Box Breaks: 4 Boxes of 2017 Topps Chrome Hobby Baseball

 

So originally I was strictly going to stick to retail for Chrome because the boxes were crazy high (like $150 for hobby and $250 for jumbo). There was no way I was going to pay those prices. Topps, however decided to sell some on their website on day for $80 a pop (they sold out QUICKLY) and I jumped at that price and picked up 4 boxes. Hoping it goes better than my retail break which was pretty mediocre. Here we go!

Box #1

Cody Bellinger RC


Refractors (1:3)
Jose Bautista
Ben Zobrist
Stephen Piscotty
Jason Kipnis
Eduardo Rodriguez
Yadier Molina
Aledmys Diaz
Melky Cabrera


Prism Refractor (1:6)
Jharel Cotton
Brian Dozier
Steven Matz
Masahiro Tanaka

1987 Topps (1:6)
George Springer
Yoan Moncada
Aaron Judge
Danny Duffy

Future Stars (1:8)
Nomar Mazara
Willson Contreras
Francisco Lindor

Freshman Flash (1:12)
Manny Margot
Hunter Renfroe


Bowman Then & Now (1:24)
Jose Altuve

Negative Refractor (1:38)
Jake Thompson


Purple Refractor (1:51)
DJ LeMahieu

Award Winners (1:288)
Carlos Correa

Rookie Autographs (1:18)
AARON JUDGE
Bruce Maxwell

Box #2

Aaron Judge RC
Andrew Benintendi RC

Refractor (1:3)
Joe Mauer
Adam Wainwright
Dustin Pedroia
Gregory Polanco
Aroldis Chapman
Matt Olson
Eric Hosmer
Brandon Drury


Prism Refractor (1:6)
Noah Syndergaard
Bryce Harper
Giancarlo Stanton
Brandon Crawford

1987 Topps (1:6)
Kris Bryant
David Dahl (geez, my 4th one lol)
Dansby Swanson
Orlando Arcia

Future Stars (1:8)
Corey Seager
Michael Fulmer
Noah Syndergaard

Freshman Flash (1:12)
Andrew Benintendi
Alex Reyes


Bowman Then & Now (1:24)
Jacob DeGrom

Negative Refractor (1:38)
Anthony Rizzo


Rookie Autographs (1:18)
Braden Shipley


Purple Refractor (1:51)
Manny Machado (#89/299)

Rookie Refractor Autographs (1:103)
Ryon Healy (#346/499)

Box 3

Refractor (1:3)
Steven Matz
David Ortiz
Jharel Cotton
Khris Davis
Ian Desmond
Starlin Castro
Braden Shipley
Masahiro Tanaka


Prism Refractor (1:6)
Dustin Pedroia
Evan Longoria
Brandon Drury
Adam Wainwright

1987 Topps (1:6)
Corey Seager
Carlos Correa
Masahiro Tanaka
Alex Bregman

Future Stars (1:8)
Addison Russell
Trea Turner
Trevor Story

Freshman Flash (1:12)
Tyler Glasnow
Luke Weaver


Bowman Then & Now (1:24)
Robinson Cano


Purple Refractor (1:51)
Joe Musgrove (#188/299)

Blue Refractor (1:101)
Odubel Herrera (#19/150)


Rookie Autographs (1:18)
Brett Phillips


Rookie Autographs Purple Refractor (1:205)
Raimel Tapia (#148/250)

Box #4

Cody Bellinger RC

Refractors (1:3)
Rougned Odor
Nick Castellanos
Jose Abreu
Evan Longoria
Kenley Jansen
Chad Pinder
Andrew Toles
Jason Heyward

Prizm Refractor (1:6)
Corey Seager
Gregory Polanco
Joey Votto
Matt Holliday



1987 Topps (1:6)
Andrew Benintendi
Jake Arrieta
Addison Russell
Anthony Rizzo

Future Stars (1:8)
Julio Urias
Gary Sanchez
Lucas Giolito

Freshman Flash (1:12)
Yoan Moncada
Tyler Austin


Bowman Then & Now (1:24)
Mike Trout

Negative Refractor (1:38)
Matt Holliday

Photo Variation (1:143)
Trea Turner

Green Refractor (1:153)
Paul Goldschmidt (#56/99)

