2021 Topps Heritage High blaster recap

It looks like my local Walmart has been getting cards once again with a dedicated display area - when I don't plan to go to a Walmart [but end up doing so] and/or I don't expect to see anything on the shelves, I'm more likely to stumble upon cards.

For the most part, it's still hit or miss, but I tend to believe baseball is actually the least collected sport for retail flippers - so if there ends up something left over on the shelves, it probably ends up being loose baseball product.

Pack one

#640 Jose Iglesias

#606 Joe Musgrove

#651 Dane Dunning RC

#591 JoJo Romero RC 

#511 Brent Rooker RC

#587 Gary Sanchez

#698 Greg Holland

#501 Francisco Lindor

#529 Michael Fulmer

Pack two

#579 Marcus Stroman

#566 Manny Machado

#504 Jorge Ona RC

#687 Albert Pujols - Chrome Red Border parallel serial #’d 148/372

#711 Andrew Knizer - SP

#537 Garrett Crochet RC

#638 Edwin Diaz

#609 Kohei Arihara RC

#684 Mitch Haniger

Pack three

#558 Ozzie Albies

#675 Nivaldo Rodriguez RC

#674 Patrick Weigel RC

#528 Eddie Alvarez RC

#546 Alex Kirilloff

#564 Hunter Harvey

#624 Andrew Vaughn RC

#605 Reynaldo Lopez

#589 Josh Palacios RC

Pack four

#503 Avisail Garcia

#597 Taylor Rogers 

#551 Sean Murphy

#690 Francisco Mejia

#RP-13 Bobby Dalbec - Rookie Performers insert

#660 Lorenzo Cain

#567 Willie Castro

#554 Paul De Jong

#693 Salvador Perez

Pack five

#695 Cole Tucker 

#639 Travis D’Arnaud

#630 Santiago Espinal RC

#555 Codi Heuer RC

#701 Zach Plesac - SP

#617 Mike Minor

#625 Jake Fraley

#655 Trey Mancini

#678 Taylor Trammell RC

Pack six

#523 Brent Honeywell Jr. RC

#610 Ashton Goudeau RC

#687 Albert Pujols

#547 Aristides Aquino

#532 D.J. Peters RC 

#572 Andrew Benintendi

#682 Geraldo Perdomo RC

#611 D.J. Stewart

#628 Kolten Wong

Pack seven

#657 Josh James

#560 Mike Ford

#677 Matt Carpenter

#604 Steven Matz

#577 Victor Gonzalez RC

#533 Adam Eaton

#607 Jameson Taillon

#629 Julian Merryweather RC

#510 Miles Mikolas

Pack eight

#658 Jose Marmolejos RC

#620 Jonah Heim RC

#601 Nico Goodrum

#AW-6 Kevin Cash - Award Winners insert; AL Manager of the Year

#710 David Dahl - SP

#562 Eddie Rosario

#688 Ryan Pressly

#600 Trevor Story

#514 Jose Urena

2019 Topps Holiday Walmart Box break

When it’s just about time for 2020 Topps flagship to show up - only now did I finally get my hands on one lousy box of this 2019 Walmart exclusive product.

I had to go to a different Walmart than the one I usually go to - I was able to buy a 2019 Bowman Platinum blaster there last year and thought it might be a place to check out.

This was the only baseball ‘thing’ in the little card section, but it was coming with me - I just hope it wasn't tampered with, being the only box left.

As I broke down the contents of the box, maybe it was decent since I pulled some 'Dollar Tree' keepers - a Fernando Tatis Jr. RC, a Francisco Lindor relic, a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RC, a Pete Alonso RC and a Alonso RC Metallic Snowflake parallel.

I've seen some gimmicky effects added onto certain cards as variations - so I used the help of the linked Beckett guide to visually check if I pulled a card with a nice festive surprise hidden.

