Old School Hits: 2002 Topps Archive Reserve Autographs

In 2001, Topps Archive Reserve debuted as an all-refractor reprint set of 100 cards, each featuring a former MLB star as they appeared on their first Topps card. Each box delivered an autographed baseball as a boxtopper, along with an additional autograph and game-used card.

The following year, the same basic concepts applied, but the rookie reprints were replaced by reprints of Topps cards from each player’s “best season” in the Majors. This newly acquired Fergie Jenkins autograph is a tribute to the 1971 season in which he posted a 24-13 record with a 2.77 ERA and 30 complete games.

Boxes of 2002 Topps Archive Reserve contain 10 packs and 1 autographed baseball. Bat and uniform relics are seeded 1 in 22 and 1 in 7 packs respectively. Autographs are seeded 1 in 15 packs.

2002 Topps Gold Label Baseball Review

The first time I ever mentioned this product, I referred to it as an “ugly mess of a product.” I know those seem like harsh and shocking words (in fact, I take them back), especially coming from a fan of the Gold Label series, but in my opinion, this product just never quite measured up to its predecessors. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a nice set. In fact, if I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t have included it in Old School Group Break 2. However, it still is what I consider the “weak link” in the series, which happened to end with this very set. See if you agree.

Box Details: 18 packs per box, 4 cards per pack, $32
From: Baseball Card Exchange

Base set: The base set is comprised of 200 cards and if you’re into hugely nameplated surnames, this set’s for you! That was actually a small pet peeve I’ve always had with this product (but the biggest one will be revealed later). Anyway, you might notice that these cards don’t shine the way the older GL cards do. Compare. Here you’ll notice a holofoil effect as opposed to a heavily glossed refractor effect, a different look from the “super premium” cards from previous sets. My box yielded 64 of 200 basic cards (32%) and 1 duplicate.

Gold (1:7 packs, numbered to 500): There are 3 parallels that mirror the base set: Gold, Platinum, and Titanium. The Gold cards, the most easily attainable, are seeded 1 in every 7 packs (1 in 11 retail) and are numbered to 500. I pulled 3: Garret Anderson (312/500, there he is again!), Derek Bell (002/500), and Tim Hudson (346/500).

Platinum (1:13 packs, numbered to 250): Slightly harder to find than the Golds, the Platinum parallels are seeded 1 in every 13 packs (1 in 28 retail) and are numbered to 250. I beat the odds and pulled 2 in my box: Tom Glavine (181/250) and Matt Morris (174/250).

MLB Award Ceremony Relics (seeding below): Just as they did in 2001, Topps decided to insert game-used relics into Gold Label with the MLB Award Ceremony set. Like the base cards, these also come in variations of Gold, Platinum, and Titanium, with Gold being the most common. The insertion ratios are as follows:

Gold Bat (1:32 Hobby, 1:84 Retail)
Gold Jersey (1:38 Hobby, 1:106 Retail)
Platinum Bat (1:79 Hobby, 1:217 Retail)
Platinum Jersey (1:57 Hobby, 1:159 Retail)
Titanium Bat (1:158 Hobby, 1:435 Retail)
Titanium Jersey (1:115 Hobby, 1:317 Retail)

My box yielded a Tim Raines Gold Bat and a Steve Garvey Titanium Jersey. I like how the Topps card corresponding with the award-winning year hangs in the background. Overall, the design is decent enough (though not as good as the previous year’s), but it just seems so weird to have cards this dark in the Gold Label brand. The same can be said for the parallels.

Also, new to 2002 were Major League Moments relics, which were considerably tough pulls. There were only 12 different cards, each with the 3 previously mentioned variations. I can’t link to a pictue of one of these right now, but you can Google for them if you’re curious. 🙂

Oh yeah, and these have to be the thinnest game-used cards ever. They comfortably fit in your standard toploader.

Final Thoughts/Grades:

Collation: A
No complaints here. 1 duplicate sure beats out the 15 duplicates from that last box I broke, both of which were made of 4-card packs.

Condition: B
There were a couple minor blemishes, but they were few and far between. I have pulled creased cards from this product before though.

Pulls: B
Overall, I was satisfied with my pulls. The parallel cards (minus Glavine) left a lot to be desired, but I was happy to pull relics of some new players for a change. This product has multiple game-used cards of superstars like Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, and Tony Gwynn, but how many game-used cards does Tim Raines have? Considerably less. That makes it cool.

Value: B
Somewhere in the $30-40 range is pretty decent for this box when most want $50+. Retail boxes sell for a little bit cheaper, have slightly longer odds as noted above, and contain only one game-used card as opposed to the two for Hobby.

Oh, and remember that little peeve I mentioned earlier about this product? Well, here it is. Most of you know that I’ll try all sorts of boxes at least once and in some cases, will try to complete base sets for some of my favorites (such as Fleer Showcase, Topps Gallery, and of course, Gold Label).

