2018, Baseball, Box Break, Hobby Box, Topps Heritage

2018 Topps Heritage High Numbers Hobby Box Break

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Heritage High Numbers exists as essentially an update set for the regular Heritage release.  It picks up where the first set ends, containing cards 501-725, of which the final 25 are SPs.   The SPs are a much smaller portion of the set for High Numbers, so they are easier to complete.

This set has cards for some traded veterans, people left out of the first release, as well as hot rookies making their debut this year.

Once again, we have the return of short print variants with team color swaps, errors, traded, action, and others.  There’s an extra wrinkle to those this year, which I think it long overdue.  At least for this release, gone are the days of trying to read a tiny product code to be sure which variant you have.  Instead, Topps includes a label below the card number telling you which variant you have.  Hopefully this is a feature that sticks around in future releases.

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2018, Box Break, Hobby Box, Topps Heritage WWE, Wrestling

2018 Topps WWE Heritage Hobby Box Break

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Topps WWE Heritage follows a similar pattern to baseball, but it is not quite as constrained.  While baseball follows year by year, 50 years in the past, baseball seems to skip around a little bit not.  In recent years, we’ve seen 1985 style, leading to 1986 and 1987.  This year, however, they skip 1988 and go right to 1989.  They even add in a little surprise.

While it was in the middle of the junk wax era, the 1989 Topps design is still pretty popular for it’s clean layout. It really brings something to this release.  The base contains 110 cards, plus an additional 9 updated roster cards, found only in retail.  The original design for team leaders is including as an insert set consisting of tag teams and stables.  We also see a small insert set for 2017 Rookies.  Perhaps the best part is an insert set I didn’t expect.  The set features legends on the Topps Big style from that period.  It really adds something to the set, with a design that doesn’t feel as overused as a lot of the others.

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2018, Baseball, Box Break, Hobby Box, Topps Chrome

2018 Topps Chrome Hobby Box Break

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It feels a little bit like Topps Chrome is getting away from being a truly unique release, and instead being almost a re-release of Flagship now.  The Ohtani craze is still going on, which is causing this release to be at a bit of a premium right now, but it seems to be waning a little bit.  When compared to some of the recent releases, this one seems almost reasonable.

The base set features 200 cards including hot rookies and veterans.  It mirrors the regular flagship release, but has different images.  There are a large number of parallels, as you would expect with a Topps release.  Most of the insert sets included also parallel inserts from the base release, including 1983 Topps, Future Stars, and Superstar Sensations.   A hobby box advertises 24 packs with 4 cards per pack, including 2 autographs per box.

This box contained:

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2018, Baseball, Hobby Box, Topps Allen & GInter

2018 Topps Allen & Ginter Hobby Box Break

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The 2018 Topps Allen & Ginter release follows the same pattern that we’ve come to expect.  It features old time players, current players, and an assortment of pop culture figures, things, and places.  I’ve heard some rumbling about how some of the relics available in the release are not actually real (like one from the Kraken!), but they seem popular none the less.

The set is the same format once again, containing 300 Base cards and an additional 50 SPs (301-350).  Unlike a lot of other releases, while these SPs are shorter, they’re still attainable falling one in every two packs.  You’ll also find a random assortment of insert sets featuring the likes of the World’s Hottest Peppers, the World’s Greatest Beaches, and Baseball Equipment of the Ages.

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2018, Baseball, Hobby Box, Topps Big League

2018 Topps Big League Hobby Box Break

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We’re looking at a new release from Topps in Big League.  It comes in at a lower price point than most releases and focuses on the base set.  In one of the larger single series base set, Topps Big League arrives at 400 cards.  There are only a limited number of insert sets, and a small amount of parallels.

It seems to be a pretty basic, but fun set.  It’s primarily current players, but has a few legends mixed in, as well as an interesting subset featuring Ballpark Landmarks.  The Ballpark Landmarks are part of the base set, but there is an additional subset showing players in their Player’s Weekend jerseys, with their nicknames.  That seems to be more of a VAR SP for the base set, but the odds state you should get many of these per box.

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