2024 Topps Update blaster recap

Pack one
#US35 Jonatan Clase RC
#US40 Nate Pearson

#US205 Seiya Suzuki / Shota Imanaga, Chicago Cubs - Veteran Combos subset
#US104 David Peterson
#US144 Tyler Black RC
#US200 Luis Arraez
#US195 Carson Kelly
#US86 Heston Kjerstad - Rookie Debut subset

#US123 Shohei Ohtani - Season Highlights subset
#US152 Alex Verdugo
#US4 Jorge Alcala
#SMLB-69 Royce Lewis - Stars of MLB insert

Pack two
#US328 Ramón Urías - Holiday parallel
#US72 Colton Cowser - Rookie Debut subset
#US215 Adam Frazier
#US7 Alan Trejo
#US3 Tyler Nevin
#US256 Alec Burleson
#US15 Reynaldo López
#US84 Graham Pauley RC
#US179 Mason Black
#US224 Carlos Santana
#US268 Naoyuki Uwasawa RC - Royal Blue parallel
#ASG-19 Corbin Burnes - 2024 All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-63 Cody Bellinger - Stars of MLB insert

Pack three
#US257 Joey Ortiz
#US350 Elly De La Cruz - Rookie Debut subset

#US301 Jesse Chavez
#US65 Joey Loperfido RC
#US118 Carlos Carrasco
#US228 Jose Trevino
#US106 Porter Hodge RC / Jake Wong RC - Rookie Combos subset
#US108 Andy Pages - Rookie Debut subset
#US199 Brett Harris RC

#US16 Joey Votto
#89US-46 Paul Skenes - 1989 Topps Baseball insert; go figure, a little speck on the back.
#SMLB-71 Davis Schneider - Stars of MLB insert

Pack four
#US223 Junior Caminero - Rookie Debut subset; Holiday parallel
#US31 Brandon Crawford
#US221 Andy Pages RC
#US37 Kyle McCann RC
#US214 Kevin Pillar
#US182 Matt Moore
#US196 Blake Treinen

#US281 Shota Imanaga - Rookie Debut subset
#US299 Tobias Myers RC
#US188 Eduardo Rodriguez
#US133 Matt Carpenter

#MYS-30 Freddie Freeman - Mystical insert

#SMLB-81 Shota Imanaga - Stars of MLB insert

Pack five
#US274 Matt Thaiss
#US172 Colin Holderman
#US100 Paul Skenes RC - go figure, maybe the best 'base' card and there is a blemish on the top.
#US288 Paul Skenes - Rookie Debut subset
#US331 Cody Bradford
#US210 Jackson Merrill RC
#US150 Tyler Black - Rookie Debut subset
#US169 Jackson Merrill - Rookie Debut subset
#US5 Mitchell Parker RC
#US125 Jordan Westburg - Rookie Debut subset; Rainbow Foil parallel
#ASG-21 Garrett Crochet - All-Star Game insert
#SMLB-61 Juan Soto - Stars of MLB insert

Pack six
#US308 Fernando Cruz - Holiday parallel
#US260 Luke Raley
#US53 Randy Rodríguez RC
#US323 Jon Singleton
#US247 Eugenio Suárez
#US121 Ryne Stanek
#US50 Jackson Holliday RC
#US117 Eddie Rosario
#US315 David Bañuelos RC / Matt Krook RC - Rookie Combos subset
#US90 Adam Duvall
#US227 Chandler Seagle RC / Mason McCoy RC - Rookie Combos subset
#US156 Jack Leiter RC
#SMLB-78 Anthony Rizzo - Stars of MLB insert

Pack seven
#US92 Tyler Rogers
#US336 Addison Barger RC
#US340 Gavin Stone
#US176 Lucas Giolito
#US226 Michael Lorenzen
#US192 Colt Keith - Rookie Debut subset
#US327 Dinelson Lamet
#US334 Mookie Betts - Season Highlights
#US310 Oliver Dunn RC
#US28 Mitch Spence RC
#89US-7 Darryl Strawberry - 1989 Topps Baseball insert
#SMLB-72 Curtis Mead - Stars of MLB insert

A couple of retail value packs of 2024 Donruss

I have not busted anything unopened for the longest time where I just don't do it anymore - especially at the retail, big box store level with $30 blasters and $50 mega boxes.

