The 2014 Topps baseball card set features a 660-card checklist comprised of two equal 330-card series.
And if you're a fan of straightforward yet appealing design, then you'll like the look and feel of these cards.
Beautiful full-color imagery dominates the card fronts, complemented by essential team and player info around the borders.
These cards look sharp and get to the point...
The rookie class is also pretty good, with additional big names appearing in the 2014 Topps Update set.
All of the top stars of the day, like Mike Trout, Derek Jeter, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, and Bryce Harper, round out a great checklist.
At times, this set can seem overlooked in today's hobby.
But that doesn't mean there aren't some fantastic cards inside.
And in this guide, we'll take a look at the 15 most valuable.
Let's jump right in!
2014 Topps #424 Jose Ramirez Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $115
In 2014, switch-hitting middle infielder and future six-time All-Star Jose Ramirez was still fighting for his piece of the big-league pie.
After an uneventful 15-game cup of coffee with the Cleveland Indians in 2013, the 21-year-old Dominican Republic native started the 2014 campaign in Triple-A.
Putting together a strong start on the farm, Ramirez was called up to the MLB squad on May 1st after an injury to second baseman Jason Kipnis.
He was on the roster for just under three weeks before Kipnis returned from the IL.
Just over two months later, the Indians recalled Ramirez to groom him for the shortstop job.
It was a calculated move, considering they dealt veteran SS Asdrubal Cabrera to the Washington Nationals at the July 31st trade deadline.
Getting regular reps at the six, Ramirez slashed .262/.300/.346 with two homers, ten doubles, 27 runs scored, 10 stolen bases, and 17 RBIs.
He also showed precise bunting touch, leading the Majors with 17 sacrifices in a relatively small sample size of play.
Impressing his teammates and the coaching staff, Ramirez broke camp as part of the 2015 Opening Day roster just a few months later.
2014 Topps #200 Derek Jeter
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $35
The specifics and statistics of Derek Jeter's final MLB season recede into the distance with every passing year.
After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008, one year before, the Yankees again missed out on October 2014.
It was a strange, atypical way for Jeter's 20-year career to end.
After all, he had made the playoffs in 17 of his first 18 seasons with seven AL pennants and five world championships to show for it.
Jeter's production was also a completely different beast from years past.
After missing most of the '13 season due to ankle and calf injuries, the 40-year-old Yankees shortstop hit just .256 in '14 with a .617 OPS, both career lows for a full season.
It was a quiet end to The Captain's unmatched Hall-of-Fame career, even considering his 14th-and-final All-Star nod.
There was one night, however, that brought the former magic back into the light.
The stars aligned in his final at-bat at Yankee Stadium on September 25th.
A recording of late PA announcer Bob Sheppard announced Jeter's arrival to the plate with the Yankees and Orioles tied at five in the bottom of the ninth.
The Yankees legend rose to the occasion with his trademark grace, lashing a walk-off single and sending the Stadium into pure delirium.
2014 Topps #17 Todd Helton
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $30
2014 Topps #100 Bryce Harper
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $30
Following his 2012 NL Rookie of the Year award and two All-Star appearances in his first two big-league campaigns, expectations were sky-high for Bryce Harper heading into season number three.
The big question was Harper's health.
The 21-year-old phenom underwent knee surgery in the offseason to remove a bursa sac that caused him pain for most of the 2013 season.
He also battled hip issues that year and was forced to miss 44 games due to various ailments.
Remarkably, Harper looked to be near 100% to start 2014.
He hit .289 over the first few weeks, locking his swing heading into the final week of April.
That's when things came to a screeching halt.
In the middle of a four-RBI game against the Padres on April 25th, Harper jammed his thumb sliding into third base.
The freak injury would ultimately require surgery, costing Harper two months.
When Harper returned on June 30th, he wasn't quite himself.
Alternating between hot and cold while struggling to find a consistent power stroke, Harper ended the year slashing .273/.344/.423 with 13 home runs, ten doubles, two triples, 41 runs scored, and 32 RBIs in 100 games.
2014 Topps #210 Jose Altuve
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $30
2014 Topps #250 Miguel Cabrera
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $30
In 2014, Detroit Tigers megastar Miguel Cabrera sat at the tippy top of the baseball world.
Two years removed from becoming the 14th Triple Crown winner in MLB history (and the first since 1967), the two-time reigning MVP was at the peak of his powers.
