After a couple of weeks off from Topps pumping out product,
a new offering is ready to hit the collecting market in 2019. Tier One has been
a product with a longstanding hobby presence, and it’s most notable for chase
cards including bat knobs and barrels. Including game used pieces of lumber
from some of the biggest names in the sport, it’s generally been a set that the
big cards are void of Minnesota Twins. In 2019 that isn’t the case.
Autographs
With a suggested retail price north of $120 for a three-card
product, there’s no traditional base cards to be had here. The main set in the
product is the “Tier One Autographs.” With single player images, and on card
signatures, the design has a few different signing parallels.
Given his youth, Fernando Romero is an easy inclusion into
the “Break Out Autographs” checklist. He has been a popular addition to Topps
products over the past few years, but this will be his first Tier One offering.
Torii Hunter finds himself in the “Clear Ones” checklist, and a host of
Minnesota players make appearances on the “Prime Performers” list.
Many usual subjects can be found in this product for Twins
fans, including Eddie Rosario, Jose Berrios, Byron Buxton, and Max Kepler.
Hunter has been signing more in 2019, and he’ll be joined by fellow retiree
Bert Blyleven.
The single card only dual autograph of the product for
Minnesota is a good one. Featuring both Byron Buxton and Torii Hunter, serial
numbered to 25 or less, the Twins pipeline in centerfield gets recognition.
Buxton and Rosario are both depicted on a Tier One Relic book card as dual
signers.
Relics
Offering a lower end hit, there’s a 91 subject relic
checklist in the product as well. It’s nice to see Joe Mauer continue to be
included among 2019 Topps products, and he’ll have a game used swatch in this
group. Rosario and Kepler help to round of the trio of Twins available here.
Chase Cards
Two of the biggest cut signature subjects in recent Minnesota
memory have been both Kirby Puckett and Harmon Killebrew. Numbered as a 1/1,
Puckett is a part of the 25 card Cut checklist in Tier One.
Over the entire lifecycle of Tier One, the grails come in
the form of game used bats. For the first time in a while the Twins land an
offering on the checklist. Limited to one copy each, both Byron Buxton and Joe
Mauer make an appearance here. Buxton has both a bat knob and a “Limited Lumber”
card, which is normally the nameplate of his barrel. Each of these offerings
will be autographed. Mauer’s bat knob and barrel cards are also both 1/1 but
will not be signed.