Rookie Autographs (1:18)
Pat Valaika
Carlos Asuaje

Overall Thoughts: Well, even though it seems like it's getting less of a monster pull by the day, as of today the Judge Chrome Auto rookie is my best pull of the year! It came out of Box #1 nonetheless. I really hope he breaks out of this slump, not so much from a selling standpoint, because I'd like to keep it, but it would terrible for this whole summer of fun to be all for nothing. Judge and Bellinger have driven baseball cards to crazy heights and I'm really hoping Judge isn't some flash in the pan who just got hot for half a season. It's the whole reason I got into baseball cards big time this season, to chase Judge and this is by far the best Judge I've pulled to date. So besides the Judge, I thought pulling a case insert of Carlos Correa was nice (don't understand why these  cards don't sell for much at all..you get one a case and it's of a young superstar who has a pretty solid hobby following yet these things sell for $1-$5..in the 90's a 1:288 insert card would have been a super huge pull). Also the Ryon Healy refractor seemed like a solid pull (again, despite having a pretty good season, Healy's got really no hobby love, I'll keep it in the PC rather than sell it for like 4 dollars). I got another photo variation, this time of Trea Turner. The refractor parallels weren't that great and the rest of the autos were pretty bland. I was glad to pull a couple of Bellinger rookie cards (one for the PC since the Bellinger I pulled in retail was severely damaged). The Judge definitely saved this break thankfully. All in all a fun break, and after seeing the product schedule the rest of the year, I believe this will do it for me when it comes to breaking baseball product. Here's pics of the hits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Pulls of 2017 

#1 2017 Topps Chrome Aaron Judge Autograph RC

#2- 2016 Donruss Optic Superfractor Cam Newton (#1/1)
#3- 2017 Bowman Platinum Platinum Cuts Gleyber Torres Autograph (#14/25)  
#4- 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter X Mini Silver Framed Chris Fehn Silver Ink Autograph

#5- 2017 Topps Tier Prodigious Patches Platinum Eric Hosmer (#1/1)

 

Box Breaks: 2017 Topps Chrome Retail Display

 

So just like Bowman Platinum, when I found out Topps Chrome was coming up for retail, I sent my Dad to go and wipe em out last Friday.  A retail display is 6 Value Packs, 4 Blasters, and two mega boxes with each configuration having their own exclusive refractors (Value Packs have Pink Refractors, Blasters have Sepia Refractors, and Mega Boxes have X-Fractors). I thought this was going to be my only shot at Topps Chrome because of the high prices, but Topps actually had Chrome Hobby boxes at $80 a box for a limited time so I picked up 4 of those, which I will be breaking this weekend. So this is the retail portion of my Chrome break, which i have been breaking throughout the week. Here's how I did.

Value Packs

Notable Base RC's
Andrew Benintendi
Dansby Sawnson
Alex Bregman

1987 Topps Baseball (1:3)
Dansby Swanson
Danny Duffy
David Dahl X 2
Aaron Judge
Buster Posey
Yoan Moncada

Refractor (1:3)
Jose Bautista
Kris Bryant
Michael Fulmer
Addison Russell
Jake Thompson

Prism Refractor (1:6)
Eric Hosmer
Willson Contreras
Kenley Jansen
Nomar Mazara
Matt Olsen


Freshmen Flash (1:12)
Jose DeLeon

Then & Now (1:24)
Corey Seager

Purple Refractor (1:51)
Joe Mauer (#47/299)

Pink Refractors
Zack Grienke X2
Jake Arrieta X2
Julio Urias
Anthony Rendon X2
Robinson Cano X2
Noah Syndergaard
Brandon Crawford
Miguel Cabrera
Seth Lugo
David Price X2
Christian Arroyo
Jesse Winker
Rick Porcello
Wil Myers
Ender Inciarte
Matt Carpenter
Xander Bogaerts
Eugenio Suarez
Corey Kluber
Dansby Swanson
Giancarlo Stanton
Yasiel Puig
Jorge Alfaro
J.T. Realmuto
Hunter Renfroe

Rookie Autograph Refractor (1:360)
Pat Valaika (#290/499)

Blaster #1

Notable Base Rookies
Andrew Benintendi


Refractors (1:4)
Wil Myers
Javier Baez

1987 Topps Insert (1:4)
Jake Arrieta
Masahiro Tanaka


Prism Refractor (1:7)
Josh Bell


Future Stars (1:7)
Steven Matz

Freshman Flash (1:14)
Cody Bellinger

Purple Refractor (1:51)
Christian Arroyo (#217/299)


Sepia Refractors
Tyler Austin
Michael Fulmer
Andrew Miller
Matt Strahm



Blaster #2

Notable Base Rookies
Alex Bregman


Refractors (1:4)
Albert Pujols
Brandon Belt


1987 Topps (1:4)
Luke Weaver
Noah Syndergaard

Prism Refractor (1:7)
Nolan Arenado


Future Stars (1:7)
Nomar Mazara


Negative Refractor (1:38)
Adam Jones


Sepia Refractors
Brett Gardner
Trey Mancini
Chris Sale
Kyle Seager




Blaster #3

Notable Base Rookies
David Dahl


Refractors (1:4)
Andrew McCutchen
Mookie Betts

1987 Topps (1:4)
Carlos Correa
Nolan Arenado

Prism Refractor (1:7)
Reynaldo Lopez

Future Stars (1:7)
Francisco Lindor

Freshman Flash (1:14)
Aaron Judge

Sepia Refractors
Jacob Degrom
Hunter Dozier
Adrian Beltre
Kyle Hendricks

Blaster #4

Aaron Judge RC

Refractors (1:4)
Odubel Herrera
Ender Inciarte

1987 Topps (1:4)
Alex Bregman
Corey Seager

Prizm (1:7)
Adrian Gonzalez

Future Stars (1:7)
Kenta Maeda


Bowman Then & Now (1:14)
Joe Panik

Autographs (1:82)
German Marquez


Green Refractor Auto (1:182)
Joe Musgrove (#25/99)

