2025 Topps - The First Phillie!

I didn't hesitate earlier this year when the e-mail from Topps arrived in my inbox alerting me that boxes of 2025 Topps Series One were on sale from their website.  I've missed out in the past, having to go to the secondary market (eBay) and paying an upcharge when the need to open new baseball cards inevitably overpowered me in prior Februarys.  I didn't go crazy, adding just a hobby box and a blaster to my cart, and then waiting patiently for the February 12th release date.

The box was waiting for me when I arrived home on Wednesday, but sports practices required us to wait until Thursday to open the first packs of 2025 Topps as a family.  The first Phillie, this Alec Bohm card, came quickly within the first pack I opened.

Topps has been on a roll over the past several years, and with the exception of the misfire with 2020's design, the 2025 Topps design adds to four solid set designs in the past five years.  Updating my top ten gallery below, the 2025 set takes the place of the 2015 set in the #2 spot, with 2015 leaving the list after 10 years (!).  I've used this summary in the past to describe the new Topps flagship design, but this is what a baseball card in the year 2025 should look like - crisp, great photo, modern graphics, some non-intrusive glittery effects and a little bit of silver foil with the Topps logo.  I really like that we get the team's logo and name going up the side of a card, and the curved lines along the left border are a nice modern update to the 1982 Topps design.

We were particularly impressed with how Topps found a new way to display the player's position.  The diamond in the bottom right indicates where the player would stand on the field, and it's one of those things I can't believe we've not seen on a baseball card before.  The backs are nice and clean too, as has been the case in recent years, and kudos to Topps for once again making the card number easy to find and easy to read.  My only very minor complaint is that some of the teams have player's last names in black (not white) making those harder to read.  I would have preferred Topps go with all white for every last name for each team.

Revisiting my top ten ranking below, I might move 2022 and 2019 ahead of 2023.  I still don't like the bottom three, but 2021 may eventually take over the worst design spot in my mind.

Best - 2024 Topps #194

#2 - 2025 Topps #7

#3 - 2023 Topps #278

#4 - 2022 Topps #249

#5 - 2019 Topps #303

#6 - 2016 Topps #15

#7 - 2018 Topps #26

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

2024 Topps #194 J.T. Realmuto

2025 Topps #7 Alec Bohm

The First Phillie - 2024 Topps!

Topps mixed things up this year, making collectors wait until January 11th to reveal the design of its 2024 flagship set.  In year's past, the design was released in August or September and when the season came to a close with no announcement and no inkling as to what the 2024 Topps cards would look like, I was a little worried.  I prepared myself to be underwhelmed whenever the design was finally released.

My first thought on seeing the design in mid-January:  These are cool.  My second thought:  The neon-like team name is fantastic, and how has Topps not done this before?  This is what a baseball card in 2024 should look like.  It's a modern look with the foggy border elements Topps likes so much from recent years, but collectors are given a solid photo, a unique way of presenting the team name, the team logo and clearly legible names and positions.  It's a great looking card, and it springs to the top of my list of favorite Topps flagship releases over the past 10 years.

The set was officially released on Valentine's Day, but I didn't open my first packs until February 19th.  My wife Jenna found three blaster boxes at our local Target that day, and I happily opened all three after dinner.  In the past, we've made a big show of the first packs of the year, but this year was a little more subdued.  The First Phillie hunt was extremely anti-climatic, as J.T. Realmuto was staring at me atop the first plastic-wrapped bunch of 59 cards I took from the first box I opened.

This is an exciting design, and Topps clearly creates its base cards now to work well with multiple parallel versions.  It wasn't until I had the cards in hand that I realized the team name and photo borders have foil-like features to them.  Scans don't do the cards justice, as these elements can't really be seen unless you're holding them.  I had a blue-bordered Alec Bohm card in one of my three boxes, and I like the full blue border more than the smoky black and white border on the normal base cards.  That's my only complaint, and if I had designed the cards, each card would have a border color corresponding to the player's team.  I like the backs too - very clean, with complete career statistics as has always been the norm with Topps flagship sets.