Pack one
#HW20 Harold Ramirez
#HW14 Mitch Haniger
#HW163 Hunter Dozier
#HW103 Yasiel Puig
#HW87 Albert Pujols - Metallic Snowflake
#HW81 Evan Longoria 
#HW73 Zack Greinke
#HW193 Josh Hader
#HW126 Fernando Tatis Jr.
#HW173 Trent Thornton

Pack two
#HW128 Khris Davis
#HW169 John Duplantier
#HW148 Aaron Judge

#WHR-FL Francisco Lindor - relic; looks like a bat piece
#HW2 Charlie Morton
#HW25 Joc Pederson
#HW21 Pedro Avila
#HW72 Christian Yelich

Pack three
#HW114 Thairo Estrada
#HW176 Freddie Freeman
#HW138 Nicky Lopez
#HW119 Lorenzo Cain
#HW5 Taylor Clarke
#HW175 Gary Sanchez - Metallic Snowflake
#HW44 Derek Dietrich
#HW167 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
#HW8 Juan Soto
#HW113 Ozzie Albies

Pack four
#HW86 Jeff McNeil
#HW170 Yoan Moncada
#HW80 Scott Kingery
#HW34 Austin Meadows

#HW71 Pete Alonso - Christmas socks SSP?
#HW196 Charlie Blackmon
#HW24 Stephen Strasburg
#HW50 Max Scherzer
#HW93 Josh Donaldson
#HW104 Renato Nunez

Pack five
#HW180 Noah Syndergaard
#HW190 Corbin Martin
#HW139 C.C. Sabathia
#HW66 Griffin Canning
#HW12 Nick Anderson - Metallic Snowflake
#HW13 Hunter Renfroe
#HW11 Ryan Pressley
#HW174 Corey Seager
#HW171 Brendan Rodgers
#HW32 Jose Abreu

Pack six
#HW26 Anthony Rizzo
#HW3 Nate Lowe
#HW164 Kirby Yates
#HW134 Yasmani Grandal
#HW41 Max Muncy
#HW55 Josh Belle
#HW186 Jorge Alfaro
#HW63 Ryne Harper
#HW85 Ronald Acuña Jr. - Presents rare?
#HW88 Pablo Sandoval

Pack seven
#HW57 Matt Chapman
#HW28 D.J. LeMahieu
#HW60 Blake Snell
#HW191 Luis Arraez
#HW179 Tyler O’Neill
#HW71 Pete Alonso - Metallic Snowflake
#HW152 Aaron Nola
#HW45 Byron Buxton
#HW46 Hunter Pence
#HW158 Jorge Soler

Pack eight
#HW78 Justin Smoak
#HW33 Shohei Ohtani
#HW27 Giancarlo Stanton
#HW67 Max Kepler
#HW7 J.D. Hammer

#HW182 Gleyber Torres - Ugly Sweater wristbands SP?
#HW12 Nick Anderson
#HW87 Albert Pujols
#HW90 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#HW18 Dee Gordon

Pack nine
#HW77 Patrick Corbin
#HW9 Alex Verdugo
#HW149 David Peralta
#HW142 J.T. Realmuto
#HW45 Byron Buxton - Metallic Snowflake
#HW77 Luke Voit
#HW110 Anthony Rendon
#HW99 Will Smith
#HW133 Jose Berrios
#HW29 Mookie Betts

Pack 10
#HW38 Luis Castillo
#HW166 Tommy La Stella
#HW35 Alex Bregman
#HW168 Cole Tucker
#HW127 J.D. Martinez
#HW61 Orlando Arcia
#HW49 Spencer Turnbull
#HW168 Austin Allen
#HW117 Amed Rosario
#HW120 Tim Beckham

2019 Topps Gallery Preview Mike Trout #GP-MT

Through this past summer, I was overseas for three weeks, came home for about 5 days and tagged along on an East Coast tour with a group for 8 days - I wanted to set things up where I'd buy miscellaneous cards online so I'd have something to look forward to coming back home.

Though my focus might have been getting away from the routine, like thinking about my cards and graphs - I can't stay away completely, especially when I'm holed up with some down time in a hotel somewhere.

I picked up Trout and Shohei Ohtani singles from this year's Topps Gallery preview set from what I understand - preview packs were inserted in specially marked Bowman Platinum blasters as part of National Baseball Card Day.

Not earth shattering pickups by any means, but the Trout [which came in the mail at some point before I got home] - is a nice looking card that cost me a couple of bucks, unlike something harder to find like a non-auto variation and/or short print.

2019 Bowman Platinum blaster recap

During a random stop at a Walmart I'd never been into, I wondered if they would have any of this year's Platinum and while this maybe just another baseball card product to be forgotten - I wanted to see what these cards were like.

There were loose packs and blasters on the display box unlike my 'local' Walmart, which doesn't have much of a card section - I grabbed a blaster box for some quick retail therapy and to say I got my sniff at these for year.

