In case you haven't heard yet, Topps released the design for this year's base set. While it's all still fresh in my head, I figured I'd write down my first thoughts. (Images from Checklist Insider: https://www.checklistinsider.com/2025-topps-series-1-baseball)
We'll start with the border. My initial thought was that the dual-color curve reminded me a little of the 2019 Topps design, but bolder. The "path" the streak takes seems odd to me, without any real rhyme or reason to it. I appreciate the use of team colors, but they seem muted somewhat. I'm not sure about the speckled effect within the left color either. Also, I think I like how the border looks horizontally better than vertically. (Although the "Future Stars" design is slightly different)
I like the font choice for the team name, not so much with the player name. I get the feeling the border around the team name, as well as the three lines separating the colors in the path, will get the "neon" treatment we enjoyed in the 2024 set.
The most noticeable design element is the diamond in the lower right corner. Rather than print the player's position, the design uses a dot on the diamond to show where the player fields. I'm curious to see how designated hitters and multi-position utility guys are shown.
All in all, it's not a bad design. It's not as good as last year's set, but well above most of the other sets we've seen in the past decade or so. I'm looking forward to seeing the checklist next!
I don't know how others feel on the subject, but I would say that besides 2024, this design is probably the best since the 2016 base set.
ReplyDeleteCould be worse.
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