Finally, it's a promising sign of things to come that three of my top four sets over the past 10 years are all recent releases.  With 2014 dropping off the list, here's a look at my updated rankings:

Best Five:  2024, 2015, 2023, 2022, 2019

Bottom Five:  2016, 2018, 2021, 2017, 2020

Best - 2024 Topps #194

#2 - 2015 Topps #309

#3 - 2023 Topps #278

#4 - 2022 Topps #249

#5 - 2019 Topps #303

#6 - 2016 Topps #15

#7 - 2018 Topps #26

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

2024 Topps #194 J.T. Realmuto

Philly Baseball Card Show Report - 1969 Topps Commons Explosion

On Sunday, Doug and I drove an hour north to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at Oaks for the March Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, known to its friends as the Philly Show.  This could be our last show for a while, as baseball schedules along with a packed summer and fall tend to keep us away from any June or September shows.  We were happy we had decided to attend on Sunday, as we both heard from dealers and other collectors that Saturday's show was, "way too crowded, "a madhouse" and "chaos."  There were still a lot of people there on Sunday, but we were able to leisurely browse the dealer tables and we both came away with hauls that had us smiling all the way home.

• Doug's collecting habits are geared towards cards he thinks are cool, which is usually some combination of a signature, a relic and/or a low serial number for a favorite baseball or basketball player.  He's got quite the display going on his bedroom desk, and he added the cards shown below to his collection after a few hours of scouting and negotiating.
• After being a big spender on star cards at the December show, and completing our 1965 Topps set, I was focused on volume this time around.  I pulled up a chair at Uncle Dick's table, found the first binder of 1969 Topps commons (1-300) and plowed through it.  I stopped after each 100 cards to ask for a price check, and with the understanding I'd buy more if there was as a discount in play for volume, I soldiered on.  I added 193 cards to our 1969 Topps set, which is most likely the highest single set tally since the 1980s when my Dad and me were collecting the 1976 Topps set and we bought most of the commons needed for that set at an Ocean City baseball card show.
• I was happy to find quite a few dealers with Diamond Stars cards for sale.  I visited three separate dealers, making three separate purchases, all of which came in a little lower than the advertised prices. With five more cards added to that set, I'm down to needing 38 cards out of the 119 I'm collecting as my version of a master set.

I purchased one Phillies card, a 1987 team-issued variation card of the Phillie Phanatic, and we didn't purchase autographs from any of the dozens of autograph signers.  It was another great show, and it may need to hold us over until December.

Doug's Haul

New Diamond Stars cards

Memory Lane

Valley Forge 1 - September 2010 - Thinking of my Dad
Valley Forge 2 - October 2012 - Doug's first baseball card show
Valley Forge 3 - September 2014 - Meeting Darren Daulton
Oaks 1 - October 2015 - Meeting Pete Rose and Steve Carlton
Valley Forge 4 - September 2016 - Phillies acquisitions and 4 Phillies Legends
Valley Forge 5 - December 2016 - Meeting Don Money
Valley Forge 6 - September 2017 - Doug's big day
Valley Forge 7 - December 2017 - Ben's first baseball card show with Mike Schmidt and Rhys Hoskins!
Oaks 2 - December 2018 - Meeting Matt Stairs and Cole Hamels
Valley Forge 8 - March 2019 - 5 Phillies Autographs and Vintage Phillies Additions
Valley Forge 9 - September 2019 - Closing in on 1971 Topps set and Andrew McCutchen
Valley Forge 10 - December 2019 - Finishing 1971 Topps set, Starting 1965 Topps set, adding key autographs from Ryan Howard and Brad Lidge
Valley Forge 11 - February 2020 - More 1965 Topps cards, Jimmy Rollins, Mike Lieberthal and Jim Kaat

Valley Forge 12 - December 2021 - Huge haul of 1965 Topps, Jim Thome

Valley Forge 13 - March 2022 - Easy like Sunday morning, close to completing 1965 Topps

Oaks 3 - December 2022 - 1965 Topps set completed, dent made in 1969 Topps, Schwarber, Vierling and Stott

Oaks 4 - March 2023 - Huge haul of 1969 Topps and five Diamond Stars cards added

Blue Jays 8, Phillies 3
Spring Training Game 16 - Sunday Afternoon, March 12th in Clearwater
Record - 7-8-1

One Sentence Summary:  Further south, the Phillies dropped a spring training game to the Blue Jays.

