2016 Topps Archives Baseball preview

After giving us a little teaser last month, Topps has announced the full details of 2016 Topps Archives Baseball. They previously announced that Kevin Costner would be signing for 2016 Archives with a special card paying tribute to his role of Crash Davis in the movie Bull Durham.

Costner will be featured on one of four Bull Durham inserts in Archives. He’ll be joined by Tim Robbins (Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh), Robert Wuhl (Larry Hockett) and Ron Shelton (Bull Durham writer & director). Bull Durham will have regular and autographed versions with on-card signatures. Both signed and unsigned cards will have numbered Red Border and Black Border (#’d 1/1) parallels plus printing plates.

The Bull Durham cards continues Archives’ tradition of featuring celebrity autographs. 2014 Topps Archives featured signed cards from stars of the movie Major League, including Charlie Sheen. Earlier this year, Topps inserted cards signed by Will Ferrell in 2015 Archives. Ferrell played with ten different MLB during Spring Training as part of a publicity stunt.

The base set for 2016 Archives includes 300 different subjects that range from current MLB stars to retired legends of the game. Archives base set features three different designs from Topps’s 65-year history of producing baseball cards. For 2016 Archives, Topps will use the 1953, 1979 and 1991 designs. Base cards have three levels of numbered parallels plus one-of-one printing plates. There are also limited amount of short prints not included in the base set.

Inserts provide addition homages to Topps cards of the past. 1969 Topps Super Inserts recreate the first set of Super Baseball cards produced by Topps. These feature a simple player image and a printed signature. 1985 Topps #1 Draft Pick inserts highlight previous first selections of the MLB draft. This is a tribute to the 12-card subset included in 1985 Topps Baseball.  1985 Father-Son inserts salute famous father-son combos to play in MLB. We are assuming the Griffeys will be part of this set. All inserts have Red and Black (#’d 1/1) numbered parallels as well as printing plates. Look for signed versions of inserts as well.

Autographs land two per box and utilize various Topps designs from the past. Signed cards have three colors of numbered parallels. Topps has also inserted autographed buybacks cards that feature a special foil stamp, on-card signature and are numbered.