Topps Talk

Baseball aficionado and multi-award winning broadcaster Bob Costas talks with host Alex Birsh about his love of baseball cards, the one card he still carries around with him to this day, Vin Scully's impact on him (and the sports world), the state of baseball, and more.

FiveThirtyEight.com has been right in the middle of this crazy and unpredictable election season, yet Harry Enten and Neil Paine were both kind enough to stop by during their busy schedules to open up a few boxes of baseball cards and discuss the intricacies of analyzing statistics in both sports and politics.

In this episode, actor Timothy Busfield talks about his career as an actor (Field of Dreams, The West Wing, Little Big League, Revenge of the Nerds), a baseball player, and as someone who acts like a baseball player. Listen in to also hear about an unprecedented Topps release: a complete Star Wars set, only found on Topps.com (http://bit.ly/Star_Wars_complete_set)

In this episode, we celebrate the start of the NFL season by playing interviews of 11 NFL rookies who stopped by the Topps tent at the NFL Rookie Premiere. Also on the podcast is Chris Vaccaro, director of app production, who discussed the impact of Topps HUDDLE 17, the football trading card app brought to you by the Topps Company.

In this episode, host Alex Birsh talks with MLB Network broadcaster Brian Kenny on collecting cards and the evolution of statistics in baseball. Kenny recently published his first book, "Ahead of the Curve," which is in stores now. Also in stores is the first digital-turned-physical product, Topps BUNT Baseball, and Doctor Who Timeless.

In honor of August 13th being National Baseball Card Day, this episode is all about you, the collector. Host Alex Birsh talks with a handful of baseball card fans to hear about their history with collecting cards, and why they do what they do.

For our 30th episode, host Alex Birsh traveled to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to talk with three influential members of the staff: researcher and writer Bruce Markusen, curator John Odell, and president Jeff Idelson. Listen in to hear about Topps' presence in Cooperstown, how Pete Rose makes a cameo in the Hall, and what Idelson thinks of the two newest inductees.

Topps is in San Diego for the second straight week, thanks to MLB's All-Star festivities being right on the heels of this week's San Diego Comic Con. Host Alex Birsh shares interviews at the Topps booth at All-Star FanFest with Mets All-Star Noah Syndergaard, who was fresh off his Topps BUNT Live Signature event. Prospect Dominic Smith also stopped by to talk about his journey through the Minors. The episode finishes with an interview with brand manager Mark Von Ohlen about the new Doctor Who set, Doctor Who Timeless.

On this week's episode, collector-turned-draft pick Tim Lynch talks about his love for collecting cards and autographs, and his journey to getting drafted by the New York Yankees. Director of app production Chris Vaccaro joins to talk about Topps' new app, Topps UFC KNOCKOUT 16, and marketing and communications manager Susan Lulgjuraj discusses Topps Stadium Club, which is in stores on July 1st.

Pittsburgh Pirates broadcaster Joe Block visited the Topps offices recently and sat down with host Alex Birsh to talk about collecting cards throughout his life. Also on the program is vice president of product development Clay Luraschi to talk about Topps Baseball Series 2, which is out in hobby and retail stores now.

In this week's episode, celebrated writer Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated joins the show to talk about his love of collecting cards, his career as a writer, and much more. Brand manager Kevin Eger discusses his newest product, Tier One Baseball, which is available in hobby stores nationwide.

In this episode, host Alex Birsh brings on voice actor Stephen Stanton, who has been a part of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels television shows. He has used his talent in voice matching to bring legendary Star Wars characters to life, such as Grand Moff/Admiral Tarkin and Mas Amedda. He is a new signer for Topps, and will debut in the soon-to-be released Star Wars Evolution, which can be found in your local hobby store.

In this episode, host Alex Birsh talks with broadcaster, MLB official scorer, and writer Howie Karpin about his latest book, "Down on the Korner: Ralph Kiner and Kiner's Korner." He also discusses scoring his 1000th career MLB game, primarily for both the Yankees and the Mets. Brand manager Zvee Geffen joins the program to talk about the latest Topps release, Finest Baseball, which can be found only on Topps.com (http://bit.ly/1NyRowz)

In this mini-episode, host Alex Birsh brings on The Walking Dead: Card Trader team to talk about the new app that launched on May 12th!

In this episode, we ask the question "What does Star Wars mean to you?" Along with asking Topps employees, host Alex Birsh brings the question to Matthew Wood, LucasFilm sound editor and voice of General Grievous in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Brand manager Mark Von Ohlen comes on to discuss Galactic Connexions Series 3.

Bowman Baseball is back in stores, and brand manager Zvee Geffen joins host Alex Birsh to talk about the exciting content in the product. Birsh then brought on the 2nd overall pick of the 2015 MLB Draft, Houston Astros prospect Alex Bregman, to talk about his hot start to the season, his journey to professional baseball, and his chess game.

In this episode, we celebrate Jackie Robinson and the day that celebrates his achievements, which is celebrated throughout baseball on April 15th. Listen in to how we are commemorating the American hero through the Topps BUNT app and the new Topps Now product line. Host Alex Birsh also interviews Tyrone Brooks, who is the director of the front office and field staff diversity pipeline program for Major League Baseball.

It's Topps BUNT Day on April 9th! To honor the day, host Alex Birsh interviewed budding MLB superstar Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros to discuss his role as the cover athlete of the app. Web content and marketing strategist Andrew Diamond leads off the podcast talking about the newest product Topps.com offers: Topps Now.

Baseball is right around the corner...and what better way to celebrate than by talking with Topps' ambassador to MLB, Buster Posey. Host Alex Birsh speaks with the All-Star and MVP about his thoughts on Topps, spring training, and the season ahead. Topps' baseball and soccer brand manager Zvee Geffen comes on to discuss two of his recent products, Topps Legacies of Baseball and Topps UEFA Champions League Showcase. Listen in to win a signed Legacies card signed by hall-of-famer John Smoltz!

Topps BUNT returns for its 5th season, with exciting new features and designs that will make new and old fans very pleased. App producers Mike Salerno and Jon Hanford stopped by to discuss the 2016 version. Host Alex Birsh then brings on Matt Sammon as the first ToppCollector, and they discuss how Matt got into the card collecting hobby.