I would normally stay away from breaking Donruss baseball in any form - where the 2024 Donruss base cards in particular look to be bland and boring at first glance, where it's not particularly appealing.

The product feels so off-brand, but the assorted shiny parallels end up teasing some fool's gold finds - where I relented to pick up a couple of value packs where my curiosity got the best of me.

I figured out at least a couple of things that may end up more as footnotes - where "that's kind of interesting."

1.) There was a distinct pattern of collation where a run of cards pulled were in numerical order - so within a smaller set, maybe the chances were pretty good I end up pulling a duplicate run of cards out of two ‘random’ packs.

2.) There are active MLB players sprinkled in - where presumably Panini did individual card deals with certain MLB players' marketing agents, but obviously nothing with the MLBPA that covers all their players.

3.) I pulled the same types of inserts in my two packs - a serial #'d Optic Green Velocity parallel, a Green Laser parallel and a Red and Blue parallel.

Pack one
#98 Edgar Martinez
#97 Buster Posey
#96 Nolan Schanuel
#95 Willie Mays
#94 Jordan Lawler
#93 Masyn Winn
#92 Mike Piazza
#91 Everson Pereira
#90 Jose Canseco
#89 Ronny Mauricio
#88 Emmet Sheehan
#87 Don Mattingly
#86 Ryan Braun
#85 Pete Crow-Armstrong
#84 Johan Santana
#83 Zack Gelof
#82 Seiya Suzuki
#81 Mariano Rivera
#80 Masataka Yoshida
#79 Bill Madlock
#78 Quinn Priester
#77 Luis Matos
#111 Ty Floyd - Rated Prospect
#109 Alex Ramirez - Rated Prospect
#108 Ralphy Velazquez - Rated Prospect
#107 Tommy Troy - Rated Prospect
#87 Don Mattingly - Optic
#47 David Ortiz - Optic Green Velocity parallel; Serial #’d 030/149
#65 Pedro Martinez - Green Laser parallel
#178 Dillon Head - Rated Prospect; Red and Blue parallel

Pack two
#6 Alex Rodriguez
#5 Willie McCovey
#4 Cool Papa Bell
#3 George Brett
#2 Henry Davis
#1 Bobby Witt Jr.
#100 Bobby Valentine
#99 Joe Torre
#98 Edgar Martinez
#97 Buster Posey
#96 Nolan Schanuel
#95 Willie Mays
#94 Jordan Lawler
#93 Masyn Winn
#92 Mike Piazza
#91 Everson Pereira
#90 Jose Canseco
#89 Ronny Mauricio
#88 Emmet Sheehan
#87 Don Mattingly
#86 Ryan Braun
#85 Pete Crow-Armstrong
#153 Colt Keith - Rated Prospects
#152 Luke Keaschall - Rated Prospects
#151 Brock Porter - Rated Prospects
#150 Enrique Bradfield Jr. - Rated Prospects
#95 Willie Mays - Optic
#23 Tim Wakefield - Optic Green Velocity parallel; Serial #’d 57/149
#83 Zack Gelof - Green Laser parallel
#102 Jackson Merrill - Rated Prospect; Red and Blue parallel

A retail value pack of 2023 Donruss

Without any licensing from either MLB or the MLBPA, Panini went ahead and made a 2023 Donruss set featuring only retired players and prospects - it's basically a flood of legends' cards that has served as boring evergreen content over the years and redundant prospect cards that are not ever going to be first year cards or true rookie cards.

The design is pretty basic, but kind of upbeat and colorful - the shiny parallels and inserts within a random pack makes these cards fun, where I guess I don't mind seeing the same old guys on newish cards.

Seeing retired player cards of guys like Ryan Zimmerman and Dustin Pedroia makes me feel older than ever - but it's not like I've kept up with them in years and that is how the passage of time goes I guess.

I haven't bothered to keep up with prospects where I don't know what to do with these cards - it might still be dime box fodder, but there is a Jordan Walker '90 Retro subset card and the St. Louis [Cardinals] outfielder is having a solid big league rookie season.

2017 Topps on-demand mini pack break

I looked this up on Topps.com and I ordered a pack [there was free shipping promo] since for just about a price of a blaster box - I get an 'on-demand' product that is not available at a big box store.