Sepia Refractors
Adrian Beltre
Max Scherzer
Salvador Perez
Jose DeLeon

Mega Box #1

Cody Bellinger RC (but it's totally damaged, big crease on back and a bad corner to boot)
Yoan Moncada RC

Refractor (1:4)
Kenta Maeda
Max Scherzer
Josh Bell

Topps 1987 (1:10)
Kris Bryant

Prism Refractor (1:10)
Dan Vogelbach

Future Stars (1:10)
Julio Urias


Freshman Flash (1:10)
Cody Bellinger

Then & Now (1:20)
Jacob DeGrom


Base Image Variation (1:143)
Trey Mancini



X-Fractors
Zach Britton
Matt Olson
Hunter Renfroe
Jason Kipnis
Josh Donaldson
Gavin Cecchini
Joc Pederson
Robert Gsellman
Johnny Cueto
Jake Arrieta

Mega Box #2


Refractor (1:4)
Billy Hamilton
Andrew Miller
Adrian Gonzalez

Topps 1987 (1:10)
David Dahl

Prism Refractor (1:10)
Max Kepler

Future Stars (1:10)
Trevor Story


Freshman Flash (1:10)
Aaron Judge


Gold Refractor (1:303)
Tyler Naquin

Rookie Autograph (1:100)
David Paulino



X-Fractors
Mookie Betts
Paul Goldschmidt
Trey Mancini
Michael Fulmer
George Springer
Odubel Herrera
Tyler Austin
Kyle Hendricks
Lorenzo Cain
Ryan Schimpf

Overall Thoughts: Pretty much your basically run of the mill retail break. Nothing too exciting. I pulled at least one auto out of each retail format, but the names aren't great in the least with the best being a Joe Musgrove green parallel numbered to 99. The best card I pulled in my opinion was the Trey Mancini Photo Variation. The Bellinger with damage is HUGELY disappointing. I'm not going to go through all the trouble of sending it back with a explanation letter, copies of the receipt and packs, and upc code and wait 4 weeks for a replacement because I'm just too lazy to do that over a $10 card. Still sucks though, and I had heard stories about retail breaks with tons of damage cards so my story isn't new. Pulled 2 copies of Bellinger and Judge in the Freshman Flash insert which is cool. Got a Judge base card as well. Wish my gold parallel was of a better player and wish I got some better names out of the exclusive refractors. Still a fun rip for the price. Hope I hit something bigger in my hobby boxes though. Here's pics of the cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Pulls of 2017 

#1- 2016 Donruss Optic Superfractor Cam Newton (#1/1)
#2- 2017 Bowman Platinum Platinum Cuts Gleyber Torres Autograph (#14/25)  
#3- 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter X Mini Silver Framed Chris Fehn Silver Ink Autograph

#4- 2017 Topps Tier Prodigious Patches Platinum Eric Hosmer (#1/1)
#5- 2017 Bowman Platinum Autographs Gleyber Torres Green Parallel (#16/75) 

Box Breaks: 4 Boxes of 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter X

 

So like last year, Topps produced an online version of their Allen & Ginter product called Ginter X and sold it online only. Unlike last year there, thanks to Aaron Judge and a cut in production, this stuff started out as a kind of a low key release but collectors quickly caught on how rare the product was and everything sold out within 3 days. I was able to pick up 4 boxes (wish I would've gotten more) and from the breaks I've seen this stuff is pretty damn loaded. Even if the autographs you pull are lackluster, the exclusive mini red parallels numbered to 5 (which fall in pretty much every other box) and silver 1/1 parallels can be enough to carry a box. Not to mention base Judge rookies alone. The initial price of a box was $70, but I'm sure as word spread, if you see these for sale on EBay, there's going to be a big time markup. So was this a better offering than original Ginter? Here's what I got

Box 1

Aaron Judge RC


Mini's
Jayson Stark
Rod Carew
Marcus Stroman
Troy Tulowitzki
Andres Galarraga
Justin Verlander
Lance McCullers
Harriet Tubman
Ben Smith
Billy Hamilton
Raimel Tapia
Matt Olson