What It Means:  With our fresh spoils in hand, we listened to the start of this game on our ride home from the Philly Show.

What Happened:  Starting pitcher Bailey Falter got hit early and often, allowing seven hits and three runs (two earned) in 2 2/3 innings of work.  Jake Jewell was the recipient of four unearned runs in the ninth due to a costly error by second baseman Hao-Yu Lee.  Josh Harrison hit a two-run home run in the fifth.

Featured Card:  See above!

Camp Head Count:  65 - 7 - 3 = 55

Before the game, James McArthur (rhp) was optioned and Mick Abel (rhp), Andrew Baker (rhp), Jon Duplantier (rhp), Griff McGarry (rhp), Francisco Morales (rhp) and Billy Sullivan (rhp) were all assigned to minor league camp.  Following the game, Jhailyn Ortiz (of) and Simon Muzziotti (of) were optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and Johan Rojas (of) was optioned to Double-A Reading.

The Tradition Continues! - 2023 First Phillie Winner

I surprised myself last week by deciding to buy a hobby box of Topps Series One, as I'm still riding the high of the Phillies being in the World Series and this is the first flagship set design in several years I really like.  As much as I enjoyed the 2022 Topps design, it was almost too plain for me and this year's design will definitely not be accused of that.  There's a lot going on here.

I appreciate that Topps recognizes a somewhat under appreciated tradition of having two photos - one action, one portrait - on the front of its flagship cards every 20 years in years ending in -3.  This started in 1963, came back in 1983, kept the tradition going in 2003 and makes its triumphant return in 2023.  Well done, Topps.  While I expect the 2043 Topps baseball cards to just be holograms we launch from our tricorders, hopefully the two photos on the front return for a fifth time in the sequence.

Since I've been opening packs of Topps flagship cards, we've had a family tradition of seeking the First Phillie of the year.  My Dad and I started the tradition in the early 1980s, I carried it through, some years by myself, through the early 2000s, and the practice has continued with my wife and sons since then.  On late Friday afternoon, not soon after the box had been delivered to the door, we selected our packs and commenced the search for the First Phillie of 2023.  There was some controversy this year as Doug pulled a league leaders card featuring Kyle Schwarber seconds before I found this Aaron Nola card in my first pack.  Ben quickly followed with the J.T. Realmuto card in his first pack.  Consulting the hallowed family First Phillie bylaws, I'm awarding First Phillie honors this year to myself, as the league leaders card doesn't quite count.

Yes, the fronts of these cards are busy.  Yes, there are a few too many design elements crammed on the bottom of the cards.  But I like them, and these seem to me what baseball cards should look like in the year 2023.  Our box had amazing collation, as we didn't have any doubles and we were just 14 cards short of a complete 330-card first series set.  There seemed to be way fewer inserts and parallels than in prior years, and I was completely fine with that.  My one continued gripe with Topps flagship is that I wish the checklist grouped subsets together.  League leaders and the combo card/checklists should be grouped sequentially and not dropped in randomly throughout the checklist.  