Prior to 2002, GL’s configuration was standard:
Hobby: 24 packs/5 cards/100-card base set*
Retail: 24 packs/3 cards/100-card base set*

In 2002:
Hobby: 18 packs/4 cards/200-card base set
Retail: 18 packs/3 cards/200-card base set

So, just to mess with us who like to actually hand collate sets of GL, Topps increased the size of the set while drastically decreasing how many total cards you got per box. Add in the fact that the designs weren’t quite as strong as in years past, it’s not surprising, at least to me, why this brand didn’t last another year.

* In 2001, the set had 115 cards, 100 base and 15 numbered SP rookies

Overall Grade: B

OSGB 2: Box 5: 2002 Fleer Showcase

Avant Card SP Jason Giambi (Yankees – Chuck)
Avant Card SP Ichiro (Mariners – Bud)
Avant Card Legacy Rene Reyes 155/175 (Rockies – WickedOrtega)
Mark Teixeira SP 0329/1000 (Rangers – Play at the Plate)
Hank Blalock SP 0461/1500 (Rangers – Play at the Plate)
Legacy Aramis Ramirez 134/175 (Pirates – Chuck)

Baseball’s Best Rafael Palmeiro (Rangers – Play at the Plate)
Baseball’s Best Alex Rodriguez (Rangers – Play at the Plate)
Baseball’s Best Randy Johnson (Diamondbacks – Chris Mays)
Jeter Legacy Collection #17 0281/1000 (Yankees – Chuck)
Jeter Legacy Collection #18 0206/1000 (Yankees – Chuck)

Baseball’s Best Randy Johnson jersey (Diamondbacks – Chris Mays)
Baseball’s Best Luis Gonzalez jersey (Diamondbacks – Chris Mays)
Baseball’s Best Shawn Green jersey (Dodgers – Night Owl)
Sweet Sigs Lumber Ben Sheets autograph (Brewers – Peterson)

This box delivered 4 hits instead of the normal 3. The Avant Card shortprints might just be my favorite part of this product. I might have to order a box of this for myself one of these days.

OSGB 2: Box 3: 2002 Donruss Elite

Craig Biggio SP (Astros – darkship)
Jorge Posada SP (Yankees – Chuck)
Jason Romano Rookie 0952/1500 (Rangers – Play at the Plate)
Recollection Collection 2001 Luis Garcia Rookie Auto 05/25 (Red Sox – Shoebox Legends)
Status Vladimir Guerrero 37/73 (Expos – oldschoolbreaks)
All-Star Salutes Pedro Martinez 0870/1999 (Red Sox – Shoebox Legends)

Hmm, I thought these boxes delivered a little more than this. The box states that inserts are found 1 in every 7 packs! For those wondering, the Biggio and Posada are part of a 50-card chunk of the base set which are shortprinted and seeded only 2 per box. I’m a sucker for Status/Aspirations parallels so I’m cool with the Vlad…

OSGB2: Box 1: 2002 Topps Gold Label

Alright guys, here we go! It’s time to reveal the results of our group break (hope the holidays treated everyone well, BTW)! Before I show off the goods, I have to remind/inform everyone of a few things:

1. I will be on vacation (and out of the country), just over a week from now. I’m desperately trying to finish our break and get the cards mailed out before I go.
2. To follow up on the last post, I have decided to go with 2003 Fleer Rookies and Greats (3 hits/5 #d rookies, lots of good stuff per box) as our replacement for the 2002 Bowman’s Best box that no one seems to have, at least at a reasonable price.
3. The other 7 boxes arrived yesterday and after lengthy fighting with my stupid camera, I was never able to record the breaks so I did them off camera. I want to assure everyone that all inserts, parallels, and hits pulled will be scanned and mailed out (except for the Donruss WS Blues which will be mailed but not scanned).
4. I will reveal the results of our break 2 boxes at a time (suspense!). Check back every evening to see how your teams did.

First up, the results of 4 bonus packs of 2009 UD Series 1, courtesy of Dave and Adam’s.

’75 OPC Matt Kemp (Dodgers – Night Owl)
’75 OPC Joba Chamberlain (Yankees – Chuck)
Stars of the Game David Wright (Mets – Joe M.)
Rivals Roy Halladay/Joba Chamberlain (Blue Jays/Yankees – Captain Canuck has the Jays, but I really doubt he’d want Joba in his mailbox so….this goes to Chuck?)
Rivals Jim Thome/Justin Morneau (White Sox/Twins – Lonestarr)
Documentary #4941 (Phillies – Dan)
20th Anniversary Inserts Bill Clinton, Voyager 1 (EDIT: Claimed by Peterson)

Now for the good stuff, the Gold Label!

Gold Al Leiter 069/500 (Mets – Joe M.)
Gold Curt Schilling 479/500 (Diamondbacks – Chris Mays)
Gold J.T. Snow 387/500 (Giants – Peterson)
Platinum Steve Finley 018/250 (Diamondbacks – Chris Mays)
MLB Award Ceremony Roger Clemens uniform (Red Sox – Shoebox Legends)
MLB Award Ceremony Ryne Sandberg bat (Cubs – Shoebox Legends)