2017 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph #FFA-TWA "Red" #/25

 Card Review: 8.7
This "Red" variation is pretty nice.  In hand it looks much more red than it does in the scan.  This is the 4th variation of 2017 Topps Archives I've posted.  There's still a "Gold" variation out there, and I mean literally "a" gold variation, as it's numbered 1/1.  So I'm not holding my breath on seeing that in my hands anytime soon.  More likely than not it's buried away in a box somewhere sealed in a pack.  Destined to collect dust someplace that looks like the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I've slowly become a fan of this annual release from Topps.  The last few years I've bought more packs of Archives than I have of Heritage.  That's not to say I love it, I don't, but it's fun.  Which is why I have to cringe a little when I hear other collector's online whine about the Fan Favorites Autograph checklist in this set.  Guess what, maybe isn't this set isn't for you.  I actually pulled Dave Stieb and Kevin Seitzer autographs from packs this year in a run of what I would call extremely unusual luck compared to my normal pack opening experiences.  It was fun.  They were immediately recognizable names and looked really familiar on the 1990 and '89 card designs.  It gave me a little warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia.   Which is what this set is supposed to do.  If there was disappointment, it's that I would have liked to have pulled a Tim Teufel, George Bell or maybe Kevin Mass instead of of Seitzer, but that's nit picking.  I don't really expect to get anything other than regular baseball cards out of my packs.

So a lot of collector's have a problem with Tim Teufel.  Not liking Skip Bayless or that ball hawk, I get those complaints, as I have zero fond memories of them or the teams they played (or rather didn't play) for.  On the other hand, I don't get whining about an 80's staple like Teufel.  That problem lies with you if his autographed card falls out of your pack and you have the nerve to get upset.  I get it, it's not worth anything.  Honestly, would I have been more excited to pull Aaron Judge?  Of course, and I would have listed it on eBay by the end of the day.  Everyone likes money.  But I'm not buying these for "value." I buy them because it's fun.  I'd also get very excited if I won a $1,000 on a scratch off-lottery ticket, but that's not the thrill I'm seeking when I open pack of baseball cards.  My point being, and I'm not trying to tell anyone how they should collect, is that maybe people should just relax a little.  There are a lot worse things than having a Dave Magadan autograph card appear in your $2 pack of cards.  For instance, I once bought and opened pack that had nothing but 1992 Donruss cards in it.  I survived, and trust me, those packs were far more harmful to the hobby than autographed cards of well known guys who fell short of Cooperstown.

Number of this card in my collection: 1  (only 24 more to go)

2017 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph #FFA-TWA "Blue" #/50

Card Review: 8.8  The blue is my favorite of the variations of this card.  The white works best, but of the colors I'm giving the blue a slight edge over the red.  Like all the other variations of this card, the back is my favorite part, and the only Tops evidence in existence that Wallach ever played for the Angels.

Number of this card in my collection: 3
2018 update: 4

 

2017 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph #FFA-TWA "Peach" #/150

Card Review: 8.3

While I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a "peach" bordered Topps set in the future as a non-starter monstrosity that I would reject out of hand on principle, "peach" doesn't work with the other colors on 1989 Topps.  I think with the right design and accents, "peach" could work, it just doesn't here.

I don't think I'm alone in that assessment, which sort of begs the question, "what was Topps thinking?"  My best guess is that they were trying to match the pinkish color that dominates most the of the back.  Had they been able to replicate it and have a true match, it might of worked.  Though it would still clash with the red, blue, and baby blue on the front in the team name and border.

This "Peach" variation, limited to 150 copies, is the most common variation after the standard auto card.  There's also a blue (75), red (25), and gold (1) variation.  I haven't actually opened any Archives this year.  I was prepared to, but by the time my Target finally had some in stock, I already had a small stack of Wallach cards from the set, and figured I had blown enough on 2017 Archives already via buying these on eBay.  So in the off-chance the lady that the stocks the cards at my Target is reading this (she isn't), get your act together.  I'm trying so hard to give you my money.  But back to my point, having not bought any Archives, I haven't looked at a wrapper, so I don't know the lottery odds on these "Peach" variations, or if they're even labeled as "Peach."  Did Topps designate them as "Peach," or did the first person to start listing them on eBay just come up with that name and everyone else ran with it?  I'd have probably have gone with "pink" if I were doing the labeling.

As on odd little aside, my first two of these cards are consecutively numbered, 128 and 129.

Number of this card in my collection: 2
2017 update: 5
2018 update: 6

 

                                

2017 Topps Archives Fan Favorites Autograph #FFA-TWA

Card Review: 9.4
It's been twelve years since Topps last included Tim Wallach in any sort of issue, putting him in the 2005 Topps Rookie Cup set. I'm a firm adherent to the old adage of "not to look a gift horse in the mouth."  Topps including a Tim Wallach card, in any capacity, in a set in 2017 is without question a "gift horse" from my perspective.   I've spent over a decade scouring every checklist of every issue looking for "Wallach" to no avail before this one showed up.  So while I would have liked to have seen Wallach included in the 2017 Topps Archives base set, this card's existence is still cause for a bit of a celebration.  Sure it would have been nice to have hundreds (or thousands) of a new card to chase down for pennies apiece, but this is fine, and I am very grateful to Topps for Wallach's inclusion.