Exclusive parallel pack
#33 Jake Lamb
#18 Ronald Acuna Jr.
#TOP-76 James Marvel
#TOP-87 Pedro Castellanos

Pack one
#TOP-59 Andrew Knizner
#24 Corbin Burnes
#9 Alex Bregman

#4 Albert Pujols

Pack two
#TOP-68 Rylan Bannon

#PPP-31 Anthony Seigler - Prismatic Prodigies insert
#59 Cedric Mullins
#68 Starling Marte

Pack three
#TOP-76 James Marvel

#20 Pete Alonso
#76 Rafael Devers
#87 Ryan O’Hearn

Pack four
#TOP-87 Pedro Castellanos
#94 Jose Abreu
#100 Giancarlo Stanton
#65 Aaron Nola

Pack five
#TOP-94 Nate Pearson

#PP-8 Gleyber Torres - Platinum Presence insert
#39 Max Muncy
#30 Anthony Rizzo

Pack six

#TOP-100 Yordan Alvarez
#25 Paul Goldschmidt
#13 Matt Chapman

#2 Shohei Ohtani

Pack seven

#TOP-65 Will Smith

#RR-20 Kevin Newman - Renowned Rookies; I kind of like these cards, because if I feel like the design feels inspired by foreign baseball card issues.
#60 Trey Mancini
#73 Austin Meadows

2019 Topps Series 2 blaster recap

I don’t know the last time I’ve picked up a flagship blaster [a series 2 at that], much less one from Walmart - the lure of some notable rookies made an impulse purchase a reality.

There was a $2 off sticker to peel off and use towards the purchase - accounting for sales tax, the coupon amounted to a $0.45 discount.

Exclusive 150 Years of Professional Baseball Patch Card pack
#AMP-RY Robin Yount

Pack one
#668 Pat Neshek
#578 Patrick Wisdom
#669 Mallex Smith
#609 Kansas City Royals team card - feat. Kauffman Stadium
#367 Ohtani Gets Hot

#475 Pete Alonso - 150 Years of Professional Baseball parallel; a decent lower-end pull of the hot big league rookie at the moment.
#MB-9 Mookie Betts - Betts Highlights
#418 Jason Vargas
#385 Ender Inciarte
#537 Ronald Torreyes
#421 Yoshihisa Hirano

#579 Andrew Benintendi
#364 Kenta Maeda
#670 Eloy Jimenez - I've had my share of assorted Jimenez prospect cards, but this one is his official rookie card.

Pack two
#498 Pablo Reyes
#679 Adam Wainwright
#357 Chris Martin
#521 Arizona Diamondbacks team card - feat. Chase Field
#495 Cleveland Indians team card - feat. Progressive Field

#FF-8 Johnny Bench - Franchise Feats insert; these remind me of an ESPN SportsCenter graphic.
#608 Ehire Adrianza

#437 Albert Pujols - one way to look at his legendary career is the St. Louis Cardinals got all his prime years [and two World Series championships], while the Angels basically paid him to hit his milestone career numbers in their uniform.
#394 Miguel Rojas
#593 John Hicks
#550 Adam Cimber
#507 Cody Bellinger
#487 San Diego Sluggers - feat. Hosmer and Renfroe
#363 Max Stassi

Pack three
#610 Howie Kendrick
#553 Daniel Mengden
#649 Carlos Tocci
#392 Cionel Perez
#641 Bryse Wilson
#526 Sandy Alcantara
#ICR-62 Ernie Banks - Iconic Card Reprints

#GV-6 Alex Bregman - Gary Vee’s Top Entrepreneurs in Baseball insert; I sort of like these 'fun' inserts, though I'm at a loss figuring out who Gary Vee is and what makes his apparent hustle interesting besides being a collector.
#651 Jorge Lopez -
#582 Austin Wynns
#391 Jung Ho Kang
#397 Lance McCullers Jr.
#502 Mike Montgomery
#386 Ryan Pressly

Pack four
#556 Rowdy Tellez
#354 Nomar Mazara

#429 Wilmer Font - this guy has been around pro ball forever, but not someone who has stuck around and done much in the big leagues.
#503 Marcell Ozuna
#415 Bryan Shaw
#440 Dustin Pedroia
#HRC-9 Nolan Arenado - Home Run Challenge

