Category Archives: Baseball

2017, Baseball, Donruss, Hobby Box

2017 Donruss Hobby Box Break

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It’s always nice to see an alternative to the monopoly on baseball cards from Topps. For the last few years, Panini has been releasing an alternative set, even if it is not MLB licensed. They’ve done a good job of downplaying the fact that team names can not be used.

The set features 195 cards, including 30 SP Diamond Kings and 15 SP Rated Rookies, along with a slew of parallels, and inserts with parallels. The set contains mainly current stars along side older former players. A few favorite insert sets return again this year, with The Elite Series, Dominators, The Rookies, The Prospects, and many more. We also see a retor variation set, paying tribute to players on the 1983 Donruss design.

The box gives you pretty good value, with low count parallels, while advertising three autograph or memorabilia cards per box on average. This box even came in slightly above average.

This box contained:

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2017, Baseball, Hobby Box, Topps Heritage

2017 Topps Heritage Hobby Box Break

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The long time favorite Topps Heritage set is back for another release. This time around, there are some significant changes, though, and I’m not sure they’re all for the better. This year, it parallels the 1968 Topps set, and includes some tributes to errors from that set. Returning are the some of the standard insert sets, including baseball flashbacks, news flashbacks, as well as relics and autographs. These all appear to be much rarer than in past years. Does that mean they will hold more value? Or just be harder to complete a set?

Perhaps the most significant change this year is to the base set SPs. For the past many years, the base set was 1-425, with the SPs being 426-500. This year, the SPs have expanded to 401-500. They still fall one in every three packs. With 100 SPs, though, this means a full case of cards would not have enough SPs, with perfect collation, to complete the set. Is that an improvement?

While there seem to be fewer overall inserts, there are a lot more buybacks. This set features the same line of “Rediscover Topps” buybacks as Series 1, with many included per box.

This box contained:

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2017, Baseball, Jumbo Hobby Box, Topps

2017 Topps Series 1 Jumbo Box Break

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There may be snow on the ground, but the first release of the upcoming baseball season is a sure sign that spring is approaching. The set follows the well known pattern by this point, with a 350 card base set.

Once again, Topps brings back the First Pitch insert set featuring various celebrities, along with the rest of the usual parallels. The parallels seem a lot more rare now, which may not bode well for over producing the set. This year, there is a tribute to the 1987 Topps set, with a large insert set, as well as associated autograph cards. As a special add on, Topps ran a promo for hobby box purchases from hobby stores to include additional special packs, featuring chrome 1987 cards and various parallels.

The box advertises 10 packs with 50 cards each, including 1 autograph and 2 relics per box.

This box contained:
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2016, Baseball, Blaster Box, Topps Archives

2016 Topps Archives 65th Anniversary Edition Box Break

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This is a little bit different kind of release. It features one reprint from every year of Topps to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the card releases. At times the checklist is a little bit puzzling to me (1975 Randy Jones?). And while it is a small set, it still seems a bit strange that more teams are not represented in it. The retail “blaster box” contains one pack of sixteen cards, including one autograph. Despite it being a single pack, there apparently is no guarantee you won’t get duplicate cards in it, though.

This box contained:

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2016, Baseball, Box Break, Jumbo Hobby Box, Topps

2016 Topps Update Jumbo Hobby Box Break

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This release marks the end of the regular season, and features players changing teams, All Stars, and a number of rookies making their debut. It follows the normal pattern, so there aren’t really a lot of surprises. You see some manufactured relics, some All Star relics, and various autographs. There are also the usual number of parallels. The biggest surprise to me is the size of the set. After years of a 330 card set, Topps started changing it the last few years. This year, the set has shrunk to a total of 300 base cards.

The jumbo box contains 10 packs of 50 cards each, while advertising 1 Autograph and 2 Relic cards per box.

This box contained:

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