Some products don't need a drastic overhaul from year to year. Topps obviously feels that way about Co-Signers Baseball, which gets some cosmetic modifications but still hooks in autograph collectors with a guaranteed dual signature per box. Fans of the sweet science should also enjoy the boxing autographs in this year's set.
Hobby boxes of 2008 Topps Co-Signers Baseball comes in 12-pack boxes with six cards per pack. Along with three autographed cards per box, expect to find one triple, quad, dual cut signature or dual-signed cowhide card in every 24-box case.
Base Cards
Just like the 2007 set, the 2008 Co-Signers base cards utilize gray and white backgrounds that really make the player photo stand out. Unlike last year, team logos are used as the backdrops, which combine with silver foil for the team and player names for a cleaner overall look. Card backs add a second color photo and three seasons of stats.
The first 100 base cards consist of 95 veterans and five cards with the MLB Rookie Card logo. An additional 12 MLB Rookie Cards are autographed and numbered as part of the base set.
A random box opened for this review yielded about half of the set, with 55 veterans and two of the five unsigned rookies. I also found an autographed rookie card of Pittsburgh pitcher David Davidson.
Autographed Cards
Autographed cards both familiar and new once again provide the main draw for Co-Signers Baseball. The namesake Co-Signers Autographs return with a total of 59 dual signature cards, laid out horizontally and sporting two signed stickers. They should come one per box, and I found one with young AL infielders Robinson Cano and Asdrubal Cabrera in my sample box.
About one box per case should contain a more exotic combo autograph. Tri-Signers and Quad Signers serve up three and four autographs respectively, while Co-Signed Cowhide take the dual signatures up a notch by putting them on real baseball leather.
The rarest autographed cards have a more historical bent. Co-Signers Cut Signatures include pairings like George Washington - yes, the father of the United States - and John J. Pershing, while one Quad version goes for more recent history with a Barack Obama/Hilary Clinton/John McCain/Rudy Guilani combo card.
Finally, boxing fans should take note that a number of today's top fighters (like middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik) are included on everything from Solo Signatures to some of the Co-Signers cards. There hasn't been a comprehensive set of boxing cards in decades, so fans of the fight game should be pleased. Collectors who are strictly baseball fans might be less happy, and Topps doesn't publicize the boxing signatures on any of the product packaging, so they very well may come as a surprise to some.
Parallel Cards
Co-Signers sets across multiple sports have always had ambitious (some would say excessive) parallel programs, and the 2008 baseball edition mostly keeps up this tradition. Every base card has two different parallels, one of which has a second picture of the featured player, while the other swaps in a picture of a teammate. Each parallel can be found in 11 different levels, meaning every base card has 22 mirror versions.
Numbering for the parallels ranges from 400 copies for the Silver Red level down to one copy for the intriguingly named Hyper Plaid Silver. Actually, the Hyper Plaid cards use a cool checkerboard effect that really catches the light.
The parallels are also plentiful, with one coming in every pack. I found 12 base card parallels, the rarest of which was a Hyper Plaid Blue Raul Ibanez numbered to 50. I also pulled a Silver Red Josh Anderson autographed MLB Rookie Card which was the third and final signed card in the About.com sample box.
The Last Word
The 2008 Co-Signers cards look nicer than their predecessors, and there are enough new wrinkles among the autographs to keep things fresh, though more promotion of the boxing element would have been welcomed. The parallels still seem like a bit much, but one gets the feeling that some collectors must like them or Topps would stop doing them.
As always, autograph collectors are going to want to take a look at this brand, while others (except for boxing fans) may not find this brand quite as interesting.