UPDATED: 1st Impressions: 2008 Topps Series One

UPDATE #2 (11/1):
Sell Sheet
Product Sheet

Things I Like:

• The Base Set design. "Retro," but still original.
• The Campaign 2008 Inserts
• The Baseball Card History Inserts

Things I Don't Like:

• The one-per-pack Gold Foil parallels. Just what Topps needed, yet another parallel.
• The Mickey Mantle and Barry Bonds mirrors. But on the bright side, at least they're going away after '08 Topps series one.

Things I'm Still Not Sure About:

• The Year In Review Inserts. At 180 cards, this has "Generation Now" written all over it.
• The as yet unannounced, but inevitable, bullshit base set gimmick. What will this year's Alex Gordon/Alay Soler/Poley Walnuts be?

UPDATE #1 (10/30): Here's a link to my "How to Fix Topps Baseball" post from back in June. Let's see how many of my suggestions Topps took to heart.

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The Cardboard Junkie has the scoop on '08 Topps.

The base set will be 330 cards (again), although -- if last year's Airbrush-O-Rama first series was any indication -- the A-Rod card you see pictured above will more than likely be the only 2008 Topps card of Alex Rodriguez in a Yankee uniform.

Inserts include a 50-card "Baseball Card History" set and although I've yet to see any prototypes, I'm guessing that these will be along the lines of the 2001 Topps "Through The Years" reprints. There's also going to be a 12-card set of the major 2008 Presidential candidates. And seriously, aren't you just dying to rip open a pack of 2008 Topps baseball and pull a card of Dennis Kucinich?

On the plus side, it looks as though Topps is finally putting the mirror concept to rest. More than likely, this will be the last Topps set with the Mickey Mantle and Barry Bonds Home Run Histories, and there are no other inserts as egregious as Generation Now.

More information as it becomes available. But in the meantime, here's a provisional checklist.