2025 Topps Shoebox Treasures #15A "Wood Stock" #/5

 

Card Review: 9.4

I like this non-autograph version better than the autographed version (sharpie marks don't belong on baseball cards).  These wood variants, while certainly a goofy gimmick, are a very cool goofy gimmick.  They sort of have the feel of those old wooden airplanes that you could buy and then assemble.  The back of the card feels like a normal card, but the front is very much thin wood.  Snapping one of these in half wouldn't take much pressure, though the paper back would likely hold it all together.  Given that there are only 5 of them, I'm not willing to spend the $5 to $20 bucks the cheaper ones demand to find out.

If Topps is going to continue to insist on stuffing their hard to find, overpriced packs with all sorts of junk that isn't part of the set, then I fully support them getting weird with it.  I'd like to see them try to print on gum.  A card sized slab of gum with a card, even if monotone, printed on the front that is fully edible.  Different flavors can be printed in different numbers.

I also like the idea of intentionally embracing errors, but curated.  Print off centered cards, but go ahead and slap x/# on the back, with the more off-centered ones being more scarce, or start slapping wax stains on cards.  Call them "variants" and individually number them.  I'm just sick of refractors, gold borders, and other similar things.  As far as non variants, would modern collectors like cards that were nothing more than offers to mail in $10 for your favorite teams painters cap if they were individually numbered?  Yellow ones could be common, with green ones being out of 100 and red ones out of 10?  Then do the same thing with offers to win a trip to the All-Star Game or something.  I wouldn't be as annoyed with inserts like those.

Number of this card in my collection: 1