General Forum

With the ridiculous number of sets Topps puts out on an annual basis, I would think that it would an absolute no-brainer to release a World Baseball Classic set. Granted, Topps probably does not own the rights of every player in the tournament since not all are owned by MLB, but a significant chunk are. 

Based on the success Panini had with their World Cup set last year, and with the improved attitude towards the WBC since the US's run in 2017 (not to mention the insane level of caring Asia and South America has towards the tournament), and all the MLB star power in the tournament, I would have thought it would be a slam dunk that a WBC set set would be released. Apparently, I was wrong. 

 This is utterly embarrassing. I suppose it's better than nothing, but only just barely. This is a tiny 50 card checklist, online exclusive, and by the way, the cards look terrible. What a joke. Clearly this was an after-thought from Topps/Fanatics, and frankly, I just don't get it. Is it really possible that Topps Allen & Ginter Ben Baller exclusive Chrome foilboard refractor pickle super mega ultra collectors edition would sell better than a WBC set? I just don't understand it. 

I get that relative to the World Cup, the WBC is a small tournament and doesn't have the national appeal (yet) that the World Cup has, but come on. Is this really the best Topps could do?

Edit: I completely forgot that Topps has the rights to produce cards of NPB players too. That means that the only players Topps cannot make cards of are KBO players, Cuban players (who are still trapped in Cuba), and a select few other minor international leagues around the world like the Chinese league. That makes this oversight even more inexcusable.

Edit 2: Wow, I can't believe I forgot to mention the most embarrassing part of this set Topps is releasing. It is shipping out (brace yourselves)

8-10 weeks AFTER THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.

What on God's green earth is that? This makes no sense on any level unless like literally a week ago Topps was like "oh, the WBC is next week. Better make a half-assed online exclusive set for it or something. Too bad we waited until the event started so we can't get the autographs we need until weeks after the tournament ends, meaning fans of the tournament will have to wait 3 months to get cards of the tournament which most will have forgotten about by then."

I am appalled by the laziness and lack of vision or creativity on display here. I take back what I said earlier about this being better than nothing; I almost wish Topps had done nothing at all. What a freaking joke.

In the past Topps released a WBC set as an insert set in one of their products. Usually a later in the season product so they can honor the tournament action. Maybe they still have plans to do so later this year.

They are doing Topps NOW cards, but I agree, one would think a WBC set would be automatic.

I mean I was still sold on it, preordered 4 boxes :-)

To be fair, having not done it yet doesn't preclude them from doing a set later in the year. For example in 2017 they had a few Japanese and Korean national team cards in Bowman (and you may also remember the mega box Ohtani card from that year as well).

I like the design of the cards.  If they are releasing the set so late then I hope that the base cards feature images from the 2023 WBC.  Otherwise, what's the point?  I also wish the checklist featured more non-MLB players.  Where are the team Australia, China, Italy cards? Each team should be represented.

The design is admittedly subjective. I don't like it's lack of symmetry, and I am rarely a fan of borderless cards. (Was not a fan of 2016-2020 Topps flagship designs for that reason.) That's just me though. I agree that the checklist is very lacking. They could easily make the set 150-200 cards with representation for each nation. There are 20 teams and each team has at least 30 players.

If Topps has the rights to all players, they could make a checklist with all 600 players + 20 managers + 20 team cards + few leftover players (designated pitcher's pool players?) and you have a standard 660 card Topps set. Heck, Topps could even be lazy and use their 2023 Topps flagship design. I'd buy that up in a heartbeat. 660 cards is admittedly a bit ambitious, but they couldn't have done at least 200 with representation for all nations? That seems like a very easy thing to do, except for nations where they don't have player rights, like maybe China? (I'm not sure how that all works, I'm not an expert.)

My whole point though is that this set is extremely underwhelming. I think I might still buy some because I love the WBC that much -- it is easily the best baseball tournament in the world, and ridiculously underrated here in the states. 

As primarily a team collector, I am not really a fan of the WBC cards.  I have a handful of Carlos Gonzalez and Ubaldo Jimenez cards wearing uniforms of their home country and I just don't know whether to count them or not. 

If I were a player collector, I think I would like it a lot more. 

I am disappointed there is a card for Sal Frelick on team Italy and no David Fletcher 

I’m guessing the half-effort is more a cost-effective effort in order to get something out for it. 2013 WBC Tribute is one of the pretty sets I’ve ever seen but the sad reality was that it was not a huge seller (was also probably priced too high for the niche), even on the secondary market people just weren’t gobbling them up beyond the small rabid minority. 
 

editing to add that the whole idea of the tournament wasn’t something US fans were stoked about from the get go but it’s acceptance over the years (aided in no small part to the US actually winning on an international stage) has grown so it will be interesting to see how the WBC Now cards sell