2016 Topps Tier One Baseball preview

Topps Tier One Baseball will continue to deliver high-end hits in 2016 with two autographs and a relic card in every pack.

The thing that makes the 2016 edition of Tier One stand out is the appearance of Signature Tools auto relic cards. These are unique one-of-one hits that feature an actual piece of the pen used by an athlete to sign cards. It’s first time that pen relics have been used in a sports release by Topps after previously placing them in a Star Wars product last year.

Tier One Autographs are a special case hit that are numbered to 99 or less. These have three levels of colored ink parallels: Copper (#’d to 25), Silver (#’d to 10) and Gold (#’d 1/1). Clear One acetate autographs will be numbered out of 25.

Prime Performers and Breakout autographs will be more common in boxes of Tier One with card in both sets numbered to 299 or less. Prime Performers feature a checklist of veteran players and retired stars while Breakout goes the route of prospects and rookies. Both sets have the same parallels and quantities as Tier One Autographs.

Rounding out the autograph content are Dual autos (#’d to 25), Triple autos (#’d to 10) and Cut Signatures (#’d 1/1).

Autographed Tier One Relics come numbered out of 99 with Dual Patch parallels numbered to 25 and one-of-one Triple Patch parallels. Dual auto Tier One Relic booklets are numbered out of ten. Prodigious Patches come with player signature and a jumbo patch piece. Base versions are numbered out of ten with Platinum parallel numbered to only five. One-of-one auto relics hits include Tier One Autographed Bat Knobs, Autographed Limited Lumber bat relics and Cut Signature relics.

Basic relic cards include Tier One Relics, which are numbered to 399 or less. Dual Swatch parallel are limited to 50 copies while Triple Swatch parallels are numbered to just five. Tier One Relics Legends are numbered to 99 or less with Dual Swatch (#’d to 25) and Triple Swatch (#’d to 5) parallels. Prodigious Patches featuring a jumbo-sized patch relic come numbered out of ten. Tier One Bat Knobs, Limited Lumber bat relics and Tier One All-Star Relics are rare one-of-one hits.