New Topps Baseball 2007

This is what baseball card collecting is all about: the paint has barely dried on the 2006 season and Topps has already announced their 2007 design. This used to be Donruss' job, coming out months before any other company awoke from hibernation. But now, because there's no Donruss, the pre-emptive strike responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of Topps.

And speaking of squares, 2007's base set is full of 'em. Check out those little red and blue boxes. It's almost as if one look through the photographer's loupe decided this year's photo crop weren't worthy of whisper-thin outlines. If this Ryan Howard is any indication, we're staring down a year of hornrim-thick black borders.

General first impression: I'd like to see the back before making a full judgement. That said, black borders created one of the nicest looking baseball sets (in my opinion) in the modern era in Topps' 1971 offering. Black and silver, however, is another story entirely. I might be the only person in the world who doesn't think of the Oakland Raiders, biker gangs and tough guys and cool dudes in general when I think of silver and black. I think of the packaging of Terminator 3, and nobody wants another T3 on their hands. Why couldn't they have used red foil for the names? (I know it's a little early for second-guessing, but it's also a little early for announcing your 2007 design).

Read all about it here.