Set Type: Insert
Card dimensions: 2¼” x 3½”
Additional Information: Inserted in packs of 2012 Topps Archives. Like other framed mini autographed cards previously issued by Topps, the card containing the signature is actually encased in clear plastic within a standard-sized 2½” x 3½” frame. Cards are serial-numbered up to 25 on the front of the frame.

Set Type: Insert
Card dimensions: 2¼” x 3½”
Parallels: Black, Cyan, Magenta & Yellow Printing Plates — each serial numbered “1/1”
Additional Information: Inserted in packs of 2012 Topps Archives. The set replicates the design of the 1968 Topps 3-D Test Issue. This is actually the second year in a row that Topps has replicated the design of that set, having previously done so with the 2011 Topps Lineage 3D insert set. This is also the second time they used Utley in the design.

Although the actual cards are unnumbered, the Printing Plates bear the card number Topps assigned to each card in the set. These numbers also appeared in Topps’s marketing material.

Set Type: Primary
Sticker dimensions: Approximately 1¹⁵/₁₆” x 2⁹/₁₆”
Additional Information: Produced for Topps by Panini, who would later start issuing MLB sticker sets of their own. As with all the other Topps Sticker sets from the same time period, these stickers were meant for inclusion in a sticker album. A virtually identical set was produced for O-Pee-Chee. The primary way to tell the difference between the two sets is that the O-Pee-Chee sticker backs are bilingual.

Set Type: Primary
Sticker dimensions: Approximately 1¹⁵/₁₆” x 2⁹/₁₆”
Additional Information: Produced for Topps by Panini, who would later start issuing MLB sticker sets of their own. As with all the other Topps Sticker sets from the same time period, these stickers were meant for inclusion in a sticker album.

Set Type: Primary
Card dimensions: 1⅜” x 1¾”
Additional Information/14,000 Phillies Commentary: The stickers are unnumbered, blank-backed, and do not bear a team designation. However, according to the Beckett online guide, the “stickers are put into the album over a question which pertains to each player pictured as a clue for where the sticker goes,” and the set numbering is ordered by teams. SCD’s 2011 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards collaborates this information and the numbering assignments. However, there is nothing about the two Ricky Jordan stickers which suggests which one belongs to the team set (#244) and which one belongs with the Young Stars subset (#615). Since I do not have access to an album, I have arbitrarily applied the number assignments for those stickers.

In addition, some players in the set are grouped with their current team but pictured in a former team’s uniform. Because of this, Milt Thompson and Mike Young are included in the checklist below.

Set Type: Primary
Card dimensions: 3½” x 5¼”
Additional Information/14,000 Phillies Commentary: The cards are unnumbered and listed below in alphabetical order. Beckett’s online guide does not list Dave Roberts. However, I compiled my set from purchasing two different partial sets, and both of them contained his card. (However, I am still missing the one for Veterans Stadium.) So, chalk this piece of information up as a 14,000 Phillies exclusive — none of the other online baseball card databases I consulted list the card. I assume that this is because they based their information off of Beckett. SCD’s 2011 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards does not list this set.

The only consistency on the back of the cards in the set is the Tastykake logo on the bottom of the back. Otherwise, they could be blank-backed, bear text similar to that on the Christenson card above (albeit with a different slogan or no slogan at all), or just a slogan and a facsimile autograph. My personal favorite of the slogans has to be “Dope is for dopes-Don’t try it!” Interestingly, the PSA population report for this set shows that Rose’s card was available with two different backs, which suggests that this might be true for other cards in the set. Just as interestingly, it also doesn’t list the Roberts card.

Set Type: Insert
Card dimensions: Approximately 2¼” x 3¼”
Additional Information: Inserted in packs of 2012 Topps Archives. As the name suggests, the set replicates the 1969 Topps Deckle Edge inserts. Beckett’s online guide refers to the set simply as “2012 Topps Archives Deckle Edge.” Beckett also currently lists Printing Plate parallels for the set, but none appear to be on the open market at this time.

Set Type: Insert
Card dimensions: 2½” x 3½”
Additional Information: Inserted in packs of 2012 Topps Archives. Beckett’s online guide refers to the set simply as “2012 Topps Archives Autographs.” In the checklist below, the design year that Topps replicated for the card is in parenthesis after the player’s name.
14,000 Phillies Commentary: All the cards bear new design/photo combinations on the front, and with the exception of the Luzinski and Boone cards, they also appear in the regular 2012 Topps Archives set as short prints. I really wish Topps had included Luzinski and Boone in the base set as well, because I would love to place non-autographed versions of those cards alongside the 1978 and 1979 originals. In addition, I really wish Topps would do just a little more footwork when issuing autographs like these. In this set, Von Hayes is the only player autographing cards as a Phillie for the first time. I’ve ranted about this before, but it bears repeating: there is a horde of retired Phillies who have never appeared on an autograph card as a Phillie, and for various reasons deserve such an honor. Tony Taylor, Cookie Rojas, Dallas Green, John Denny, Art Mahaffey, Tommy Greene, Terry Mulholland, Rick Wise & Juan Samuel are the ones who immediately come to mind.  Is it really that difficult for Topps to exercise some due diligence on this front?

My other, admittedly very tiny, nitpick about the set is the use of the 1993 design for the Kruk card. Topps already issued an autograph for Kruk using that design in the 2005 Topps Fan Favorites set, and while it is a different picture on this year’s card, Topps could have also used any of the 1989, 1990 or 1994 designs and at least made the card feel just a little more different. This isn’t the first time, however, Topps did something like this: the 2002 Topps Archives and 2003 Topps Fan Favorites sets both contained auograph inserts of Lenny Dykstra that used the ’93 design.

Set Type: Insert
Card dimensions: 2½” x 3½”
Parallels: Black, Cyan, Magenta & Yellow Printing Plates — each serial numbered “1/1”
Additional Information: Inserted in packs of 2012 Topps Archives. As the name suggests, the set replicates the 1967 Topps  Sticker inserts. Beckett’s online guide refers to the set simply as “2012 Topps Archives Stickers.”
14,000 Phillies Commentary: What was it with Topps and the disembodied/floating head stickers in the ’60s? Between this insert set and the 2012 Topps Heritage Peel-Offs, I have had enough of this style of insert for a long, long time. Furthermore, I have a new-found appreciation for the pain Cubs collectors must have felt for years when Topps issued those team cards.

Set Type: Insert
Card dimensions: 2½” x 3½”
Parallels: Black, Cyan, Magenta & Yellow Printing Plates — each serial numbered “1/1”
Additional Information/14,000 Phillies Commentary: Inserted in packs of 2012 Topps Archives. As the name suggests, the set replicates the 1977 Topps Cloth Sticker inserts.

Because it’s the first set of cards I remember buying in packs at the store, the 1977 Topps set remains one of my all-time favorites. Seeing these cards only reminds me that I have to wait until 2026 before I finally see Topps replicate the design in its Heritage offering. Until then, these will do quite nicely. In fact, there’s something rather special about the way that Topps chose the Phillies for this set; they are all: pitchers; wearing their home uniforms; pictured in a similar type of action shot; and the photography is similar to what you would see for action shots that made their way into mid-1970s Topps sets. I know the year is not even half over yet, but in the eyes of this Phillies collector, Topps is going to do have to do something really special to make a better insert set than this one.