What’s inside a 2020 Topps baseball factory set depends a little bit on where you shop.
The 700-card boxed set is a simple way to own the company’s complete flagship set without opening a bunch of packs. Of course, you won’t get any autographs, relic cards or variations, but you will get every base card from Series 1 and 2 in a tidy package. That’s not the end of the story, though.
As the season winds down, Topps has released multiple versions of the set, each with its own attractions, some that are exclusive to various retail outlets. Unfortunately, many of the special sets exclusive to Target and Walmart were sold out almost as quickly as they were put on the companies’ websites but you might be able to find them in stores and they’re easily found on the secondary market.
Here’s a look at the various types of 2020 Topps factory sets.
2020 Topps Factory Set (Hobby)
The “hobby” factory sets are sold in a red-colored box and as they have in the past, include a bonus pack containing five random serial-numbered foilboard parallel cards, numbered to 229.
These sets are commonly sold through hobby shops but are also available online for $75-$80.
2020 Topps Factory Set Retail
The standard “retail” version is sold in a blue box and contains five exclusive “rookie image variations in a cello pack featuring Luis Robert, Bo Bichette, Yordan Alvarez, Gavin Lux and Aristides Aquino. These sets are commonly found in stores such as Target, Walmart, Meijer and online through Amazon.
By themselves, the “rookie image variation’ sets are on eBay, with most prices at $30-$50 for the pack of five.
Target “Chrome Rookie” Factory Set
A second retail version sold at Target stores comes in a box that’s purple in color. It contains the five-card rookie photo variation card pack along with one of five Chrome rookie variations.
Sold out on Target’s website, these sets can be found on eBay.
Walmart “Possible Parallel” “Green” Factory Set
Topps also cooked up a special set sold exclusively through Walmart that’s easily the most intriguing of the 2020 factory sets. This one comes in a green box and contains the 700 cards and the five rookie photo variations and foilboard parallels but one in every three sets will be all parallel cards.
The common parallel version looks to be unnumbered with a special gold star border design. Other versions will be serial numbered to either 299 (blue parallels) or 99 orange parallels . There’s also one “FoilFractor” set out being made with each card a 1/1 that will likely fetch a big price when it’s uncovered. It’ll be fulfilled by way of a redemption card hidden inside a regular set. These “green box sets” are also sold out at Walmart.com but complete sets are being offered on eBay.
All of these are in addition to the ten numbered “1st Edition” factory sets that were produced through a partnership between Topps and the fractional shares platform Rally. Those are not being sold in complete set form at all.