When 2012 Topps Archives baseball was announced early last year, I was intrigued. When it came out and we saw what it was all about, I was enthralled. Now that its sister product in 2013 Topps Archives Football is out, I cant wait to see if it lives up to the precedent set by its predecessor. Right now, we are only seeing the retail version of the set, but the hobby version looks to be much more stacked.

Here is what is up so far:

2013 Topps Archives Montee Ball Auto

2013 Topps Archives Russell Wilson 1976 Throwback Gold Sparkle Parallel

2013 Topps Archives Andrew Luck 1962 Topps Jersey Relic

2013 Topps Archives Robert Griffin III 1986 Throwback

2013 Topps Archives Ickey Woods Reprint On Card Auto

I like that 2013 rookies will eventually be included in this product, as they add another level of complexity. However, this is not a set one would buy for the autographs or relics, as much of the signature checklist is composed of guys similar to the way it was done in baseball. Luckily, all the fan favorite autographs should end up being on card, which makes this the first lower end set with non-rookie hard signed cards in almost 3 years. Kudos and a half to Topps on that one.

They chose some of the best designs in Topps history for the reprints, which is perfect in every way. The 1985 and 1986 sets were some of the best ever, and the 1976 design is about as iconic as it gets. If only there were more autographs available on card for these subsets, and I would be in heaven.

Seriously, I have no idea why Topps has waited THIS long to take advantage of its iconic history in football. Last year was the first year that an iconic design was used for the base flagship and chrome set in a reprint auto type of fashion, and from all accounts, it was very well received. Its back again for 2013 in the flagship, and I think that it will be better than ever. My whole thing is that this needs to be done more often, but with an expanded veteran and retired presence. Topps Archives is the tip of this iceberg, and I hope we get to see how far down it goes.

As more of this product becomes known and live, ill post updates.

At this point in the football side of the hobby, only one position carries value on a consistent basis – the Quarterbacks. When the 2013 Rookie Premiere list was announced today, its easy to see that there is going to be a black hole of value in boxes prior to the season starting. With only 1 QB drafted in the first round and the bigger QB prospects going in the 3rd and 4th round after that, this is not going to be easy until the rookie start to separate themselves on the field.

There are two things for this year that surprise me – the inclusion of 40 guys on the list compared to 35 last year, and the addition of some defensive players for the first time in a while. This is what usually happens when non skill players get invited:

2007 Joe Thomas Draft Day Ink Auto – Arguably the best left tackle in the game, no value.

2007 Darrelle Revis SP Authentic Auto – Arguably the most popular corner in the game, this is the MOST an auto will ever be worth.

2012 Jared Allen National Treasures Auto Patch – Same thing for Allen and his auto

Here is the thing, everyone already knows that there will always be questionable talent invited to the premiere, as later round skill players always take precedent over early round defense and non-skill. In fact, if you look back at the class from 2007, only a handful of the guys are still in the league, and Gaines Adams has even tragically passed away. The premiere is a talent crap shoot in the truest sense of the word, but my point is more to do with the strength of the overall class in tow.

In terms of the defensive players – Manti Teo, as I said when the preview list was leaked, should be going. His signature sells very well. Dion Jordan on the other hand, should not be invited. I was surprised to see how much he is selling for, which is probably why the decision was made> However, defensive linemen just dont sell at a sustained level at all, and that is being generous. They have to achieve ridiculous accomplishments, or their autos sell like this. I would have much rather had a 2 dollar auto in a skill player present over a two dollar auto of a lineman. At least the skill player is more likely to see production that many people in the hobby will assign value to their cards. See what happens in the case of a guy like Victor Cruz – an undrafted free agent.

Here is the final list, interested to hear what people think.

Keenan Allen
Tavon Austin
Stedman Bailey
Montee Ball
Matt Barkley
Le’Veon Bell
Gio Bernard
Knile Davis
Aaron Dobson
Tyler Eifert
Andre Ellington
Zach Ertz
Gavin Escobar
Jonathan Franklin
Mike Gillislee
Mike Glennon
Marquise Goodwin
DeAndre Hopkins
Justin Hunter
Landry Jones
Dion Jordan
Eddie Lacy
Marcus Lattimore
EJ Manuel
Vance McDonald
Christine Michael
Ryan Nassib
Cordarrelle Patterson
Quinton Patton
Joseph Randle
Jordan Reed
Denard Robinson
Geno Smith
Kenny Stills
Stepfan Taylor
Manti Te’o
Markus Wheaton
Terrance Williams
Tyler Wilson
Robert Woods

I said in a prior post that it takes a lot for a football collector like me to be interested in a baseball product.

All of that being said – I really like 2013 Bowman, both in terms of design and in terms of the fun it is to rip a box. Of course, the price has been consistently going up, but after getting the chance to rip some packs today, I had a blast.

So far, the biggest guys in the product you can pull is either Byron Buxton or Carlos Correa. However, those arent the only big hits as the colored refractors and colored refractor autos tend to sell for an absolute ton.