I do see where Topps makes these 'variation' products off their flagship card set alone and by the end of the year - all these releases are just kind of redundant.

Shipped in a bubble mailer, a black box contained a foil wrapper placed inside a 150-count two-piece box.

#351 German Marquez #87-136 Chipper Jones - 1987 All-Star serial #’d 03/25 #56 Danny Salazar - serial #’d 1/5 #249 New York Yankees team card - serial #’d 05/25; just had to picture Starlin Castro among other random Yankees [Headley, Teixeira and maybe Gardner]. #US260 Carlos Correa - serial #’d 05/25 #656 Todd Frazier - serial #’d 01/10 #494 Tom Murphy #422 Andrew Miller #US213 Yovani Gallardo #486 Aroldis Chapman #4 Mark Reynolds #US110 Corey Seager #48 Brian McCann #US173 Chris Coghlan #636 Allegheny Armada - feat. Jaso / McCutchen #36 B’More Boppers - feat. Trumbo, Machado, Davis and Jones. #599 Cincinnati Reds team card #175 Houston Astros team card #246 Hunter Strickland #613 Jonathan Broxton #US66 Jose Osuna #440 Eduardo Rodriguez #US93 Jesse Chavez #526 Jake Marisnick #95 Chris Davis #US241 Ryon Healy #75 Carlos Correa #356 Brad Miller #492 Avisail Garcia #US269 Craig Kimbrel #369 Mark Canha #47 Gregor Blanco #341 Alex Bregman #US159 J.T. Riddle #270 Jake Arrieta

2017 Topps Heritage Minors pack breaks

Pack one
#165 Sean Reid-Foley
#155 Thomas Szapucki
#18 Ryan Helsley

#203 Nick Gordon - SP
#71 Anfernee Grier
#161 Josh Staumont
#156 Matt Thaiss
#44 Shed Long

Pack two
#131 Braxton Garrett

#1 Amed Rosario
#167 Francisco Rios
#65 Nick Williams
Make Your Pro Debut code / info card
#151 Keegan Akin
#30 Greg Allen
#24 Eric Lauer

Pack three
#127 Jorge Ona
#83 Ryan Mountcastle
#115 Kyle Funkhouser
Make Your Pro Debut code / info card
#186 Nick Neidert
#34 Logan Shore

#126 Keibert Ruiz
#7 Jazz Chisholm

Pack four 
#165 Sean Reid-Foley
#155 Thomas Szapucki
#18 Ryan Helsley
#220 Victor Robles - SP

#156 Matt Thaiss
#44 Shed Long
#132 Tomas Nido
#27 Meibrys Viloria

2017 Topps Opening Day pack breaks

It looks like a fresh box was open on the counter and while I really turn my nose at this more cutesy, 'flagship-lite' alternative - I wanted to bust some packs and for a dollar each, was there anything to lose?

Pack one

#189 Todd Frazier

#98 Lorenzo Cain

#8 Victor Martinez

#M-25 Brewers Mascot - Mascots Checklist

#70 Jay Bruce

#39 Aledmys Diaz

#95 Kyle Seager

Pack two

#106 Xander Bogaerts

#96 Anthony Rizzo

#116 Chris Sale

#ODB-1 Opening Day in Pittsburgh - Opening Day insert

#134 Miguel Sano

#186 Julio Urias

#32 Aaron Nola

Pack three

#161 Brian McCann

#73 Joe Mauer

#SC-14 Troy Tulowitzki - Superstar Celebrations insert

#MA-O Orbit - Mascot Autographs; it’s a friggin autograph of a mascot but I’ll comfort myself in seeing it’s supposedly seeded at a rate of 1:747 packs.

#90 Matt Strahm

#158 Carlos Carrasco

#176 Teoscar Hernandez

2017 Donruss hobby two pack break

With a look inspired by an updated take on 1990 Donruss, the base cards are sharp, though still otherwise feel generic - maybe my small sample size of two packs doesn't quite tell the entire story, but it's hard to buy into these cards when they don't really stand out.

