First Impressions - 2019 Topps Holiday

I don't really go for cards that are just rifts of the base set. I don't get overly excited by Opening Day or Chrome. I haven't bought a single bag of Utz potato chips. Making a small change to the base set and calling in a new set of its own just doesn't do it for me. The Topps Holiday sets fell into this category as well. Until this year at least. Topps made bolder changes that really give the cards a whimsical feel. As soon as I saw these cards on other blogs, I knew I would have to see for myself.

#HW170 Yoan Moncada

The honor of the first card goes to Former Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada. As you can see, the holly border is a big eye-catching difference from the standard set look. The white snowy garland works much better when it's used as a compliment to the green and red Christmas motif.

#HW80 Scott Kingery
#HW34 Austin Meadows
#HW180 Noah Syndergaard
#HW190 Corbin Martin (RC)
#HW11 Ryan Pressly
#HW174 Corey Seager
#HW171 Brendan Rodgers
#HW87 Albert Pujols

Topps has some fun with the Holiday set by giving us Christmas themed variations. Some variations are more obvious, like the presents on Albert's card.

#HW8 Juan Soto (ASR)
#HW75 Zack Wheeler
#HW79 Matthew Beaty
#HW185 Joey Gallo
#HW121 Brandon Brennan (RC)
#HW30 Clayton Kershaw

Poor Clayton must be on the naughty list this year. He's still getting cards of him with his zipper down, even after it's been fixed in other sets!

#HW191 Luis Arraez (RC) (Snowflake parallel)
#HW116 Elvis Andrus
#HW4 Adam Jones
#HW102 Miguel Sano
#HW199 Masahiro Tanaka
#HW139 C.C. Sabathia
#HW66 Griffin Canning
#HW26 Anthony Rizzo
#HW3 Nate Lowe (RC)
#HW164 Kirby Yates
#HW78 Justin Smoak (Snowflake parallel)
#HW41 Max Muncy
#HW55 Josh Bell
#HW113 Ozzie Albies
#HW104 Renato Nunez
#HW91 Brad Hand
#HW154 Chris Sale

The first Red Sox card is ironically the guy the Red Sox traded Yoan Moncada for! I don't think either team will regret that trade!

#HW172 Shaun Anderson (RC)
#HW84 Eric Hosmer
#HW189 Cavan Biggio (RC)
#HW64 Willson Contreras

This SP has a more subtle variation. I had to look twice to catch the garland along the wall!

#HW100 Jason Heyward
#HW192 Bryce Harper
#HW58 Cole Hamels

Topps missed a golden opportunity by not printing his name as "Coal" - how funny would that have been?

#HW123 Xander Bogaerts
#HW134 Yasmani Grandal
#HW57 Matt Chapman
#HW28 D.J. LeMahieu
#HW60 Blake Snell
#HW29 Mookie Betts

Not that I'm biased or anything, but this is easily my favorite variation so far. I wonder if Mookie hates untangling strings of lights as much as I do?

#HW186 Jorge Alfaro (ASR)
#HW63 Ryne Harper
#HW152 Aaron Nola
#HW45 Byron Buxton
#HW32 Jose Abreu
#HW47 Jake Arrieta
#HW145 Kolten Wong
#HW71 Pete Alonso (RC)

Here's what the backs look like. Same as the base set, but continuing with the holly border and Christmas color scheme.

#HW175 Gary Sanchez
#HW161 Aroldis Chapman (Snowflake parallel)
#HW111 Edwin Encarnacion
#HW82 Trea Turner
#HW17 Billy Hamilton
#HW120 Tim Beckham
#HW1 Trevor Bauer
#HW191 Luis Arraez (RC)
#HW179 Tyler O'Neill
#HW78 Justin Smoak
#HW33 Shohei Ohtani
#HW132 Bryan Reynolds (Snowflake parallel)

Every pack comes with either a variation card or one of these Snowflake parallels. It's not easy to see on a computer, but it's sparkly. I'm not a fan of glitter, but it works well with the card, especially the thin line of sparkles they use along the curvature of the border.

#HW12 Nick Anderson
#HW87 Albert Pujols
#HW90 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#HW177 Luke Voit
#HW88 Pablo Sandoval
#HW27 Giancarlo Stanton
#HW67 Max Kepler
#HW7 J.D. Hammer (RC)
#HW77 Patrick Corbin
#HW9 Alex Verdugo
#HW110  Anthony Rendon
#HW99 Will Smith (RC)
#HW133 Jose Berrios
#HW61 Orlando Arcia
#HW46 Hunter Pence
#HW168 Cole Tucker
#HW127 J.D. Martinez
#HW43 Keston Hiura
#HW137 Jacob deGrom
#WHR-FL Francisco Lindor (Relics insert)

Every box comes with either a relic or autograph. Although this relic is pretty bland, it's nicely "packaged"!

#HW117 Amed Rosario
#HW15 Edwin Diaz
#HW29 Mookie Betts

As I have mentioned, this set has a whimsical feel to it that I really enjoy. The set is only 200 cards, and has few inserts/parallels diluting it. I could see myself buying another box of this. That may be all it takes for me to decide and complete this set too! Good job, Topps! See what's possible when you give us actual borders?