Topps released its 2014 Series One Baseball product through hobby shops and major online dealers on Wednesday, a few days after boxes were first spotted at retail outlets.
Once again, it appears as if there are ‘Super Short Prints’. Among the shortest of the short are ‘Sparkle’ variations where a subtle, graphically enhanced ‘shine’ appears on a photo (see the McCutchen card—our green arrow points to the ‘Sparkle’). Only a few are being reported in each case.
Topps has brought the Strata line to baseball for the first time with a group of insert cards featuring the 3-D style technology. Autographed cards of Buster Posey and Dustin Pedroia sold quickly on eBay Wednesday, likely for more than $200 each. The David Wright is a redemption and sold for $249. Ozzie Smith, Jose Fernandez, Yu Darvish, Prince Fielder and Matt Cain were also being offered on eBay as redemptions.
Topps has also revealed its gaming component for ’14 Baseball called “Topps Power Players”.
Special versions of base cards have a Power Players logo on the front and a 
unique code on the back. There are 110 different Power Player subjects, some of which are exclusive to either hobby or retail. When you do find and exclusive parallel, you can go a website, create a “locker”, and enter the code to put that player in your locker to set yourself up to win prizes. Update: You can buy singles and bulk lots of Power Players on eBay here.
You can win “collection prizes” just by collecting the parallels. Once the MLB season starts in April, collectors and fans activate the Power Players in their locker that they think will perform on the field. If you have a Power Player “active” and Topps announces that player the “Power Player of the Day” you are automatically entered for a chance to win autograph cards, coin cards and other memorabilia. Prizes will be given away throughout the season.
Several thousand listings for 2014 Topps have now hit eBay. Click here to see them.
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