel like I'm swimming in insert cards like I was last year.  There's a good little stack there but there wasn't 4 or 5 in a pack.  The most I ever got was 2 in 1 pack.

No reprint sets.  WOOHOO!

No ToppsTown set.  Double WOOHOO!

Moving right along, I didn't get any crazy mojo hits from my box, which I'm OK with... It's Topps Flagship, not Tribute or Triple Threads. I was fortunate to get this "Celebration" Shortprint of Ryan Braun.  I feel like an idiot.  Since Braun was the first base card everybody saw in the promos for series 1 way back in 1997, you would have thought this card would have made me look twice at it.  I didn't.  I skimmed right on past it and onto the next pack.  I didn't think anymore about it.  Then I was searching Baseballcardpedia.com the next day and looked over the variation list and this one was on it.  

It's still a thrill to pull a Cal Ripken card out of a pack after all these years.  Its the same photo they used for his Marquee base card last year but I don't care.  Its CAL!  I really wish they would have gold stamped the coin like they did the Gold Standard inserts.

Here's my hit.  Its a player I have a slight interest in since I see him play on MASN  when the O's aren't on and he went to UVA.  I'm still a little confused as to why Topps has the disclaimer on the back that says: "The relic contained on this card is not from any specific game, event, or season."  I wish they would do it like the old days when it said: "Congratulations, you've received a card with a piece of Jersey worn by Ryan Zimmerman.  Upper Deck Topps pledges to bring you closer to the game!"

So here's the rest of the inserts that I got if you are inclined to trade for them:

Gold Parallel: 29 Active NL Wins Leaders, 53 Cardinals WS GM 7, 90 Chambers, 91 Active AL HR leaders, 128 Duda, 170 Ellsbury, 231 Fowler, 292 Revere, 308 Leake

1987 Minis: TM-15 Cano, 42 Hamilton, 46 Price, 49 Weaver

Classic Walk-Offs: CW-12 Alex Gonzalez, 13 Podsednik, 14 David Ortiz(2), 15 Jeter

Gold Futures: GF-4 Freeman, 5 Hosmer, 9 Hellickson, 13 Rizzo, 21 Vizcaino, 22 Lavarnway, 24 Goldschmidt

Golden Greats: GG-2 Gehrig, 3 Gehrig, 8 Ryan, 15 Mays, 32 Mantle, 48 Koufax, 61 J. Robinson, 67 Pujols

Golden Moments: GM-3 Jeter, 8 Dawson, 10 Fielder, 15 Braun, 29 Pujols, 32 Maris, 42 Kaline, 46 Pedroia, 48 Aparicio, 49 Shields

Gold Standard: GS-3 Molitor, 8 Banks, 12 Kaline, 10 R. Jackson, 15 Cobb, 20 Jeter, 23 Seaver

Timeless Talents: TT-2 Utley/Ackley, 12 Pettitte/Lee, 16 Dawson/Upton, 19 Musial/Berkman, 23 E. Martinez/D. Ortiz, 24 Maris/Granderson