#84AS-WC Willson Contreras - 1984 Topps Baseball Rookies & All-Stars insert
#545 Tyler White
#648 Kevin Kramer
#477 Mikie Mahtook
#485 Wil Myers
#635 Adam Frazier 
#449 Matt Moore

Pack five
#414 Mike Soroka
#450 Greg Garcia
#452 Caleb Ferguson
#431 Lonnie Chisenhall
#497 New York Mets team card - feat. Citi Field
#447 Up High, Down Low - feat. Springer and Altuve
#533 Matt Shoemaker - Gold parallel serial #’d 1249/2019
#MB-4 Mookie Betts - Betts Highlights
#690 Hunter Dozier
#360 Mark Melancon
#463 Wily Peralta
#647 Kyle Freeland
#461 Eduardo Rodriguez
#536 Get Up! - feat. Molina and Ozuna

Pack six
#629 Myles Straw
#680 Justin Smoak
#473 Kyle Wright
#625 Milwaukee Menaces - feat. Yelich and Arcia
#491 Detroit Tigers team card - feat. Comerica Park
#FF-15 Giancarlo Stanton - Franchise Feats insert

#600 Shohei Ohtani
#479 Wei-Yin Chen 
#352 David Peralta
#617 Hernan Perez
#388 Dominic Smith
#372 Yu Darvish
#395 Andrew McCutchen
#565 Andrew Triggs

Pack seven
#547 Trevor Richards
#525 Ian Kinsler
#519 Julio Urias
#584 Josh James
#517 Shawn Armstrong
#380 Chris Archer

#385 Dale Murphy - Short Print variation; I like the image of Murphy caught in a playful moment as he's presumably going through baseballs to sign.
#SS-15 Edwin Diaz - Signature Statistics insert
#552 Davis Hess 
#443 Steven Matz
#646 Jason Heyward
#370 Jacoby Ellsbury
#524 Chad Pinder
#382 Daniel Norris

2018 Bowman 22-card rack pack x6

On a random stop at a Walmart, I thought I'd struck gold with six $5.98 packs of this year's latest baseball card lottery product - turns out, I may have only gotten the leftovers of someone else's unopened plunder, though it's all just a crapshoot with the all or nothing hunt for something with Shohei Ohtani's picture [and really with his autograph] on it.

Pack one
#37 Sandy Alcantara
#95 Jonathan Schoop
#14 George Springer
#21 Noah Syndergaard
#8 Hunter Renfroe
#56 Nomar Mazara
#50 Carlos Correa
#43 Joey Votto
#33 Anthony Rizzo
#5 Paul Goldschmidt
#BCP96 Junior Fernandez - Chrome
#BCP40 Pedro Avila - Chrome
#-SK Scott Kingery - Bowman Trending insert
#ROYF-AV Alex Verdugo - ROY Favorites
#BP28 Kolby Allard
#BP33 James Nelson
#BCP83 Ian Anderson - Chrome
#BCP110 Eric Pardinho - Chrome; that 2001 birthdate...makes him 17
#BP57 Luis Urias
#BP26 Alfredro Rodriguez
#BP9 Alex Jackson
#BP93 Royce Lewis

Pack two 
#69 Bryce Harper
#20 Raudy Read
#4 Zack Greinke
#99 Ryan McMahon
#73 Nick Williams
#48 Jackson Stephens
#26 Clint Frazier
#1 Mike Trout
#67 Giancarlo Stanton
#16 Matt Olson
#84 Paul DeJong
#BCP60 Brian Miller - Chrome
#ROYF-WC Willie Calhoun - ROY Favorites
#BP4 Hunter Harvey
#BP133 Tyler Stephenson
#BCP104 Nick Solak - Chrome
#BCP89 Mike Soroka - Chrome
#BCP119 Gavin LaValley - Chrome
#BP147 Forrest Whitley
#BP139 Travis Lakins 
#BP80 Matt Hall
#BP12 Thomas Hatch

Pack three
#74 Garrett Cooper
#11 Jen-Ho Tseng
#64 Clayton Kershaw
#13 Maikel Franco
#63 Robinson Cano
#92 Josh Bell
#96 Raisel Iglesias
#51 Marcell Ozuna
#72 Alex Verdugo
#90 Max Fried
#BCP90 Stephen Gonsalves - Chrome
#BCP142 A.J. Puk - Chrome
#BTP92 Monte Harrison - Bowman Scouts' Top 100
#-FT Fernando Tatis
#BP34 Josh Ockimey
#BP17 Kevin Newman
#BCP148 Trevor Rogers - Chrome
#BCP95 Jorge Mateo - Chrome
#BP46 Cristian Pache
#BP44 James Kaprielian
#BP131 MacKenzie Gore
#BP63 Dylan Cozens