2013 Bowman Chrome Carlos Correa Orange Refractor Auto /25

2013 Bowman Chrome Taijuan Walker Purple Refractor Auto /10

2013 Bowman Chrome Byron Buxton Orange Refractor Auto /25

2013 Bowman Chrome Gregory Polanco Purple Refractor Auto /10

2013 Bowman Chrome Dylan Bundy Gold Refractor Auto /50

I made the trek over to Sports Cards Plus here in San Antonio and was able to pull one of these colored refractors that gets everyone fired up about a Chrome baseball set. Yordano Ventura is a Dominican Pitcher that should end up as a nice pen arm for the Royals down the road. You wouldnt expect a guy like that to be worth a lot, but when your fastball tops out at 99 MPH, prospectors want to get in early.

I also pulled Gregory Polanco’s auto, who could end up as an every day player for the Pirates down the road, but that was just a base one. The card should get around 25-35 bucks, and I was pretty satisfied to likely make back the money on the box easy.

I want to take the opportunity to reinforce my theory on spending a ton of money on these prospects, especially on the bigger guys who are already pushing 100 bucks for the base signature. There is always a chance these guys could end up as Mike Trout or a comparable rags to riches story, but that happens so few times that I am not sure how much I would wager.

All of that said, the Chrome technology Topps uses on these cards continues to be impressive, and I did not hear any complaints from any of the people in the store at all. This set continues to be the best product set of the year in most cases, and I dont see that changing for 2013.

The day that all the prospectors have been waiting for is finally here! 2013 Bowman is live, and there are a lot of reasons that people should be excited based on the first auctions we are starting to see. I have said for the first time in a few years, this class of rookies on the checklist isnt as much of a tentpole, with one guy holding up the entire product. It was very much like that with Bryce Harper, and to an extent Stephen Strasburg, but this year it looks to be a bit different.

Here are the big hits posted so far (HUGE prices indeed):

2013 Bowman Chrome Byron Buxton Base Auto – This is plain crazy.

2013 Bowman Chrome Carlos Correa Base Auto – See previous description.

2013 Bowman Carlos Correa / Byron Buxton Dual Auto

2013 Bowman Jurrickson Profar Base Auto

2013 Bowman Chrome Taijuan Walker Auto Refractor RC

2013 Bowman Manny Machado Orange Refractor Auto

I also think that this year is a very good year for the design of the product, even though the autographs dont look as cool as they did on the sell sheet because of the crazy white ghosting. I think that Bowman has been one of the better baseball designs of the calendar over the last few years, and this looks to be true again. Additionally, there is a lot of content that Topps has added to the product, including some very interesting autographs and other inserts.

To think that there will also be blue wave cards that will be available with the wrapper redemption, it kind of takes the sting out of a steadily rising box price. With Correa and Buxton leading the rookie class in their autographs, and other rookies also commanding some big bucks, I definitely think that there is good reason for a guy like me to take a look at buying a box or two. When that happens to a football collector, its obvious that the price is high for a reason.

There was one addition I think is really cool, and that is the addition of the social media auto refractors /10. These cards are a new subset in which the players sign their twitter handles, from what it looks like. I am always in favor of new inscription cards, and these look to be the first planned inscription subset of the bowman set.

Bowman is one of the biggest sets of the year each and every year, and is waited upon by a ton of different types of collectors. Team collectors, player collectors, prospectors, and even the casual people who just like opening packs. That should showcase the reason why Chrome is king, and will continue to be the benchmark as long as it is produced the way it is.

The first three or four Panini products they previewed were disappointing to say the least. Even more frustrating were the fact that both Prestige and Elite were some of the better Panini products of the year last year. Today we got our first look at 2013 Momentum, a set that I believed was one of the worst of the year for the entire class. For the most part, its about as big an upgrade as I have seen in a Panini product so far this year.

Here is what it was like last year:

2012 Momentum Andrew Luck Triple Jersey Auto

2012 Momentum Robert Griffin III Jumbo Prime Patch

2012 Momentum Russell Wilson Triple Prime Patch Auto

2012 Momentum Joe Montana Laundry Tag Patch Auto

My biggest complaint with Momentum last year was the Triple Threads style approach they took on the box hits. The cards were EXTREMELY boring, and on top of that, ugly. The lack of a player picture that extended the full length of the card made it look like someone was playing tetris on the design, as everything was neatly stacked on the front.

This year, there is a much more dynamic approach that highlights the action shots we should be getting from the rookie premiere in two weeks. Although most of these cards wont feature these ridiculous patches, they will be pretty nice looking for a pre-season release. Im glad they went a completely different direction with the theme here, as the cards look a million times better. Lets just hope Panini’s obsession with the big white box goes away. Its not a good situation as we can see.

Much to my dismay they are previewing the return of the “Studs” set, which highlights players who wear earrings. Im not kidding, that’s actually the case as displayed in last year’s version. The earring is embellished with a diamond or some idiotic theme like that, and as a result makes this whole thing a complete joke. If I had a vote, this would be one of the worst themes ever done in any product – even if it is a rehash from another product of the past.

Here are the rest of the cards: