What happened to the Black parallel in 2025 Topps Baseball?

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Topps Baseball Series 1 is one of the most anticipated baseball card releases every year. Collectors await the checklist and odds to get info on what they expect to find in the new release.

When the 2025 information was released, many longtime hobbyists noticed the absence of the Black parallel for the base set.

While parallels have been around for decades, Topps changes the flagship configuration every year. It adds more color and take others away. It adds different designs in an attempt to keep the parallels fresh — even if there are dozens of parallels for one base card.

But Gold and Black parallels have been consistent in the flagship set for more than 20 years.

Gold is still a parallel option, which is numbered to the year of the release.

The Black parallel first appeared in 2003 and was numbered to just 52 copies. The reason behind the numbering was that it was the 50th anniversary of the 1952 set. It was Topps’ way of commemorating what is considered the first modern-day baseball card release.

1952 includes the famed Mickey Mantle card and is considered one of the most desired baseball sets in history.

When did the Black parallel make its debut?

Since 2003, the Black parallel saw the numbering go up by one every year as we get a year further from 1952. Last year, the Black parallels were numbered to 73 copies.

Longtime hobbyists are disappointed.

For more than 20 years, the Black parallel was a thread connecting the sets. It also was a tough card to get in a high grade as Black tends to show more flaws. It’s also low-numbered, but not so hard to get that none of them ever show up on the secondary market.

The Black parallel is a tough, but enjoyable chase.

Now, it’s gone.

Newer collectors probably aren’t feeling as much of the disappointment. Many are instead asking why it matters, which is a fair question.

What parallels are in 2025 Topps Baseball Series 1?

There are already so many parallels in the flagship. This year, it looks like there are going to be 50+ parallels for the base set when you add in retail SKUs and consider any complete set parallels or variations.

There are also other types of Black parallels, just not the basic ones. There look to be three Black parallel types called Rainbow, Holo Foil and Diamante.

But that doesn’t replace the regular Black.

Collectors love continuity. As collectors, we look for themes. Most collections aren’t a hodgepodge of cards even if they sometimes look that way.

Whether it’s a player, team, set, a certain number, parallel, birthday, home town, or anything else, collections are personal to collectors.

So, it’s tough when things change because that means we have to re-focus and figure out how to adjust collections.

If you’re someone who collected Black parallels, it means there’s one less thing that you’re going to collect in 2025. You can always go back and get the cards you missed throughout the years, but it’s one less reason to buy 2025 Topps.