2015 Topps Toys R Us Series One

This is the best that the Topps flagship set has looked in a few years. After nearly blending in with Bowman and old Fleer sticker designs in the past couple of years, Topps has broken out with a sharp design that looks visually interesting without retreading too many past designs... then they tinted it purple and randomly inserted three cards per blister pack, all of which I have to sign for at work, when UPS drops them off.

Normally, Target and Wal-Mart have their own set Topps parallel colored sets (Target red and Wal-Mart blue), but this year, they have decided against retail exclusive parallel sets and instead opted for retail exclusive insert sets following the exploits of Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth. Toys R Us stands alone this year in all its purple majesty. I'm not quite sure why Target and Wal-Mart bowed out of the parallel sets this year, but it is a welcome change of pace. I had a love/hate relationship with three retail exclusive parallels and the trouble of chasing them all.

The White Sox have seven cards in the set.

22 - Tyler Flowers
65 - Alexei Ramirez
176 - Jose Abreu
177 - Paul Konerko
256 - Adam Eaton
276 - Conor Gillaspie
341 - Chris Sale (Corey Kluber, Felix Hernandez)

A short but sweet set for the White Sox that includes a final card for Paul Konerko is a nice thing. I suspect that with so few ChiSox cards in series one and so much offseason activity, that there will be a nice chunk of Pale Hose cards in series two. It will be nice to have this set in the Toys R Us purple.