Topps Project 70

This year, baseball card manufacturer Topps is celebrating 70 years of producing baseball cards with a new series. The series is called Topps Project 70 and will feature designs inspired by 70 years of iconic baseball cards. Topps released their very first baseball card back in 1951. Now, 70 years later, Topps has assembled a design dream team of artists from all across the world to re-imagine 70 years of baseball card designs.

51 artists and their designs.

Topps has carefully selected a team of 51 different artists to design 20 cards each. That equals a total of 1,020 cards to collect! The diverse artist roster is comprised of creatives, pop artists, clothing designers, and musicians like Snoop Dogg and Action Bronson. Contemporary graffiti artists like POSE, Claw Money, Futura, and New York wild-style pioneer CES One also have designed sets for Project70. The cards will have three levels of parallels. Rainbow Foil (/70) and Gold Frame(1/1) will be sent randomly within the print runs. The Artists proof, or Silver Frames, are numbered to 51, and will also be made available.

Timing is everything.

The cards will be on a time-released schedule and only made available for a 70 hour time period before the next batch drops. New releases will be added to the Topps website on weekdays in sets of three. The Topps Project 70 cards cost $19.99 individually or $49.99 for the batches three-card bundle. The cards come encased with a Project 70 protective case and are printed on premium 130pt thick glossy card stock. Discounted prices are available for individual cards with bulk orders of five and ten copies. If you see a card you like, I recommend you act fast!

Gold standard.

Any truly committed fan that collects all 20 cards from any of the artists will receive a special print from Topps after the set has been completed. The gold-stamped prints are exclusive to artist set collectors and all 20 cards must be ordered through Topps. This adds a dimension of collectability to the already enticing set. With a group of creatives like this, we can expect additional items to be included with some of the releases. For example, LA-based custom shoemaker The Shoe Surgeon.  he's created one-of-a-kind Nikes inspired by his Ken Griffey JR card.

These unique designs have really caught my eye. The DJ SKEE-designed Satchel Paige card is one of my personal favorites. The "Satchelmatic" design pairs "the greatest pitcher of all time with the greatest hip hop album of all time." That being, of course, the seminal Illmatic. This album is the high-water mark of East coast hip hop. These creative designs are making the card collecting hobby exciting again by fusing the world of art with sports to form a truly unique set.

Head on over to Topps to see the full list of artists and most current releases and order your favorites before they are gone!

Want more collectible card speculation? Check out our Star Wars cards from the 1970s!

Take a peek behind the blog with Regie Collects as he looks at the latest collectible speculation! We all need something good to listen to on the way to work!