Test Your Hobby Knowledge!
It’s November, and the holiday season is upon us. In this month’s edition of Topps Trivia, we dig up an Axl Rose card, find an obscure Babe Ruth moment in history, get a little dark with Allen & Ginter, and more!
As always, you will be judged on your acumen. Answers are at the bottom, but no peaking!
Score:
0-3: Congratulations! You are actually pretty normal — these are meant to be hard!
4-6: Your Halloween costume was trading card-themed, you nerd!
7-8: You are a former or current Topps employee.
9-10: You definitely looked at the bottom first.
Let’s jump in!
1. Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” was released in 1991. In which year did Axl Rose appear in the Allen & Ginter set?
2. As part of 2021’s “Project 70” series, artist Keith Shore depicted Derek Jeter (aka Mr. November) as a Garbage Pail Kid, stuck inside a soda bottle. What was the name he used?
3. Which 2025 VeeFriends card says, on the back, “Common Sense isn’t so Commoooon!!”?
4. 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back set featured a “Bounty Hunters” card (#74) that described which character as “an amphibious monster whose soft baggy face houses two huge bloodshot eyes”?
5. According to the Topps NOW archive, only one MLB card in 2025’s Top 10 didn’t feature a Dodger. Who was it?
6. The 1962 Babe Ruth Special subset featured card #142: Ruth coaching first base for the Dodgers in 1938. What number is on his jersey?
7. The back of Michael Jordan’s 1992-3 Topps Archive card has an interesting footnote to history. What did the ACC experiment with in 1982-83 that stood out in Jordan’s stat line on the back of his card?
8. Whose 2006 Allen & Ginter card describes him as “reputed to have shot dead anywhere from 4 to 20 men”?
9. 2015’s “First Pitch” inserts feature a number of celebrities throwing out the first pitch at games. Card FP-05 features Biz Markie wearing the jersey of what team?
10. Hall of Fame umpire Jocko Conlan was immortalized in the 1955 Bowman set with his own card. Conlan got his start as an umpire in an unorthodox way — filling in for an umpire who fell ill while he was still playing for which major league team?
Answers
1. 2013. He also had a card in the 2013 Heavy Metal Signatures line in Archives.
2. “Derek Liter.”
3. Common Sense Cow.
4. The bounty hunter Bossk.
5. Card #464, featuring Nick Kurtz’s 4 HR game, had a print run of over 53,000.
6. Ruth wore number 35.
7. The ACC experimented with the 3-point line in 1982-83.
8. Billy the Kid.
9. The Oakland A’s.
10. The Chicago White Sox.