SP's (1:2)
Braden Shipley
Justin Turner
Drew Pomeranz
Corey Dickerson
Seung-Hwan Oh
Trey Mancini
Tim Raines
Brian McCann
Stephen Vogt


World's Dudes Mini (1:13)
Park Avenue Dude
Farmhand Dude

Bust A Move Mini (1:20)
Jitterbug Dance


Magicians & Illusionists Mini (1:34)
Robert Heller

Constellations Mini (1:50)
Orion

Silver Framed Mini Autograph (1:18)
Chris Fehn



Red Mini (1:24)
Jacoby Jones (#3/5)


Box #2

Aaron Judge RC

Mini's
Jake Thompson
Brandon Finnegan
Jose Peraza
Marcus Semien
Omar Vizquel
Miguel Sano
Ian Snell
Bobby Abreu
Andrew McCutchen
Jose Reyes
Henry Owens
Mark Melancon
Jharel Cotton

SP's (1:2)
Willie McCovey
Raimel Tapia
Adam Eaton
Ty Blach
Whitey Ford
Lance McCullers
German Marquez
Jon Lester
Matt Strahm


World's Dudes Mini (1:13)
Irish Golfer Dude
Chef Dude

Bust A Move Mini (1:20)
Bavarian Polka Dance

Required Reading Mini (1:50)
The Prince

No Number Mini Parallel (1:85)
Starling Marte

Silver Framed Mini Autograph (1:18)
Paul Finebaum

Box #3

Aaron Judge RC (So Far 3 for 3)

Mini's
Bo Jackson
Carl Yastrzemski
Aaron Sanchez
Mark McGwire
Hisashi Iwakuma
Stephen Piscotty
Zach Britton
Frank Thomas
Jake Arrieta
Kyle Hendricks
Brett Gardner
Josh Bell
Adam Eaton


SP's (1:2)
Bartolo Colon
German Marquez
Raimel Tapia
Yangervis Solarte
Marcell Ozuna
Jordan Zimmerman
Willie McCovey
Ty Blach
Dallas Keuchel



World's Dudes Mini (1:13)
Polo Dude
German Cyclist Dude

Bust A Move Mini (1:20)
Bavarian Polka Dance

Required Reading Mini (1:50)
The Prince


Red Mini (1:24)
Yu Darvish (#1/5)

Silver Framed Mini Autograph (1:18)
Luke Weaver

Box #4

Aaron Judge RC (Went 4-4!)

Mini's
Alex Reyes
Yadier Molina
Ollie Schniederjans
Jacoby Ellsbury
William Shatner
Jacoby Jones
Odubel Herrera
Lou Gehrig
Jeff Bagwell
Hunter Pence
Kenley Jansen
Trevor Story
Carlos Rodon

SP's (1:2)
Bartolo Colon
Marcell Ozuna
Dallas Keuchel
Lance McCullers
Raimel Tapia
Jon Lester
Willie McCovey
Ty Blach


World's Dudes Mini (1:13)
Scout Dude
Circus Clown Dude

Bust A Move Mini (1:20)
Ballet Dance

Constellations Mini (1:50)
Cygnus

Framed Printing Plate (1:1,045)
Andrew McCutchen Magenta (#1/1)


Red Mini (1:24)
Andrew Miller (#5/5)

Silver Framed Mini Autograph (1:18)
Jacob DeGrom Redemption

Overall Thoughts: First all of all, I LOVE the look of the set. The Black background really makes the cards stand out and I really like this over the plain ol' white background from regular Ginter. While I'm not a Slipknot fan, I know enough to know that this Chris Fehn Auto was definitely a great pull. The last few have sold in $125-$180 range so that's not a bad pull at all! Collation was terrible...BUT for once it worked in my favor. I pulled a Judge base rookie in all 4 boxes! The other autographs aren't thrilling, but I think I still pull at least $20 pop for them (so combine that with a Judge a box and you get most of your money back right there). I pulled 3 Reds, and two of them were average, but pulling the Yu was cool! Also pulled yet another 1/1 plate this time of McCutchen. If you bought in at the initial offering price, you really can't lose on this product seems like. I also prefer this because it's a more streamlined version of A&G, so the only carryover inserts are the mini's (which are the same mini's you can pull in A&G). The parallel mini's are all black and I pulled a few pretty good names there too. Collation Issues aside, this was really fun and I enjoyed each box! Here's pics of the noteworthy cards I pulled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 Pulls of 2017 

#1- 2016 Donruss Optic Superfractor Cam Newton (#1/1)
#2- 2017 Bowman Platinum Platinum Cuts Gleyber Torres Autograph (#14/25)  
#3- 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter X Mini Silver Framed Chris Fehn Silver Ink Autograph

#4- 2017 Topps Tier Prodigious Patches Platinum Eric Hosmer (#1/1)
#5- 2017 Bowman Platinum Autographs Gleyber Torres Green Parallel (#16/75)