The same could be said for the franchise as a whole.
With three consecutive ALCS berths and an AL pennant (2012) in the books, Detroit looked to get over the hump in 2014 and capture the team's first championship in 30 years.
As always, the Tigers' successes hinged on Cabrera's all-world contributions.
A top-ten AL MVP finisher (9th) for the sixth straight season, the 31-year-old slugger hit to a .313/.371/.524 slash line with 25 home runs, an AL-best 52 doubles, 101 runs scored, and 109 RBIs.
It wasn't on the level of his previous two seasons.
Yet, it was still a fantastic performance that catapulted Detroit into October yet again.
When the Tigers got there, however, everything fell apart.
Cabrera did his part, going 4-for-11 in an ALDS matchup with the Baltimore Orioles (.364) with a homer, a double, two runs scored, and an RBI.
The O's proved too much regardless, riding a Game 1 blowout and two one-run wins to a three-game sweep.
2014 Topps #429 Marcus Semien Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $30
2014 Topps #565 Roy Halladay
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $30
2014 Topps #1 Mike Trout
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $25
It's not just a cliche that Mike Trout deserves better.
It is a fact.
The greatest April-to-September player of our generation, the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) center fielder has amassed three AL MVP awards, an AL Rookie of the Year honor, ten All-Star appearances, nine Silver Sluggers, and two All-Star MVPs.
The problem, though, has (and may always be) October.
Trout has played in just one postseason series so far.
It feels criminal.
That one postseason sojourn came in 2014.
And it came on the heels of Trout's first AL MVP win.
In 157 games, the 22-year-old center fielder slashed .287/.377/.561 with an MLB-best 115 runs scored, an AL-best 111 runs scored, 36 homers, 39 doubles, nine triples, 83 walks, 16 stolen bases.
Trout was the catalyst for the Angels' only division title of the 2010s.
However, he was nowhere to be found when the playoffs rolled around.
In what felt like the first of many playoff series for the young superstar, Trout went just 1-for-12 (.083) against the Royals with a solo homer and three walks.
The first three postseason games of Trout's career were all losses.
He has yet to get a second crack over a decade later.
2014 Topps #133 Xander Bogaerts Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $25
Xander Bogaerts' first MLB season was a dream come true.
The youngest player to record a triple in World Series history, the 20-year-old shortstop opened up his big-league career with a World Series win.
2013 was a storybook.
2014 was a dose of reality.
The Red Sox came tumbling down to Earth in '14, falling from 97 wins to 71.
Injuries, inconsistent pitching, and spotty contributions from a cache of youngsters doomed the Sox to a last-place finish in the AL East.
At the center of all this was Bogaerts.
Named the team's starting shortstop, the Aruba native was a minus defender with an undeveloped bat in his first full season.
Bogaerts slashed just .240/.297/.362 with 12 homers, 28 doubles, 60 runs scored, and 46 RBIs in 594 plate appearances (538 at-bats).
His .660 OPS is by far his career worst.
A year away from putting things into motion, Bogaerts was just one disappointment in a season full of them for the reigning World Series champs.
2014 Topps #195 Nick Castellanos Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $25
2014 Topps #625 Albert Pujols
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $25
After playing in 72 postseason games with the St.Louis Cardinals from 2001-11 and collecting two World Series rings (2006, 2011), the playoff well ran dry for Albert Pujols during his time with the Los Angeles Angels.
The future Hall-of-Famer played in just three postseason contests with the Halos, all of which came in 2014.
It was a magical regular season for an Angels franchise that had followed up six playoff appearances in eight years (and a World Series title in '02) with four straight October misses.
The 96-win AL West champs bludgeoned opposing pitching all year long, pacing the Majors in runs per game.
Pujols was a major contributor to the offensive onslaught, earning down-ballot AL MVP consideration with a .272/.324/.466 slash line, 28 home runs, 37 doubles, five stolen bases, 89 runs scored, and 105 RBIs.
He also proved exceedingly durable, appearing in 159 of the team's 162 regular-season contests.
The hope was that a rejuvenated Pujols could spearhead the team's electric offense to a deep playoff run.
Instead, the 34-year-old first baseman hit just .167 with a homer and two RBIs in a deflating three-and-out ALDS loss to the Kansas City Royals.
2014 Topps #275 Nolan Arenado
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $20
A year before ascending into perennial MVP candidate territory, second-year Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado was already one of the game's premier defensive third basemen in 2014.