Revisiting a ranking of Topps flagship sets from the past 10 years, the 2023 Topps set, at least for now, finishes near the top.  I think I could flip flop the 2022 and 2019 designs in these rankings too:

Best Five:  2015, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2016

Bottom Five:  2018, 2014, 2021, 2017, 2020

Best - 2015 Topps #309

#2 - 2023 Topps #278

#3 - 2022 Topps #249

#4 - 2019 Topps #303

#5 - 2016 Topps #15

#6 - 2018 Topps #26

#7 - 2014 Topps #90

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

Phils Add Shortstop Turner with 11-Year Deal

On Monday, reports started emerging the Phillies had landed free agent superstar shortstop Trea Turner in a blockbuster 11-year deal.  Turner's signing became official on Thursday and the newest Phillie was introduced at a celebratory press conference at Citizens Bank Park.  Turner improves an already solid line-up, adding a strong bat, speed and steady defense.  His 11-year deal will take him through the 2033 season at a total of $300 million or an annual average value of $27.3 per year.  The 29-year-old Turner apparently turned down more money from the Padres as he clearly wanted to join the Phillies.

Turner has appeared in each Topps flagship set dating back to 2016.  According to my Phillies baseball card database, I already have two of his cards in my collection as he shared league leaders cards with Bryce Harper in the 2022 Topps set and with Roman Quinn in the 2021 Topps Big League set.

There were other Phillies moves during the recently held Winter Meetings, and I'll summarize those in an upcoming post.

Departures - 2022-2023 Offseason

• Johan Camargo - inf (10/7/22) - Elected free agency, signed with the Minnesota Twins, 11/27/22.
• Michael Kelly - rhp (10/14/22) - Elected free agency.
• Chris Devenski - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency, signed with the Los Angeles Angels, 11/28/22.
• Kyle Gibson - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency, signed with the Baltimore Orioles, 12/5/22.
• Brad Hand - lhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• Corey Knebel - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• David Robertson - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• Noah Syndergaard - rhp (11/6/22) - Elected free agency.
• Zach Eflin - rhp (11/7/22) - Elected free agency.
• Jean Segura - 2b (11/7/22) - Elected free agency.
• Mark Appel - rhp (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.
• Jorge Bonifacio - of (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.
• Nick Duron - rhp (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.
• Yairo Munoz - inf (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.
• Bubby Rossman - rhp (11/11/22) - Elected free agency.

New Additions - 2022-2023 Offseason

• Luis Ortiz - rhp (11/9/22) - Claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.
• Andrew Vasquez - rhp (11/9/22) - Claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.
• Jake Cave - of (12/2/22) - Claimed off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles.
• Noah Song - rhp (12/7/22) - Selected from the Boston Red Sox in the annual rule 5 draft.
• Trea Turner - ss (12/8/22) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• Matt Strahm - lhp (12/9/22) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Boston Red Sox.

2021 Topps Big League #260

2022 Topps #59

2022 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  34
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  Similar to the other photo card sets issued by the Phillies over the past decade, the front of the cards features a simple design with the focus on the photography.  All player photos, with the exception of Sam Coonrod, appear to have been taken early in the 2022 season.  Only the player's name - no uniform number and no position - is included on the front of the card, along with a simple white Phillies logo.  The horizontal card backs feature biographical information and career statistics.

How Distributed:  Single cards from the set first appeared in the wild at the Phillies game on June 3rd, as identification within grab bags containing autographed hats or baseballs sold as part of the annual ALS Night.  The entire 34-card set appeared for sale at the ballpark (for $6) on June 10th, shrink wrapped with the Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos cards visible on either side.  The cards were packaged in alphabetical order, save for the Harper and Castellanos cards.  This is the first team-issued photo card set produced by the Phillies since 2019, as no sets were issued during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season or the entire 2021 season.

