Just picked up this Topps Rip 1/1 Duke Snider here at the National!!! 🔥

Was fortunate to attend the annual Topps executive Q&A last night at The National. It’s a very cool event where they bring out their most senior execs to answer questions for a small group of collectors- maybe 100.

This year the execs were Mike Mahan (CEO of Fanatics Collectibles), Nick Bell (CEO of Fanatics Live and Collect), Avery Jessup (chief commercial officer for Fanatics Collectibles), David Leiner (president of Topps), and Clay Luraschi (chief product officer for Topps).

Most interesting nuggets I heard:
* Last year Topps had 70K redemptions outstanding, today they are down to 8K
* They are looking at ways to potentially protect against CT scanning boxes to find hits, but Mahan said he thought that story was overblown
* They said more licenses beyond Premier League, WWE and NBA are coming, but didn’t say what

I got to go last year too and it’s fascinating to hear the questions of these passionate collectors and the unfiltered answers of the Fanatics execs.

They also do trivia and try and stump Clay by asking him the value of random cards vs the Beckett guide. He never misses!

One guy won a 1961 Topps Mickey Mantle!

Man! Topps is so on top of this stuff. Cavan Sullivan, 14, became the youngest MLS player ever last night. And of course he had a rookie patch on his jersey, which will end up on a Topps card eventually.

Topps had to move fast on this one- I think the kid was just added to the roster a few days ago.

Huge chase card, and perhaps the biggest non-Messi MLS card in a while? Who knows if Cavan will turn out to be good but the speculators will be all over this, especially since Man City has him when he turns 18.

https://x.com/topps/status/1814027350012575821?s=46

Seen a few posts on here of people buying Topps Chrome… and then today a collector I follow on IG, Cage Lawyer, posted a video about Breaker’s Delights… boxes specifically created for breakers that have certain hits not found elsewhere in the set.

So the Koufax and Griffey auto chase cards that have been marketed? Not in any box you as a collector can purchase. And the messaging from Topps on this hasn’t been super transparent.

Worth watching Cage’s YT video to see what I’m Talking About.

Shady, no? Might be skipping Chrome now…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tqMNSfaet5M

Topps is back with Topps Composite Football. A pretty cool set with a mix of card from different sets: Topps Chrome, Chrome Black, Resurgence, Finest, Cosmic Chrome, Midnight, Allen & Ginter, Archives, Heritage, and more.

Find 3 Autographs in every box!
12 packs per box - 8 cards per pack

Preorder is live
https://www.topps.com/products/2023-topps-composite-football-hobby-box.html