Topps “Living Set” Baseball Offers A Never-Ending Checklist

You’ve heard of living wills. Topps is introducing a new idea in card collecting: A living set.

Topps Living Set Baseball is unlike the standard releases that are issued from year to year. This online-exclusive product is issued for one week and is open-ended, meaning that the checklist never ends.  At least in theory.

It also means that there will be only one card of each player, unless that player is traded. So, while Aaron Judge is card No. 1, his card won’t be issued in another spot on the ever-growing checklist unless he is either traded to another team or leaves the New York Yankees because of free agency.

Topps will be releasing three cards a week, and they only will be available during that week. Judge is card No. 1, followed by the Giants’ Joe Panik at No. 2 and Detroit’s Nick Castellanos at No. 3.

The cards will be printed on 16-point vintage stock, and Topps will pay tribute to the intricate and beautiful artwork of the 1953 Topps design by featuring Living Set Baseball players in that motif. The high-resolution images will be supplied by artist Mayumi Seto. The card backs will show the batting and fielding statistics of the player for the most recent year he played, along with lifetime statistics to that point, another nod to the iconic 1953 Topps set.

Single cards will cost $7.99, while the weekly three-card “sets” will be sold for $14.99. The 1953 Topps set included 280 cards, but as a “living” set, there is no limit to how high the checklist will go.  It’s not tied to any specific year.  

Judge, Panik and Castellanos are available on Topps’ website through March 21. The next group of cards will be offered next week after this week’s promotion ends.

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About Bob D'Angelo

Bob has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 35 years and a blogger for a decade. He is celebrating his 50th year of card collecting, and still counts his 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle as his favorite. You can reach him at [email protected].