2011 Topps Lineage Hobby

This week, while vacationing in Buffalo (no, that is not an oxymoron), I finally found the time to visit the Dave and Adam's Card World store in Williamsville, which is an upscale suburb of the Queen City.

Dave and Adam's has four stores in the greater Buffalo area, but this might be the newest one. I'm not sure. Like you, most of my D&A business is done online.

Anyway, all I got out of the visit were a few packs of Topps Lineage, which should be on a counter at your respective hobby store right now. I was intrigued by this set because it contains many homages to past Topps test issues and inserts, from the '60s, '70s and '80s.

So, let's see what's in a fairly representative pack:

9 - Matt Holliday

This is the base card, which makes up 6 or 7 cards in an 8-card pack. Other bloggers have already expressed my first thoughts on these cards, namely 1) It's a throw-away design from 2012 Topps (please let it be a throw-away design, anyway); and 2) It looks like Topps Total's shiny, slick offspring.

There is the back. It looks like very much like past Upper Deck card backs.

4 - Buster Posey.

The Giants are showing that they don't need Posey to win, because they made a deal with the devil a long time ago, and they could play with a team of 21 Corey Pattersons and still win the World Series. Just you wait.

60 - Reggie Jackson.

The real reason I suspect Topps made this set. They've got to make all of those copyright agreements with past baseball greats work for them.

69 - Jayson Werth.

Werth following Reggie Jackson in a pack is just not right.

118 - Todd Helton, 1975 Topps mini.

This is the big attraction of the set for me. 1975 Topps minis is my most favorite set of all-time. These Lineage minis are the same size as the original '75s, although they don't look exactly like them. Plus, the cards are slick and the backs look just like the Lineage base cards.

174 - Adam Jones.

183 - Brian McCann.

One of about 100 Braves I pulled out of these packs.

192 - Willie McCovey.

There you see the original rookie cup trophy that Topps used in the '60s and early '70s. That's another nice little quirk of the set.

The set also features several parallels, including diamond and canary diamond.

Although I like the insert sets, this reminds me a lot of 2008 Upper Deck Timeline, with a few more base cards, a lot more legends, and a duller look. It's another "chase the inserts" set, which means I won't be chasing the set period.

But it was nice to look around Dave and Adam's.

For a more detailed, crankier, and much longer look at Topps Lineage, check out my blog on Friday. I've also got a contest going, too.