2013 Topps

While every single baseball card blog has already written everything there is to the 2013 Topps base set, I have done no such thing until now. Better late than never, right? Here are a few pros and cons about this year's design. Please remember that the views expressed do not necessarily represent those of other cardboard bloggers or their subsidiaries and are the sole views of the Reds Baseball Card Collector. The pros: crisp clean design with the white border and baseball diamond/outfield incorporated into the design, great photography-probably the best I've seen in years from Topps, a nice addition to the back with the "Chasing History" stat, and a manageable size set at 330 cards. Cons: short prints, short prints, short prints!!! I'm starting to get burned out on the short print concepts from Topps when it comes to their flagship set. Ginter and Gypsy Queen I could see and even Heritage, though that might be a stretch. But in my humble opinion, short prints DO NOT belong in the flagship brand. Period. As a team collector I had to get not one, but two for my team set this year, and that's only for series one! Who knows what dastardly SPs await me for series two and the update set! Personally, Topps should have used the outstanding photos that were used in their "Out of Bounds" SPs for the standard player cards. The reason I've stuck with the flagship brand from Topps for as long as I have is due to the simple fact that it's always been affordable to put together a team set for about five bucks. So far this year it's cost me twenty nine dollars (three quarters of which belong to acquiring the short prints of Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier). Am I the only one who's rose colored glasses are starting to shatter at the thought of what the flagship has morphed into?