Looking past his career-low fielding percentage (.959) and 15 errors, Arenado's spectacular glove work and cannon-armed throws were enough to land him his second consecutive Gold Glove.
Arenado might have also earned his first All-Star nod if it wasn't for injuries and illnesses.
However, a broken middle finger suffered on a head-first slide and a bout with pneumonia limited him to just 111 games played.
Still, Arenado showed sustained and awe-inspiring flashes of his future MVP form. He slashed .287/.328/.500 for the moribund 66-win Rockies with 18 home runs, 34 doubles, 58 runs scored, and 61 RBIs.
With luck and a clean bill of health, Arenado's true breakout would come in 2015, making good on the promises of an injury-shortened 2014 campaign.
2014 Topps #400 Clayton Kershaw
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $20
The first NL pitcher to win league MVP and Cy Young honors in the same season since Bob Gibson in 1968, Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was nearly unstoppable in 2014.
Following a win in his first start of the year, Kershaw was shut down for over a month with a herniated disk in his back.
The worry was that he'd be limited and hampered when he returned.
So much for that.
Kershaw was on another level, winning his fourth consecutive ERA title (1.77) while leading the Majors in complete games (six), wins (21), WHIP (0.857), strikeouts per nine innings (10.8) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.71) among other categories.
He also threw his first career no-hitter on June 18th, striking out 15 Colorado Rockies and narrowly missing out on a perfect game due to a Hanley Ramirez error.
When Kershaw toed the rubber, the Dodgers were the best team in baseball.
In short, the 26-year-old lefty carried the 94-win Dodgers to an NL West crown.
However, the playoffs weren't so kind to the game's best hurler.
Kershaw took two of the Dodgers' three Ls in a 3-1 NLDS loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, getting shelled for eight earned runs in Game 1 before surrendering three runs in six in the decisive Game 4.
2014 Topps #496 Jose Abreu Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Gem Mint Value: $20
In 2013, the Chicago White Sox raised eyebrows after signing Cuban League star Jose Abrew to a six-year, $68 million deal, the largest rookie free-agent contract ever tendered to an international player.
Critics of the deal pointed to the lack of velocity and high-level talent in Cuba's Serie Nacional.
They argued that Abreu would take years to get up to speed.
So much for that.
Putting together one of the best debut years in MLB history, the 27-year-old White Sox first baseman became the first rookie in MLB history to finish in the top five of all three Triple Crown categories.
An easy unanimous pick for Rookie of the Year, Abreu led the Majors in slugging percentage (.581) and OPS+ (173).
The brightest of just a handful of bright spots for the fourth-place White Sox, Abreu hit .317 with a .964 OPS, 36 home runs, 35 doubles, two triples, 80 runs scored, and 107 RBIs.
Ending the season with a fourth-place finish in the AL's MVP balloting, the first White Sox ROTY since 1985 award winner Ozzie Guillen was a source of optimism for a franchise facing a six-year postseason drought.
2014 Topps Baseball Cards In Review
Topps continued its run of creating sets with modern designs that didn't feel like they were trying too hard.
The subtle design elements and fantastic imagery give a well-balanced impression.
Jose Ramirez headlines a solid rookie class, though some of these guys have tailed off in recent years.
Additional big-name rookies like Mookie Betts and Jacob DeGrom appeared in the 2014 Topps Update set, making this a good year for rookies overall.
headline a decent rookie class.
Yet it may seem a bit underwhelming when compared to all the big names that came out during 2011 and 2012.
Collectors can find all the biggest superstars and future Hall-of-Famers along with a bunch of short-print variations of many different cards that make it fun to keep ripping packs even after completing the set.
There were also several different subsets in the checklist, including:
- Leaders
- All-Star Rookies
- Award Winners
- Future Stars
Inserts, parallels, autographs and relic cards are as prevalent as always in 2014 Topps to boost collector interest with the thrill of the "chase."
Topps also included a digital element to the set called "2014 Topps Power Players" where special parallel cards contained codes that could be entered on the Power Player website.
Lucky collectors could win memorabilia, tickets, autographed cards or even their own Topps baseball card.
It marked another creative step in Topps' endless pursuit to innovate and drive home a top-notch collector experience.
As with most any flagship Topps set, this one brought balance, creativity and a solid checklist.