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 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

2019 rookies / Topps Now / Topps Living

I bought the first Topps Now cards of rookies Yusei Kikuchi, Fernando Tatis Jr., Chris Paddack, Eloy Jimenez, Pete Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - as is, I couldn't keep up with the flood of daily email blasts from Topps, so I've ignored cards made for the wave of other quality prospects called up including Michael Chavis [Boston Red Sox] Austin Riley [Atlanta Braves], Keston Hiura [Milwaukee Brewers], Nick Senzel [Cincinnati Reds], Brendan Rodgers [Colorado Rockies] and Cavan Biggio [Toronto Blue Jays].

Starting with Shohei Ohtani in 2018 there was a push see if I could add selected Topps Now / Topps Living cards as something different but rookie year relevant - after Ohtani, there was Ronald Acuña Jr., Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto whose cards I kind of looked for on the side.

The Topps Now / Topps Living cards are nice souvenirs in-hand and maybe a premium in my mind was buying a Topps Now issue gave me a game dated card that might have fulfilled the desire to have something 'here and now' as opposed to much later when I might not care as much - as is, the cards are not as valuable compared to rookies’ eventual pack pulled issues.

I'll probably get picky and wait on graded versions of any Topps Now / Topps Living cards - I just feel like I won't be such in a frenzy to look for any particular one like last year.