Pack four
#6 Victor Robles
#94 Chris Sale
#53 Charlie Blackmon
#24 Aaron Judge
#87 Tommy Pham
#85 Andrew Stevenson
#65 Marcus Stroman
#61 Dansby Swanson
#9 Zack Granite
#10 Rhys Hoskins
#2 Francisco Mejia
#BCP121 Jose Adolis Garcia - Chrome
#BB-MCH Matt Chapman - Bowman Birthdays insert
#BCP13 Sam Hilliard - Chrome refractor serial #'d 048/499
#BP13 Sam Hilliard
#BP38 Mitch Keller
#BCP61 Matt Thaiss - Chrome
#BCP140 Blake Rutherford - Chrome
#BP55 Kyle Tucker
#BP49 Nick Gordon
#BP115 Cal Quantrill
#BP58 Sean Murphy

Pack five
#62 Ozzie Albies
#42 Harrison Bader
#12 Chance Sisco
#91 Luiz Gohara
#75 Miguel Andujar
#22 Albert Pujols
#38 Andrew Benintendi
#17 Nicholas Castellanos
#93 Michael Conforto
#27 Wil Myers
#BCP141 Blayne Enlow - Chrome
#BTP-34 Alec Hansen - Bowman Scouts' Top 100 insert
#TP-CHI Jose Albertos, Adbert Alzolay and Mark Zagunis - Talent Pipeline insert
#BP1-06 D.J. Stewart
#BP92 Ryan Vilade
#BCP45 Greg Deichmann - Chrome
#BCP27 Jose Trevino - Chrome
#BCP19 Johan Mieses - Chrome
#BP6 Austin Beck
#BP2 Bryan Mata
#BP149 Steven Duggar
#BP102 Matt Sauer

Pack six
#57 Anthony Banda
#77 Avisail Garcia
#58 Josh Donaldson
#89 Brandon Crawford
#54 Byron Buxton
#47 Cody Bellinger
#81 Nolan Arenado
#88 Felix Hernandez
#76 Tomas Nido
#36 Dustin Fowler
#78 Jack Flaherty
#BCP91 Spencer Howard - Chrome
#BTP-40 Lewis Brinson - Bowman Scouts' Top 100 insert
#BP23 Jeren Kendall
#BP134 Wander Javier
#BCP124 Alex Faedo - Chrome
#BCP113 Taylor Clarke - Chrome
#BCP144 Jahmai Jones - Chrome
#BP41 Jason Martin
#BP37 Jake Burger
#BP14 Kyle Wright
#BP135 Bryse Wilson

2017 Bowman Platinum fat pack breaks

I hadn't seen these Walmart exclusive cards all year long and I assumed the display box put out in the card section with a set number of fat packs, value boxes and collector's boxes - were either wiped out as soon as they were stocked on the shelvesor just never made it to the few Walmarts I kept hitting up.

People who looked to resell on eBay saw Bowman Platinum as the equivalent of 2017 Bowman Mega Boxes available at Target - especially when the Mega Boxes were pulled due to some undisclosed 'snafu' and were hard to find.

Bowman Platinum are nice looking cards because they are shiny and modern but not quite the definitive product collectors chase year after year - however the Aaron Judge / Cody Bellinger rookie hype drove current year products to new heights as far as demand.

On a random Walmart stop, I finally saw a couple of loose packs - people may have moved on already, but I still hadn't seen this year's cards up close, so I had to get the two lousy packs in my grubby hands.

Pack one
#49 Giancarlo Stanton
#41 Andrew McCutchen
#66 Craig Kimbrel
#40 Jon Lester
#72 Alex Reyes
#62 Reynaldo Lopez

#RR-AJ Aaron Judge - Rookie Radar insert

#TP-BR Blake Rutherford - Exclusive Prospect card
#TP-ZC Zack Collins
#TP-AK Alex Krilloff
#TP-VR Victor Robles

#TP-JJO Jahmai Jones

Pack two
#51 Matt Strahm
#24 Trevor Story
#10 Aledmys Diaz
#48 Freddie Freeman
#15 Gregory Polanco
#53 Nolan Arenado
#RR-JC Jharel Cotton - Rookie Radar insert
#TP-JJ Joe Jimenez - Exclusive Prospect card
#TP-RR Raudy Read
#TP-FW Forrest Whitley
#TP-KT Kyle Tucker
#TP-MKO Michael Kopech

2017 Topps Gypsy Queen value pack

I like how Topps has used different color schemes to make the Gypsy Queen name plate on the front pop a little bit more - at first glance, I thought the fronts were a little too cluttered but these cards look so much better than last year’s version.

