Another Brick in the Wall, part 4: Candy

I was trying to come up with a clever name for this next era of tops retail sets, but the more I stared at these I kept seeing fancy script fonts and fancy lines.  You know, the kind you might see on a fancy box of chocolates.  Something that's suppose to make you feel high class.  If you're going to spend all that money, you may as well feel good about it.  I think that what's Topps was thinking when they produced this next series of sets.

Topps was still the king, celebrating 50 years and collectors were starting to come back.  The internet was booming and business was picking up.  So they threw caution to wind and starting thinking big again.  All of a suddenly, the smaller sets were a thing of the past.

Gone suddenly was most if not all representation of a real baseball player, past or present.  No cards, no photos.  Only a quasi lexicon of a player and some fancy design.  I remember buying most of these sets, picking them up at a local big box retailer as my collecting days were limited to retail sets.  Collectors though, had a choice to make.

2001

Wait a second...there are players on the box!  So at least in 2001 Topps offered retail set buyers a choice.  Since I have a thing for gold, I chose the gold box.  Elsewhere in the retail world, Topps offered a second choice.  Each set offers a set of 5 archive rookie reprints.  And Topps went big, this set is 790 cards which is the largest set since 1993.

2002

Topps couldn't make up their minds in 2002, releasing a retail set in 3 different box colors (red, blue and green).  After a little research, I couldn't find if the color was determined by the retail outlet where it was sold.  For the first time since 1990, Topps offered no additional incentive and this set was slightly smaller at 718 cards.

2003

Once again Topps retail set was offered in different colored boxes.  I found blue (pictured), red, a blue/red combo, and black.  And again, no incentives.

2004

Topps added a drawn ball player to the box, but no real players.  They also added an incentive that consisted of a "pack of 2004 first year cards exclusive to this set".  The boxes also came in an assortment of colors (I chose blue).  There were regional releases of this set which are specific to a team and has a few players from that team featured on the box.  I could only find sets of the Yankees, Boston and the Cubs.

2005

This retail set once again, offered a "pack of 2005 first year cards exclusive to this set".  There are several retail versions to choose from (Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, Giants and Nationals).  There is also a version with Derek Jeter and Barry Bonds on the box.  Unfortunately, us Twins fans were left with the plain box pictured above.

Conclusion

Topps started going big again, as each set in this era has at least 718 cards.  The incentives were minimal and it seems like Topps started pandering to select markets to increase sales.  In this market I don't recall having a choice between box colors, not that it mattered. 

What did matter was a noticeable increase in the cost of a retail set.  In the 80's and 90's a collector could pick up a retail set for $20-$30, but after the year 2000 the retail cost for a set was now $50 or more.  At this point, a person could speculate the increase in the cost of cards led to more collectors clamoring for better ways to store their expensive gems and for third party grading (which is another can of worms).  But this was just the beginning of a more expensive era in retail sets.