2024 Topps Series 1 Parallel & Variation Guide

I’m putting these first because they are going to be really easy to miss and could potentially have some big values.

If you didn’t notice, there isn’t a Shohei Ohtani base card on the 2024 topps Series 1 checklist. That should have been a red flag that somethign was afoot.

Turns out, there is an Ohtani card, but it’s an extremely rare variation that pictures him in his Dodger uniform! Similarly, there is a Juan Soto variation that has Soto in his Yankees uniform (though, Soto also has a Padres base card).

So, if you see Ohtani in Dodger Blue or a Yankees Soto. Stop, and handle with caution.

Nothing like kicking off the new 2024 baseball card season with a new and completely unknown parallel. The “First Card” parallel is said to be the very first card of a player’s production run.

Meaning, the first card off the printing press, essentially. Thus, these can be considered to be 1/1.

“In the 2024 Topps Series 1, each player will feature a “First Card” stamp on their first base card! Regarding the difficulty of pulling these cards, according to
@ToppsBb, each player has nearly 900,000 base cards printed. –@SportsCardInv

In terms of value, these have the potential to be massive depending on the player (I haven’t seen any hit eBay just yet).

One thing that is great about Flagship, which is very much the case this year, is that there is something for everyone. As you’ll see up and down this list, there are cards with ridiculous shine, while others are modest and traditional.

So while a Tacofractor is on one end of the spectrum, this true photo variation is on the complete other end. Meaning, the card is almost a pure photograph thanks to its full bleed look, with the only thing “saving” it from being so is the small Topps logo.

These can be quite valuable, with an Anthony Volpe recently selling for $100. (These can also be called “parallels” in my book, but who is debating).

In somewhat of an unprecedented move in 2023, Topps released the Golden Mirror Image variation which was a wild, funny, or wacky photo variation of each player on the checklist. The “unprecedented” piece was the fact that Topps actually printed “SSP” on the back of the card, which I don’t think has been done with Flagship before.

This year, the cards are just as cool, and the backs are just as gold, but there is no mention of “SSP.” They have proven to be some of the most valuable of the set, with cards selling in the hundreds and even close to $1,000 for the biggest names.

I don’t think anyone had this on their hobby bingo card for 2024, but here we are. That’s right, it didn’t take long for the biggest “what the” to come about as there are baseball cards with little Kevin Hart photos hanging on or around the lettering or border.

A Philadelphia native, Hart is also known for being on the smaller side. Thus, everything comes together has each Phillies player checklist entry also has a Kevin Hart parallel numbered to /52 (presumably because Hart is 5 feet, 2 inches.

These can easily fall into the category of “but why” for me, but when you have a print run as massive as Topps does with Series 1, why not add as many parallels as possible.

The Easter foils look just like the name would suggest—one with east egg images in the background covering the card, another with a bunny, etc. You get the point.

I wouldn’t say I’m let down often by cards, but this variation left me a bit disappointed. In what I was envisioning as a “team color variation” being a vibrant addition to the Topps lineup is simply a card with team color elements anchored by the team’s logo along the borders.

So, I felt it should more closely identify with the other color parallels, but it feels more like an Independence Day parallel or even the logo parallels typically released by Donruss.

Next up are your unnumbered parallels that are more common, yet still fun finds. Gold foil parallels can only be found in Jumbo hobby boxes (1:2 packs) with rainbow foils falling 1:10 hobby packs.

These are easily distinguishable thanks to their designs, with the rainbow foils looking like a paper version of a refractor and the gold foils looking like a shiny piece of treasure and that you’d find at the, well, end of a rainbow.

In addition, there are five different foil board parallels in blue (/999), purple (/799), green crackle (/499), orange crackle (/299), and red crackle (/199).

While the purple and blue shimmers are a bit more concentrated like stars in a night sky, the crackles present much differently thanks to their “chunkier” markings, which can resemble shimmering water to an extent

Vintage stock parallels are one of my favorites because they are a mix of nostalgia and modern, are numbered, and are sometimes a bit tricky to find if you’re not looking for them.

Traditionally, the only visible difference between a base card and its vintage stock parallel counterpart was a vintage Topps logo that would replace the modern-day Topps logo, and the /99 numbering on the back of the card. And then, to the touch, the vintage stock parallels are printed on a rougher card stock.

This year, though, while all of the above is true, the design itself differs from base cards, which is a welcome addition to many collectors.

As the name suggests, Independence Day parallels are adorned with stars and stripes, and numbered to /76 as you’d expect, while Camo parallels are numbered /25.

While the different design is one thing, the Independence Day parallel requires you to pay extra special attention to the numbering. Meaning, while a /76 print run is quite low by today’s standards, most cards that are numbered 17/76 go for a premium (“1776”).

So far we have had parallels in shiny colors as is the case with the gold, rainbow, and other foilboards, along with parallels in different designs like those above.

In addition, there are other parallels in specific colors, which include gold parallel (which is gold bordered and not shiny) which is numbered to /2024 (and yes, the /2024 is specific to 2024’s release (meaning last year’s were /2023 and next year’s will be /2025).

More scarce, there is the black parallel /73, Mother’s Day Hot Pink /50, Father’s Day Powder Blue /50, and the most scarce of all, Platinum 1/1 (which is silver-looking).