Trying to Get an Idea of What 2009 Topps Baseball is Going to Look Like

So for the last few days (alright, weeks), until the arrival of 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights (which I will get this weekend…sorry Dave’s Dugout for not getting there sooner), I have been scouring the net, looking for any information pertaining to 2009 Topps. What I have found so far (as of Thursday, October 23) has been almost nothing.

I did find a flyer for a 2009 Topps Hanging display, (see below)...

but the cards on the display all feature 2008 Topps Manny Ramirez.

Determined to get something, I kept looking for something, anything. Then I heard that SCD did a podcast on Wednesday with Clary Luraschi and would discuss products coming in 2009, especially in Baseball. Awesome!!! Then I thought, “Wait, this is a podcast, they’re not going to show pictures.” I went ahead and listened to the program.

They were discussing what effects the economy was going to have on the current market. Will people be buying more or less? How will the companies accommodate? Then, they finally got to talking about the 2009 Topps set. It’s still in production, and it will release in February. But 2009 Topps will feature the players who were acquired in the CMG deal this past summer. That means there will be cards of:

• Jackie Robinson
• Walter Johnson
• Ty Cobb
• Tris Speaker
• Honus Wagner
• Johnny Mize
• Pee Wee Reese
• Jimmy Foxx
• Thurman Munson
• Rogers Hornsby
• Lou Gehrig
• Mel Ott
• George Sisler
• Christy Mathewson
• Cy Young
• Roy Campanella, and
• Babe Ruth

This got me to thinking about themes. Since my old card shop spoiled me with sell sheets, I realized that since 1995, there has always been some kind of theme that coincided with that year’s Topps baseball product. While these themes were almost always presented as insert sets, they were the key selling hook on each year’s sales flyers. To wit:

• 1995 Cyberstats (what if the 1994 strike never happened)
• 1996 Mickey Mantle and the retirement of number 7
• 1997 Willie Mays
• 1998 Roberto Clemente
• 1999 Nolan Ryan
• 2000 Hank Aaron
• 2001 50th Anniversary of Topps
• 2002 Hall of Famers (Topps randomly inserted Topps cards of any HOF’s who appeared in their products up to that point)
• 2003 Record Breakers
• 2004 100th Anniversary of the World Series
• 2005 Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds
• 2006 The Return of Mickey Mantle to Topps
• 2007 Generation Now
• 2008 Trading Card History and The Presidential Election

So in 2009, the CMG exclusives will play a big role in Topps 2009 Baseball products, and will probably be key inserts in their flagship brand come February. I’m sure we’ll see relics, cut signatures, limited parallels, maybe a DNA relic (or two, never know).

Personally, as long as they don’t mix in the seventeen players into the set the way they do with Mantle (as card number 7 since 2006), I will be happy. Be assured that sell sheets for 2009 products will mention at least once the CMG exclusives.

Now if I could only find that darn design…

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama