2011 Topps - The Inserts

I posted regular base cards last week. I had bought 3 blasters, 1 from Target, 2 from WalMart for a total of 0f 300 cards, 184 were base cards, the rest inserts. There are 46 inserts and parallel cards in the Series 1 set but I only got a small selection. Overall, while I'm happy with the design of the base cards, I'm not so happy with the inserts. Outside of the Diamond Platinum parallels and the Kimball Champions, nothing much grabbed my attention.

2011 Topps Gold #224 Milton BradleyNo matter what the stated odds of the gold cards (this year it's 1 in 17 packs) I usually don't pull more than one or two in a year. Series 1 yielded just this Milton Bradley card. As usual, the cards are numbered to the set year. I got card number 1,822.

2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary Platinum #191 Jay BruceThis parallel set is pretty cool looking. They are inserted 1 in 4 packs and I pulled 7 of them. All the cards I got were base cards, no checklists, no leader cards. Also no Phillies, Astros or any players I collect. Maybe I'll have better luck with Series 2.

2011 Topps Throwback #163 Carlos PenaOnce again, this parallel set, printed on heavy gray card stock with the old Topps logo, is available only in Target blasters. There are 2 packs per blaster. I think I prefer these to...

2011 Topps All-Black #1 Ryan BraunThis parallel set is, as usual, only available in WalMart blasters, 2 packs per blaster. The novelty of these cards is wearing off.

2011 Topps 60 Years of Topps Reprints #19 Reggie JacksonI actually think this is a good idea as a 6oth-anniversary insert set. Except they did the "Cards Your Mother Threw Out" set last year and this looks just like that. I pulled 11 of them. The criteria for picking a card from each year doesn't seem consistent or even rational. For example, the 1989 card is the Royals Leaders card with Bo Jackson. Is this the best card, by any criteria, of 1989? I don't think so. There is an "Original Backs" version of these at a tough to pull 1:36. I got the 1987 card featuring Dennis Eckersley. Why Eckersley on the 1987 card? Who knows.

2011 Topps 60 Years of Topps: The Lost Cards $3 Mickey MantleThis 10-card set is inserted 1 in 12 packs. This is the not-published, but for contractual issues, might have been 1954 Mickey Mantle card. I was 3-years old in 1954 and I really don't care.

2011 Topps 60 #35 Frank ThomasOK, it's Topps 60th anniversary. I understand the connection. Let's produce an insert set which celebrates the top 60 of something. Top 60 players of all time? Too hard. The top 60 home run hitters? Too easy. What Topps chose to do is to pick players from a list which is categorized something like this: the top 60 players in any category, by all-time, by team history, by individual year, by team in an individual year, by decade, by any of those categories in a rookie season, yada, yada, yada. The listing of players in this set is practically arbitrary. What a waste. The cards aren't bad looking however.

2011 Topps Diamond Duos #DD-HF Heyward/FreemanThe Diamond Dogs, er, Duos set i2 30 cards inserted 1 in 4 packs. I pulled 10 of them. Pretty much a copy of last year's Legendary Lineage set, which I didn't care for either. Mostly a collection of randomly paired players. What will they think of next year?

2011 Topps History of Topps #5Topps makes history by releasing very possibly the most boring insert set of all time. And this is probably the most boring card of the set. At an insert rate of 1 in 18 packs, this is a relatively tough pull. I'm happy I only got the one.

2011 Topps Kimball Champions #7 Mickey MantleHave we run out of ancient cards to reproduce yet? Apparently not. This is a 1888 tobacco card set. I actually like them a lot. The 50-card set was inserted 1 in 4 packs and I pulled 9 of them.

2011 Topps CMG Reprints #26 Ty CobbI'm kind of a sucker for these reproductions of old sets. This 30 card set features a number of different sets. For example, this is a 1932 US Caramel card. Inserted at a rate of 1 per 8 packs I pulled four of them. Three of them were different Ty Cobb cards.

2011 Topps Throwback Commemorative Patches Chase UtleyFor several years, Topps has included manufactured patch cards like this in blaster boxes. Although I'm happy enough to get one when it features a Phillie, I'd rather get an auto or a relic card. In addition to this, I got two different cards featuring Washington Nationals (Zimmerman and Desmond) with Expos patches. Really, who wants something like that?

2011 Topps Ticket to Toppstown #15 David WrightThis is the third year for this insert. Are you as tired as I am of finding one of these cards in each pack of Topps? This year they upscaled the set by adding a foil background. It doesn't make me want them any more.