Exclusive green parallel pack
#116 Robbie Ray
#218 Ken Giles
#76 Scott Kazmir

Pack one
#9 Matt Harvey
#289 Max Scherzer
#146 Ricky Nolasco
#GQAR-BH2 Bryce Harper - Portrait Art Reproduction insert
#23 Blake Snell

#130 Chris Tillman

There is also a Gypsy Queen nameplate on the back which seems a little redundant - but sort of makes the card backs kind of fancy looking besides something merely being run of the mill drab.

Pack two
#250 Yoan Moncada
#219 Lorenzo Cain
#70 Leonys Martin

#217 Josh Harrison - Green retail exclusive value pack parallel
#279 Ryan Braun
#213 Elvis Andrus

Pack three
#265 Eugenio Suarez
#64 Khris Davis
#109 Dan Strailly

#FT-YM Yoan Moncada - Fortune Tellers minis
#107 Tim Anderson
#33 Tom Murphy
Security card

2016 Topps Holiday Walmart Box break

I had to make a pit stop at a random Walmart to see if any of these were on the shelves - I'd been thinking about these for the past few weeks, so I picked up a couple of boxes to see what these holiday themed cards were all about.

The 200-card base set mirrors selected cards from the Topps flagship set as well as from the Update Series - I don't know if Topps needed another release that parallels their flagship set, but these boxes were probably designed to be a relatively inexpensive [$20] holiday themed trading card product.

I busted one of the boxes I bought and it seemed pretty straightforward - I pulled 94 different base set cards with five Metallic Snowflake parallels and one hit [each box comes with either a relic or an autograph].

Pack one
#HMW143 Adam Wainwright
#HMW166 Roberto Osuna
#HMW6 Starling Marte
#HMW189 Brandon Belt
#HMW105 Dellin Betances

#HMW141 Mookie Betts - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW67 Mallex Smith
#HMW177 Chris Sale
#HMW147 Michael Wacha
#HMW14 Andrelton Simmons

Pack two
#HMW181 Nolan Arenado
#HMW63 Ryan Howard
#HMW133 Michael Brantley
#HMW37 Raisel Iglesias
#HMW103 Jason Hammel
#HMW91 Prince Fielder
#HMW104 Xander Bogaerts
#HMW80 Josh Donaldson
#HMW5 C.C. Sabathia
#HMW125 Gregory Polanco

Pack three
#HMW146 Addison Russell
#HMW109 Russell Martin
#HMW41 Jake Odorizzi
#HMW69 Zack Greinke

#HMW150 Yasiel Puig - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW142 Michael Pineda
#HMW188 Robinson Cano
#HMW31 Corey Kluber
#HMW167 Craig Kimbrel
#HMW2 Jose Berrios

Pack four
#HMW178 Matt Duffy
#HMW117 Trayce Thompson
#HMW101 Eric Hosmer    
#HMW57 Michael Conforto
#HMW99 Miguel Cabrera
#HMW184 Javier Baez
#HMW108 R.A. Dickey
#HMW45 Aaron Nola
#HMW21 Matt Andriese
#HMW32 Adeiny Hechavarria

Pack five
#HMW34 Michael Fulmer
#HMW17 Jacoby Ellsbury
#HMW94 Albert Almora
#HMW112 Bartolo Colon

#HMW62 Aledmys Diaz - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW15 Adam Jones
#HMW92 Elvis Andrus
#HMW196 Kenley Jansen
#HMW19 Joe Panik
#HMW199 Yoenis Cespedes

Pack six
#HMW48 Andrew McCutchen
#HMW122 Joc Pederson
#HMW39 Anthony Rizzo
#HMW148 Francisco Lindor
#HMW54 Melvin Upton Jr. 

