Hope springs eternal across Major League Baseball as we move closer to pitchers and catchers reporting for Spring Training across Florida and Arizona. Shortly before that happens, 2023 Topps Baseball Series One hits the market this week on February 15th with a 330-card offering of their flagship product that will surely satisfy the appetite of collectors.

Topps continues its standard formula with their flagship product by mixing the game’s biggest stars and rookies, a variety of parallels, inserts, relics, and autographs that are available in standard hobby boxes and hobby jumbo boxes.

The past few seasons, Topps has held a fan vote for the player that is given the honor of being card number #1 of the flagship set, but not for 2023. Topps made the decision that the honor of being the card number for its 2023 product would go to San Diego Padres outfielder Juan Soto.

The base set features a white border with two-player pictures. The first picture is an action photo and the second is a headshot in the bottom corner of the card with the player’s position in the opposite corner with their name, team name, and team logo in between the two.

Topps included fifteen different parallels for each card in the set. Although the foil parallels can only be found in hobby jumbo boxes, the color parallels are all serial numbered.

One insert set that collectors will see featured across multiple releases in 2023 will be Topps’ celebration of the 35th anniversary of their 1988 Topps junk wax era release. A solid and underrated card design, 1988 Topps design will also include certified autographs that are manufactured on a stock similar to the original 1988 Topps release.

There are several other inserts sets included in the 2023 Topps Baseball Series One release. There is the All Aces insert featuring some of the game’s top pitchers on a card designed to resemble a playing. Welcome to Club features members of the 20-20, 30-30 and 40-40 clubs. Heavy Lumber has wood grained design to resemble a bat and features some of the game’s top hitters. AKA features players with memorable nicknames, and there is the return of the Stars of MLB insert that was featured as an insert in the 2022 release.

The Mets are well-represented throughout the entire release. The base team set includes the first Mets card of Mychal Givens and Darin Ruf, the last Mets card of Seth Lugo and Jacob deGrom, and the rookie card of Mets prospect Brett Baty. Notably absent are rookie cards of other Mets top prospects Francisco Alvarez and Mark Vientos, although Alvarez is included in the Baseball Stars Autographs insert set. I expect to see a rookie card for Alvarez to make its debut in the Topps Baseball Series Two release in late spring. Other Mets noticeably absent are Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, and Edwin Diaz.

Below is a full checklist of all of the Mets cards included in 2023 Topps Baseball Series One, in stores on February 15th.

Base
20 Pete Alonso
21 Max Scherzer
43 League Leaders-Jeff McNeil/Freddie Freeman/Paul Goldschmidt
48 Jacob deGrom
70 Darin Ruf
83 Tylor Megill
89 Brett Baty (rookie card)
118 Eduardo Escobar
147 Daniel Vogelbach
161 Carlos Carrasco
171 Mychal Givens
178 League Leaders-Pete Alonso
187 Seth Lugo
190 Combo Card-Pete Alonso
199 Starling Marte
240 League Leaders-Pete Alonso/Francisco Lindor/Paul Goldschmidt
291 Mets Team Card
329 Mark Canha

1988 Topps Baseball
T88-2 Max Scherzer
T88-36 Francisco Lindor
T88-54 Jacob deGrom
T88-74 Pete Alonso
T88-96 Brett Baty

1988 Topps Baseball Autographs
88BA-BB Brett Baty
88BA-DWR David Wright
88BA-PA Pete Alonso

1988 Topps Baseball Relics
88R-MP Mike Piazza
88R-PA Pete Alonso

1988 Topps Chrome Silver Packs
T88C-6 Jacob deGrom
T88C-14 Brett Baty
T88C-17 Pete Alonso
T88C-54 Francisco Lindor

1988 Topps Chrome Silver Packs Autographs
T88C-17 Pete Alonso

2022’s Greatest Hits
22GH-13 Brett Baty

AKA
AKA-1 Pete Alonso
AKA-8 Francisco Lindor

All Aces
AA-8 Jacob deGrom
AA-25 Max Scherzer

Baseball Stars Autographs
BSA-DPE David Peterson
BSA-DS Darryl Strawberry
BSA-FA Francisco Alvarez
BSA-PA Pete Alonso
BSA-PIA Mike Piazza

Baseball Stars Dual Autographs
BSDA-PAL Pete Alonso/Mike Piazza

Clear (serial numbered to 10)
20 Pete Alonso
21 Max Scherzer
48 Jacob deGrom
89 Brett Baty

Cut Signatures (1 of 1)
CS-TS Tom Seaver

Heavy Lumber
HL-10 Pete Alonso

Home Run Challenge Code Cards
HRC-13 Francisco Lindor
HRC-27 Pete Alonso

In The Name Relics
ITN-JMC Jeff McNeil
ITN-PA Pete Alonso

Major League Material
MLM-FL Francisco Lindor
MLM-MP Mike Piazza
MLM-PA Pete Alonso

Major League Material Autographs
MLMA-DW David Wright
MLMA-PA Pete Alonso

One-Two Punch
12P-15 Jacob deGrom/Max Scherzer

Oversized 1988 Topps Baseball-League Leaders Boxtoppers
88LL-7 Pete Alonso
88LL-11 Jacob deGrom

Oversized 1988 Topps Baseball-League Leaders Boxtoppers Autographs
88LLA-PA Pete Alonso

Patchwork of the Past Commemorative Patch Cards
POTP-FL Francisco Lindor
POTP-Jd Jacob deGrom
POTP-PA Pete Alonso

Patchwork of the Past Commemorative Patch Cards Autographs
PPA-PA Pete Alonso

Postseason Performance Autographs Relics
PPAR-PA Pete Alonso

Postseason Performance Relics
PPR-PA Pete Alonso

Stars of MLB
SMLB-24 Pete Alonso
SMLB-28 Francisco Lindor

Stars of MLB Chrome
SMLBC-24 Pete Alonso
SMLBC-28 Francisco Lindor

Team Logo Manufactured Patch Cards
TLP-FL Francisco Lindor
TLP-PA Pete Alonso

Team Logo Manufactured Patch Cards Autographs
TLPA-PA Pete Alonso

Topps Reverence Autograph Patch Cards (serial numbered to 10)
TRAP-DW David Wright
TRAP-PA Pete Alonso
TRAP-TG Tom Glavine

Welcome to the Club
WC-5 David Wright
WC-10 Darryl Strawberry

Welcome to the Club Autographs
WCA-DS Darryl Strawberry
WCA-DW David Wright