REVIEW:2018 Topps Chrome Baseball

One of my favorite yearly releases since 1996, Topps Chrome comes packing with all of my favorites. Chrome, shiny stuff and now even on-card autographs.

There isn't much to tweak in this product as it's a solid release and a fan favorite every year. One thing I have always wanted to do was pull a Super Fractor. But, it appears my luck isn't that good and I will probably only ever have the one Super I do own that I bought.

Let's see how I did however with this years edition,

Every hobby box of 2018 Topps Chrome baseball hobby box it comes with 24 packs of 4 cards each. Boxes run between $85-$110 and comes with 2 autographs.

Topps Chrome is basically taking the Topps flagship and ramping it up with some chrome finish. Nothing looks better than that.

The base set is 200 cards with veterans and rookies.

You can find all of the key rookies including this guy. Heard he is pretty good. My box however was missing the two other greats Otahni and Gleyber. Will need to get myself the Gleyber at some point for my PC.

There are variations to find as well for the base card set. The #CMP code on the back will help you identify the difference.Base card ends in 161 while the variations 195. There are 25 SSP's to find overall.

Chrome is loaded with shiny material and we kick it off with the parallels which there are many to find.

Here were my base refractors, (just noticed the Devers in this picture is actually a Variation. NICE!)

Prisms

Purple /299

 

Others you can find include, 

• Xfractor
• Prism
• Sepia
• Pink
• Negative
• Blue /150
• Green /99
• Green Wave /99 
• Blue Wave /75
• Gold /50
• Gold Wave /50
• Orange /25
• Red /5
• Red Wave /5
• SuperFractor 1/1
• Printing Plates 1/1.

The inserts are all shiny. Honestly, I would have preferred to see them like the ones in the 90's. Since Topps does parallels already for the inserts, why don't they just do a base version of these as well then make parallels. That would make values on these a bit better.

Most inserts have the following parallels, Green /99, Orange /25, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1

1983 Topps refractors. Shining these up made the design even better. There are 25 cards in the set to collect.

Future Stars continues to be my favorite designed insert from the line. There are 20 cards to collect.

Freshman Flash with 15 cards to collect.

Superstar Sensations has 15 cards to chase.

Now onto my autograph pulls.

Having on-card rookie autographs only helps the product.

My first is a Ryan McMahon

Next is this Richard Urena Blue Wave /150

Other refractor parallels for autographs include, Refractor /499, Purple /250, Blue /150, Green /99, Gold /50, Gold Wave /50, Orange /25, Red /5, Red Wave /5, SuperFractor 1/1 and Printing Plates 1/1.

Other hits not found in my box but could be in yours include,

• 1983 Topps Autographs
• Freshman Flash Autograph
• Future Stars Autographs
• Superstar Sensations Autographs
• Rookie Debut Medallion Autographs
• Rookie Debut Medallion

OVERALL: I love Chrome. Box price is a tad high right now because it's a fresh release, but I still say Chrome provides one of the best value breaks on the market. It's not just about the autograph hits either with Chrome. You have the refractors, inserts, base rookie cards that hold their ground in the product as well. Many base set chase this product every year and may be an idea for me later on in life. Right now I have enough hobby projects or is there such a thing?

Please take a minute out to thank Topps for providing the box to review. Some of the cards you see above will be included in the Fantasy Baseball contest! Follow Topps on all social media sites and check out their website HERE for cards and more!