Chromatised Numbers Game

Topps seems to have got into the habit of re-releasing every single range as a "Chrome" version. I already had the 'Numbers Game' insert from Topps Update 2020 and through the UK collectors group on Facebook, I have now got the Chrome version as well. A big thank you to Wilhelm for sending me this.

Card Number 620: Topps Chrome Update Numbers Game insert, 2020; #NGC-15

The blue shine on this is due to how it scanned. The bottom right corner was orange on the non-Chrome release. 

The back is the same as the non-Chrome release except that the title and the square with the number in are both yellow on this release.

Back in December, when I reviewed the regular version of this card, I said it feels like a missed opportunity that Topps didn't align the card numbering with the retired numbers they were celebrating. 

Also, as Fuji pointed out in the comments last time, for a card celebrating a player's number, why don't they show the number on his uniform? This is one of those rare occasions where Topps used a photo that showed Tony's face. Topps have used so many photos of Tony's back in the past, and then on this card where that would make sense, they choose not to.

Still, it's a nice shiny card. Wilhelm also included a bonus card in the envelope, which I will blog tomorrow!

Total: 620 cards

Modern Monday - got your number

This card from the recently released Topps Update set came all the way from Plymouth, Massachusetts, via eBay. Then, after I'd bought it and while it was somewhere in the postal system, Marc from the UK Facebook collectors group asked me if I had it. The lesson? Wait and see what turns up in the group!

Card Number 547: Topps Update Numbers Game insert, 2020; #NG-15

The theme of this insert set are the various numbers retired by clubs. 

If that picture on the front looks familiar, it might be because it appeared on an insert card in Topps Chrome Update in 2019.

On the back there is a little write up about Tony's career.

I have one quibble with this insert series - why didn't Topps try to align the card numbers with the retired numbers? NG-19 in the series is Ernie Banks, who wore #14. They gave Derek Jeter's card the number NG-22, but his uniform number was #2, while NG-2 is a card for Ryne Sandberg, who wore #23.

Yesterday I talked about how I felt Topps's licensing monopoly had rendered the company lazy. This is the kind of thing I mean. I realise it might not always be possible to number all the cards exactly aligned to the shirt numbers of the players. But Topps could have done that with a lot of them. 

Total: 547 cards