#A-MD Matt Duffy - autograph serial #’d 047/200; even if it's just a more common player, finding an autograph was nice since they seem to be harder pulls than the relics.
#HMW28 Jackie Bradley Jr. 
#HMW86 Matt Harvey
#HMW51 Luis Severino
#HMW155 Nomar Mazara

Pack seven
#HMW61 Brandon Crawford
#HMW43 Masahiro Tanaka
#HMW24 Manny Machado
#HMW174 Martin Prado
#HMW29 Nelson Cruz

#HMW192 Joey Votto - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW9 Justin Upton
#HMW3 Paul Goldschmidt
#HMW85 Neil Walker
#HMW98 Jason Kipnis

Pack eight
#HMW153 Adrian Gonzalez
#HMW87 Steven Matz
#HMW84 Ian Desmond
#HMW111 Daniel Murphy
#HMW172 Blake Snell
#HMW66 Marco Estrada
#HMW176 Ryan Braun
#HMW118 Adrian Beltre
#HMW13 Aroldis Chapman
#HMW65 Mark Teixeira

Pack nine
#HMW10 Brett Gardner
#HMW22 Byung-Ho Park
#HMW82 Justin Verlander
#HMW129 Corey Seager

#HMW107 Joe Mauer - Metallic Snowflake parallel
#HMW145 Odubel Herrera
#HMW169 Jed Lowrie
#HMW114 Yu Darvish
#HMW136 Trevor Story
#HMW119 Yunel Escobar

Pack 10
#HMW116 Sonny Gray
#HMW183 Yadier Molina
#HMW25 Noah Syndergaard
#HMW198 David Wright
#HMW100 Carlos Martinez
#HMW140 Yovani Gallardo
#HMW47 Johnny Cueto
#HMW182 Starlin Castro
#HMW76 David Ortiz
#HMW7 George Springer

2016 Topps Archives 65th Ann. breaks

I’d be hard pressed to spend $20 on random blaster boxes at any given time, but I had to make another Walmart trip - to see if they had the 2016 Topps Holiday Mega Boxes or these on the shelves somewhere.

I picked up the three Archives 65th Anniversary boxes I saw, with each box [$25] containing one pack of 16 cards with a guaranteed autograph - I was hoping things might work out for my $80 impulse buys, but after the fact, something still hurts with the results rather typical as far as the guaranteed autograph cards I pulled.

The basic cards look like cheap reprints but I don't think that's any different any other Topps Archives releases from the past few years or so - where the cards are on thin card stock and there is just something fake about handling and looking at the cards up close as opposed to cards that truly mimic the original cards.

Box 1

#A65-JC Jose Cruz

#A65-CS Curt Simmons

#A65-EM Eddie Mathews

#A65-NR Nolan Ryan

#A65-KG Ken Griffey Jr.

#A65-OS Ozzie Smith

#A65-R-MS Miguel Sano - Rookie Short Print variation

#A65-CS Curt Simmons - autograph

#A-65-VL Vernon Law

#A-65-BD Bucky Dent

#A-65-BW Billy Williams

#A-65-BM Bill Mazeroski

#A-65-DM Don Mattingly

#A-65-JB Johnny Bench

#A-65-FH Frank Howard

#A-65-WM Willie Mays

Box 2

#A65-BH Bryce Harper

#A65-CK Clayton Kershaw

#A65-I Ichiro

#A65-JCO Jeff Conine

#A65-FVI Fernando Vina

#A65-JRI Jose Rijo

#A-65S-JR Jackie Robinson - Base Short Print variation

#A65-VL Vern Law - autograph

#A65-SL Sparky Lyle

#A65-RF Rollie Fingers

#A65-TF Tito Francona

#A-65-RC Roberto Clemente

#A-65-VL Vernon Law

#A-65-BD Bucky Dent

#A-65-JR Jackie Robinson

#A-65-RCA Rod Carew

Box three

#A65-AP A.J. Pollock

#A65-KB Kris Bryant

#A65-BH Bryce Harper

#A65-CK Clayton Kershaw

#A65-I Ichiro

#A65-JCO Jeff Conine

#A65-FVI Fernando Vina

#A65-JRI Jose Rijo

#BD-M Millie - Bull Durham insert / ‘buyback’ from 2016 Topps Archives

#A65-JC Jose Cruz - autograph

#A65-RF Rollie Fingers

#A65-TF Tito Francona

#A-65-RC Roberto Clemente

#A-65-VL Vernon Law

#A-65-BD Bucky Dent

#A-65-JR Jackie Robinson