Today is the release date for Topps Update, the third set of the year to use the 2013 Topps design as the inspiration for the product. You can technically count 2013 Chrome as well, but its all a bit of overkill in my opinion. We have literally gotten set after set in the last four weeks from Topps, and though they havent been bad, we have relatively reached the saturation point.

Some big hits are already up:

2013 Topps Update Yasiel Puig SSP Photo Variation

2013 Topps Update Yasiel Puig SSP Photo Variation Version 2 – insane price on this

2013 Topps Update Cal Ripken Jr / Manny Machado Dual Auto

2013 Topps Update Mike Trout All Star Jersey Auto

The focus of this product is a combination of a few different big stories in the league, including the All Star game, Yasiel Puig and traded players. As someone who isnt a set collector, doing this type of release four times over the year is a bit much, even if this is basically Topps Update: Yasiel Puig Edition.

All that aside, this is a card I dont really get:

2013 Topps Update Royal Baby SSP

I do like the insert autographs, and I also really like the all star cards this year as I think the design is significantly better than in the previous two sets. The Boston Strong parallel for the Red Sox players is also pretty cool, considering how big a story that was during the year. However, on the other hand, this is the third time we have gotten the chasing history autos, and also the third time we are seeing base cards for a lot of the players. If I am Topps, in an industry that is drastically shifting away from set collectors – is this the best release to have at this point in the year?

Some of the cards are interesting, especially the alternate variations that feature HOF and retired guys. It also obvious that adding Puig base Topps RCs are important to the grand scheme of things, even if there are 5 different ones in the product. The issue is that this set really doesnt offer anything different that wasnt already offered in Topps Series One and Two. That is just unfortunate to me.

There is a lot of talk around the internet that Topps has lost a lot of credibility with certain baseball collectors because of their ignoring the fundamentals of what made the sets great. However, I think that is also ignoring that baseball cards as they existed even 10 years ago are gone. Bottom line, as a whole, collectors are now more focused on hits and autographs rather than base cards. The hobby in baseball is still a bit old fashioned, but I think its time to consider moving on from a set like this.