Pack one
#117 Ryan Braun

#74 Kyle Schwarber
#131 Odubel Herrera
#89 Nolan Arenado

#TP-2 Austin Meadows - The Prospects

#RV-24 Khris Davis - Retro Variation
#194 Yu Darvish

#RV-15 Mike Trout - Retro Variation

Pack two
#116 Giancarlo Stanton
#73 Jon Lester
#130 Marcus Semien

#88 Tyler Naquin

#29 Edwin Encarnacion - Diamond Kings subset
#158 Adrian Beltre

#RV-29 Johnny Cueto - Retro Variation
#149 Matt Holliday

2017 Topps Heritage 7-pack break

I'm not exactly a fan of Topps Heritage because it has been played out card product to me - I feel like there should be more effort to come up with something original when it comes to baseball cards as opposed to dipping into your 'heritage' as sort of a crutch to stand on.

I do appreciate some 'old school' elements in baseball cards, so it's not like I don't get what these cards are about - I grabbed 7 random packs from a card shop and also a blaster box from a Target to see if I can get into these new cards for a little bit.

It may not feel authentic, but the thinner card stock is cleaner and the cards look fairly sharp - it seems like there was no effort to make the cards look like the originals, which may not be something people who collect Heritage seriously may like.

I read a little primer on the original 1968 Topps cards - but despite the inconsistent pattern scheme on the borders, I'm okay with the cards looking a little bland and maybe lacking a little imagination [just considering the cards themselves and not the wrinkles and gimmicks that come with a 2017 release].

The card backs are bright and bold - so that makes them easy to read.

I realize 1968 Topps wasn't a set that used facsimile autographs of the players as part of the design - so the fronts of these 2017 Topps Heritage cards look less cluttered.

Pack one
#280 Chase Headley
#283 Pittsburgh Pirates team card
#301 Martin Prado
#358 San Diego Padres team card
#NAP-14 Kyle Hendricks - New Age Performers

#307 Yordano Ventura - R.I.P.
#373 Nolan Arenado - All-Topps subset
#272 Wei-Yin Chen
#336 Colorado Sluggers - feat. LeMahieu/Blackmon

Pack two
#224 Matt Szczur
#58 Tony Watson
#62 Nick Markakis
#144 Ryan Zimmerman

#491 Jason Hammel - SP
#30 Tyler Flowers
#353 Zach Britton
#297 Ezequiel Carrera
#278 Jeurys Familia

Pack three
#286 Dellin Betances
#394 Texas Rangers team card
#225 Francisco Rodriguez
#165 2017 Detroit Tigers Rookie Stars - feat. JaCoby Jones/Dustin Molleken

#412 David Ortiz - SP/Color Swap variation?
#63 Alex Wilson
#42 2017 Miami Marlins Rookie Stars - feat. Austin Brice/Yefri Perez
#124 Chad Qualls
#378 Max Scherzer - All-Topps subset

Pack four
#188 Jedd Gyorko
#51 Derek Norris
#218 Jim Johnson
#111 Tanner Roark

#Topps Tan-10 Juan Marichal/Clayton Kershaw - Then and Now insert
#231 Matt Garza
#241 Travis Jankowski
#388 Yonder Alonso
#181 Corey Kluber

Pack five
#80 Eddie Rosario
#319 Washington National Rookie Stars - feat. Brian Goodwin/Spencer Kieboom
#132 Cheslor Cuthbert

#117 Chicago White Sox Rookie Stars - feat. Carson Fulmer/Yoan Moncada
#497 Kevin Gausman - SP
#243 Byron Buxton
#393 Toronto Blue Jays Rookie Stars - feat. Matt Dermody/Danny Barnes
#35 Anthony DeSclafani

#368 Manny Machado - All-Topps subset; it's totally not obvious who is partially pictured on the back of Machado's card.
Topps info card/Bunt pack code card

Pack six
#201 Martin Maldonado
#219 Pedro Alvarez
#107 Roberto Osuna
#105 Adam Lind

#149 1987 Topps Ray Searage - Rediscover Topps; damn, this is just what I wanted from a pack of 2017 Topps Heritage.

It's going to be another 19 years for 2036 Topps Heritage to come out featuring 'Today's Stars in The 1987 Design' - where pulling a buyback card from 1987 Topps would make sense, though I probably could have pulled any junk wax era card from this latest Topps promotion.