The front of this card is hard to find much, if any, fault with.  But I can still nitpick.  It's a nice action shot, albeit, it would look better without the white fading and autograph, but it's still a good photo on one of my all-time favorite designs.  I could also do without a dreary game from Wrigley, but I guess they can't all be from the preferred Shea location.  The back however, is the real highlight for me.

Wallach's retirement from baseball coincided with a weird time for baseball cards.  In the mid-90's, plain old regular Topps cards were becoming somewhat obscure, and frankly, difficult to find.  I can remember walking into a Target, and not being sure which cards were the standard Topps packs, and walking out disillussioned (no accident that my hiatus from collecting started then too).  In any event, Wallach's final Topps cards should have been in 1996 and 1997.  Instead, 1995 was his final Topps issue.  In an effort to stay relevant, Topps really started messing with the base set in those years. One of the things they did was drastically shrink the size of the set, with the result being Wallach got squeezed.  I can forgive the 1997 omission, that's long been a result of retired players not reporting to Spring Training for Topps photographers to shoot, but I have yet to forgive the 1996 omission.  Active, five-Time All-Stars who were everyday starters for playoff teams the previous season belong in the Topps set. Topps midlife crisis in the 90's resulted in Wallach never having what I call a bookend card of any sort.  "Bookend" meaning, a Topps card showing his full career stats (only Collector's Choice issued a "bookend" Wallach in 1997, to their everlasting credit).  It's really cool to see his full numbers in the familiar Topps format.  In 2003, Topps All-Time Fan Favorites also included Wallach, but it only included his numbers with the Expos, and it also ran a banner along the side designating it as a modern issue.  It ruined the effect to a large degree.  This is the first Topps card to ever show that Wallach played for the Angels.  That's kind of crazy, but better late than never.  This may very well be my favorite card back of any Wallach in my collection.  I'm seriously considering blowing it up and framing it in my office.

Number of this card in my collection: 6
2017 update: 8
2018 update: 9

2017 "Rediscover Topps" 1989 #720

Card Review: 9.2

I'm docking this card half a point off the grade I gave the "real" 1989 Topps due to the necessary foil stamping.  It looked better without it.

I like that Topps is putting vintage cards in current packs.  It's a cool idea, and I think it's great for kids.  But the stamping isn't for the kids.  It's for those of us (or more accurately, this of you) in the collecting universe who open packs and toss out the real cards while searching for what ever super-duper-mega-rare-and-shiny non-real card Topps is stuffing into packs at carefully stated odds.

I'm going to look into creating a baseball card themed scratch off lottery ticket so those collector's can get their fix with out sabotaging card collecting for those of us who would rather find a stick of gum than some gold matrix parallel.

Number in my collection:

Bronze: 1

1989 Topps #720 Blank Front

This is an blank front error of the '89 Topps card.  I've seen a lot of blank backs over the years, but not many blank fronts (of anyone not just Wallach).  It doesn't show well in the scan because it's white, and slick, like a normal card front.

I could be way off on this, but I don't ever remember Donruss or Fleer producing blank back cards in the 1980's.  Something that was unique to Topps.  I'm not wild about these errors myself, and they are not something I actively pursue.  I'm not grading this card, or counting it towards the over-all number of cards I have, because I don't really consider it a card.

*Update Jan. 31, 2013*
Upon further review this card has been added to the '89 Topps tally, but is only be counted as 1/2 a card.

1989 Topps Tiffany #720

Card Review: 9.6  The '89 Topps Wallach has gradually grown into one of my all-time favorites.  I'm still not wild about the black/pink combo on the back, but I can live with it.  It translates very well to the Tiffany edition.  Topps Tiffany always put the other outfits to shame when running out glossy editions of their cards.

Number of this card in my collection: 3
2013 update: 5
2014 update: 8
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: n/a
2019 update: 9

2020 update: 10

1989 Topps #720

Card Review: 9.7  This design, as well the photo, has really grown on me over the last twenty plus years.  The Topps designs of this period have all aged very well, unlike those of their rivals.  In 1989 this design was probably my least favorite of the major card sets, which grew in number to six that year.  Like every other kid (and adult) in the country, I was infatuated with Upper Deck.  I also really liked the Donruss and Fleer designs.  To this day I still like the '89 Score set, though no where near as much as Topps, and at my young age I thought the over-sized Bowman cards were when they came out.  This Topps design was just too simple for me.  Now I view it as an iconic classic and easily my favorite from the year.

Fun Facts: *This card was given a "glamour" number.  Topps reserved card numbers ending in zero for the biggest stars.
Number of this card in my collection: 178
2012 update: 187
2013 update: 329 & 1/2  (blank front)
2014 update: 387
2015 update: 517
2016 update: 612
2017 update: 645
2018 update: 736
2019 update: 801
2020 update: 851

2021 update: 864

2022 update: 960

2023 update: 1,000

2024 update: 1,032

2025 update: 1,041

2026 update: 1,045