Lukewarm about Archives

This was the first card I pulled out of my first pack of 2018 Topps Archives.

It's significant because Hoyt Wilhelm is otherwise known as the guy behind my #1 player collection. This kind of thing never happens. Usually my first card is some dude on the Royals or Rays I don't know. Not HOYT! (It's even enough to quiet my OCD about the fact that Hoyt was actually an Oriole in 1959.)

With Hoyt in the bag, it was time to bust open the rest of the five rack packs I purchased -- and while perhaps it was somewhat due to the euphoria that Hoyt created in that very first pack, I have to admit the rest of this year's Archives left me wanting.

Let's start with the most obvious duds of 2018 Archives: the '59 design.

Topps did almost nothing right here. Firstly -- and this is a fault of the entire set, not just the '59s -- the card stock is back to some kind of thin cheapo brand. The older designs in the last few years of Archives were blessed with Heritage-like stock, which I loved. And now the rug gets ripped right back out from under me with this standard glossy stock stuff. What the hell?

That aside, the '59s -- probably one of my top-ten Topps designs -- are flat-out badly done. The obvious misstep is the player names, which are aligned too far to the right for some reason (it's much more obvious on the guys with longer last names).

I'm no techie, but this seems like something that could've easily been fixed, and thus comes off as being the result of general apathy on the part of Topps.

The '77s are a little better, although others who know the specific fonts of the design better than myself have been quick to point out its flaws (I can confirm the team text is much skinnier than the actual '77s).

That Lindor is definitely a beaut, but overall there's not much to get excited about with these.

But here's the real draw of 2018 Archives for me: 1981!

I've been looking forward to this all year for the simply fact that '81 is among the least-honored/reprinted of all the Topps designs. It's also one of my favorite Topps sets (which many others seem to disagree with me about). And I'm happy to say that the gloriousness of these '81s didn't disappoint -- which I give Topps many points for.

Like the other designs in this year's Archives, these aren't perfectly executed (the team name alignment is a bit off once again), but the flaws are nowhere near as egregious as the '59s and I can't wait to add more of these to my collection.

Let's check out some card backs, shall we?

These look pretty spot-on to me, and it's nice to see backs that have good old cartoons and text in place of Instagram and Twitter handles.

Legends feel more at home in Archives than other sets for the sheer fact that it's a set designed to honor players of their generation (it's still a bit jarring to see someone Cal Ripken or other legends pop up in a turn-of-the-century tobacco set like A&G).

I like that Topps always seems to include a few older dudes like Bert Blyleven and Catfish Hunter who don't pop up in many modern sets. It's genuinely exciting to pull cards of guys like that as opposed to the Well here's my 148th Miguel Cabrera feeling I get with others. But one other flaw I noticed in this year's Archives is that the checklist has almost no action shots. Seriously: the Hunter was the only base action photo I pulled out of five rack packs. Of course, '59s are all posed, so the photo-shoot images make sense there.

But while '77 and '81 mostly featured posed shots, there was still quite a bit of action mixed into those sets -- so it's odd that Topps seems to have made 2018 Archives about 99 percent posed, which makes it feel more like a Heritage offshoot rather than an independent brand of baseball cards.

Most of Archives's inserts aren't really inserts: this nifty pull definitely has the look of an insert, but it's actually a shorter-printed high number.

The brilliant Turn Back the Clocks are also high-number SPs, while I believe the Coming Attractions inserts are retail-only (a real treat considering that's one of my all-time favorite rookie-themed designs).

And if I'm only gonna pull one parallel out of five rack packs, I suppose Rhys Hoskins isn't a bad one to get.

But here's the unquestioned Insert Set of the Year: THE SANDLOT!

I've said it many times before, but The Sandlot is my favorite movie in the history of movies. I've probably seen it north of 30 times and can quote most of the script by heart. Topps nailed the design since the film is supposed to take place in 1962 and while I would've preferred to pull a Smalls or Hambino, I'll certainly take Timmy Timmons here. (Needless to say, I'll be building this insert set and will gladly take any extras anyone comes across.)

But even with the saving grace of The Sandlot, I'm a bit lukewarm about 2018 Archives -- to me, the obvious design flaws and errors make it feels like a significant step back from the last couple years when the brand was giving Stadium Club a run for its money.