Topps Archives is not a new concept, but it has definitely made a resurgence recently with a release in both Baseball and Football. Its back now for a second year in Baseball with some interesting choices for both the grouping of retro cards, as well as some added content over 2012.

I am a big fan of the Archives dedication to delivering on card auto content, especially of players that rarely get that kind of exposure. It has created some memorable cards in the past, and this year I think it might be on track to deliver that all over again.

The heavy metal autographs are definitely going to be popular from what we are seeing:

2013 Topps Archives Axl Rose Auto

2013 Topps Archives Tommy Lee Heavy Metal Auto

2013 Topps Archives Scott Ian (Anthrax Lead Singer) Heavy Metal Auto

2013 Topps Archives Dee Snider Heavy Metal Auto

The one big surprise that I was shocked to find out is that Topps somehow was able to secure an autograph deal with the ever-reclusive Axl Rose of Guns n Roses fame. Although the cards are redemptions, its obvious they are confident enough in tracking him down to sign them to issue the cards. If they get them done, this is about as big a score as ever, though I feel that this would be absolutely incredible for a Ginter inclusion later in the year.

They have also taken designs from other sports this year to include in the product, which isnt something I think they needed to do, but its cool to see how they turned out. There are a lot of ICONIC Topps baseball designs to populate a product like this, and I think that adding football and basketball to the mix is a bit of overkill.

Variations are back again as well, which is always right up my alley, as I think that adding this type of content will always bring up added value as long as it is rare. From the looks of it, the variations dont impact the set collecting aspect that has to be a part of every baseball product (eye roll), which should keep both sides of the fence reasonably satisfied.

If this ends up being a yearly thing, I want to believe that Topps will find a way to keep it fresh. Now that we have two years on the shelf, with reasonably good results, next year will need to be better. I would hope that more on card autographs from current players on the base design will be considered, as it was last year, because I absolutely love the way those can be paired with the original subjects from the original sets.

Consider me intrigued…