Complete Standard Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position on the back of cards): 

1. Jose Alvarado (#46 - LHP)       2. Andrew Bellatti (#64 - RHP) 3. Alec Bohm (#28 - 3B) 4. Johan Camargo (#7 - INF) 5. Nick Castellanos (#8 - OF) 6. Sam Coonrod (#54 - RHP) 7. Seranthony Dominguez (#58 - RHP)      8. Zach Eflin (#56 - RHP) 9. Bailey Falter (#70 - LHP) 10. Jeurys Familia (#31 - RHP) 11. Kyle Gibson (#44 - RHP) 12. Didi Gregorius (#18 - INF)

13. Brad Hand (#52 - LHP) 14. Bryce Harper (#3 - RF) 15. Odubel Herrera (#37 - OF) 16. Rhys Hoskins (#17 - 1B) 17. Corey Knebel (#23 - RHP) 18. Mickey Moniak (#16 - OF) 19. Simon Muzziotti (#40 - OF)       20. Nick Nelson (#57 - RHP) 21. Aaron Nola (#27 - RHP) 22. James Norwood (#49 - RHP) 23. Roman Quinn (#24 - OF)

24. J.T. Realmuto (#10 - C)  25. Cristopher Sanchez (#61 - LHP) 26. Kyle Schwarber (#12 - OF) 27. Jean Segura (#2 - INF) 28. Bryson Stott (#5 - INF) 29. Garrett Stubbs (#21 - C)       30. Ranger Suarez (#55 - LHP) 31. Rob Thomson (#59 - Interim Manager) 32. Matt Vierling (#19 - OF) 33. Zack Wheeler (#45 - RHP) 34. Phillie Phanatic

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Norwood

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (22):  Alvarado, Bellatti, Bohm, Camargo, Castellanos, Coonrod, Falter, Familia, Gibson, Gregorius, Hand, Knebel, Moniak, Muzziotti, Nelson, Sanchez, Schwarber, Stott, Stubbs, Suarez, Vierling, Wheeler
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (9):  Dominguez, Eflin, Harper, Herrera, Hoskins, Nola, Quinn, Realmuto, Segura

The One and Done list above could get some future company, but for now I'm going to assume this is the only Phillies baseball card for reliever James Norwood, who was designated for assignment on June 13th.  I'll update this list as it grows.  Only nine Phillies players in this set were around when the Phillies last issued a photo card set back in May 2019.  This is the first appearance in a team-issued set for Ranger Suarez, who made his debut with the team in 2018.

Coonrod, currently on the 60-day injured list, is the only player in the set to have not appeared yet in a game in 2022.  Roman Quinn snuck into the set despite having been designated for assignment on June 1st.  (Quinn has since signed with the Royals' organization.)

Interim Manager (1):  Thomson
Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic is shown wearing the team's cream alternate jersey.

For the first time since the Phillies started issuing annual photo card sets back in 1970, no cards were produced for the team's coaches.  This could have something to do with the fact the team's coaching staff has ballooned from four in 1970 to ten at the start of the 2022 season.  Rob Thomson, named the team's interim manager on June 3rd following the dismissal of Joe Girardi, is identified as such on the back of his card.

Omissions:  I'm not going to complain at all about the set's checklist, given we waited two years for the return of this fan and collector's favorite.  Of the 36 players to have suited up for the Phillies in 2022 up until June 3rd, only five players are left out of the set - relievers Connor Brogdon and Damon Jones, who were both on the opening day roster, pitcher Jeff Singer, who was active for a day, pitcher Francisco Morales, who was on the roster for nine games in early May and infielder Nick Maton, who was active for three days before landing on the injured list.  It would have been nice to have cards of either Brogdon or Jones in place of Coonrod, but again beggars can't be choosers.

Variations/Rarities:  There's only one (potential) rarity to report at this time.  As mentioned above, single cards from the set first starting appearing on June 3rd, included within grab bags sold for $30 at the ballpark to benefit the ALS Association.  My son Doug and I both received bags with Joe Girardi cards to go along with a Girardi-signed baseball and a Girardi-signed hat.  The former Phillies manager had been relieved of his duties earlier that day, which was too late for Phillies employees to try to find and remove bags containing items he had autographed.  Who knows how many of these cards made it out before the Phillies recycled them?

1. Joe Girardi (#25 - MG)

2019 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards - 2nd Edition / 2023 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

2000-Present Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page