#77 Yadier Molina
#345 Jarred Cosart
#210 Carlos Rodon
#343 Marcus Semien
#104 Carlos Santana

Pack seven
#220 Joe Mauer
#275 2017 Philadelphia Phillies Rookie Stars - feat. Jake Thompson/Roman Quinn
#389 D.J. LeMahieu

#372 Anthony Rizzo - All-Topps subset; it's totally not obvious who the smiling mug on the back of Rizzo's card belongs to.

#26 Gary Sanchez - 1968 Topps Game insert
#221 Toronto Blue Jays team card
#66 Kyle Hendricks
#192 Zack Cosart
#158 Cubs Fly the W

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

2016 Topps Heritage Minors pack breaks

I impulsively grabbed a couple of packs [$2.50 each] to bust in-between the loose cards and packs of penny sleeves I picked up at a card shop - I was hoping to pull a '67 Mint coin relic, though I'd be lucky to find a hit out of two random packs from an opened box of a low-end product.

Pack one

#73 Lucas Sims

#115 Raul Alcantara

#12 Jake Bauers

Make Your Pro Debut

#193 2015 Runs Leaders - feat. Reed, Fisher and Phillips.

#140 Jose Pujols

#199 2015 ERA Leaders - feat. Ramirez, Snell and Oca.

#94 Brent Honeywell

Pack two

#147 Mauricio Dubon

#59 Brett Phillips

#109 Demi Orimoloye

#119 Jeff Hoffman

#ROA-ARE Alex Reyes - Real One autograph; though it may not be Reyes' first or last Topps / Bowman certified auto card, it's on-card and Reyes is one of baseball's Top 10 prospects.

#37 David Hess

#167 Bradley Zimmer

#20 Domingo Acevedo

2016 Topps Pro Debut breaks - x6

Like last year's product, there is a subtle difference with the surface of the Pro Debut cards and the flagship MLB Topps cards - the players' images on the Pro Debut cards have a glossy coating while the backgrounds and borders are left matte.

The cards sort of feel a little flimsy in hand and may be sort of 'condition sensitive' - where the cards a prone to 'ding and tear' if handled loosely.

The player checklist in the Pro Debut set are recycled from previous Topps releases [like Pro Debut, Heritage Minors, 2015 Bowman Draft and 2016 Bowman] - I suppose a distinction to be made is the players in Pro Debut are wearing their minor league uniforms, while the same guys in mainstream Bowman brands are pictured in their MLB uniforms.

Maybe the overlap is a little more tolerable, though it just means Topps just wants another baseball card product out - as opposed to really digging deep for players who haven't really had cards before besides the random minor league team set.

Pack one

#104 Spencer Trumbull

#49 Austin Meadows

#91 Alex Young

#DD-1 Dansby Swanson - Distinguished Debuts insert Gold serial #’d 46/50

#31 Edwin Diaz

#6 Jacob Nottingham

#136 Raimel Tapia

#75 Blake Snell

Pack two

#110 Drew Finley

#99 Kolby Allard

#60 David Dahl

#DD-25 Mike Nikorak - Distinguished Debuts insert

#90 Todd Hankins

#7 Mallex Smith

#45 Mike Nikorak

#190 Richie Martin

Pack three

#5 Trey Mancini

#160 Sean Reid-Foley

#120 Bobby Bradley

#59 Jack Flaherty

#111 Sean Manaea

#158 Taylor Ward

#21 Brandon Nimmo

#182 Chad Pinder

Pack four

#107 Amir Garrett

#52 Luis Ortiz

#9 Kevin Padlo

#121 Garrett Whitley

#70 Chris Shaw - Red parallel serial #’d 2/5

#112 Reynaldo Lopez

#163 Ashe Russell

#161 Dakota Chalmers

Pack five

#19 Ke’Bryan Hayes

#116 Josh Staumont

#141 Gareth Morgan

#111 Sean Manaea - Gold parallel serial #’d 26/50

#159 Hunter Renfroe

#54 Gleyber Torres

#176 Nick Plummer

#25 Jose Berrios

Pack six

#94 Kyle Holder

#100 Lucas Giolito

#186 David Denson

#DD-15 Trent Clark - Distinguished Debuts insert

#27 Mark Zagunis

#155 Pierce Johnson

#103 Andrew Moore

#58 Tyler Stephenson