Mosaic

Sometimes desperate times in the hobby, calls for desperate measures. Sometimes those measures can be costly, but still feel worth it.

That's where today's blaster box of 2021 Mosaic baseball comes into play.

I really enjoyed the design and jazz the football and basketball versions brought, so when I saw this blaster box of Mosaic sitting on the Walmart shelves, I had to give it a go. Well, honestly that's a lie. I spotted these three times at Walmart. The first time I saw the price tag of $35 and kept walking. The second time I felt a little itch and at least picked up the box to look at but then set it down and kept walking. The third time I took some Dramamine to prevent myself from throwing up to pay the $35 for a blaster box.

And here we are.

Each of these 2021 Mosaic blasters comes with 7 packs of 4 cards. Then an extra pack of four cards which are Mosaic Blue Camo Parallels along with one Silver Prizm and One Mosaic Parallel. There is also Green Parallels too. I won't mention the price....holding back throwup....again..

I waited a few days on this blaster at home before having one of those rainy days where I craved to open it.

The base set looks like the football and baseball ones. Very chromed and nice if you can push past the non-logos.

Here were my Silver (Freeman) and Silver Mosaic (Karinchak). These look really good.

The green parallels I found were the following,

I can't complain about a rising player and the league's MVP.

My inserts were the following,

Big Fly Goldschmidt and Debuts Madrigal (yes Oren, this is heading your way)

Will To Win. There was a green Mike Yaz.

Producers and Vintage

Hot Sauce

Aces. What a great looking insert and kind of a throwback to the 90's.

But what makes them even better, is when they are parallels.

Speaking of parallels, the last pack in the box was the Blue Camo parallels,

 

These look even more stunning in hand. The lightbox did a decent job though at capturing them for the most part.

And that's it. $35 well...sp..spppp..sppppppppeee.....well $35 spent. I will say it was fun though.

Let me know in comments your thoughts on this product, the cost of it and if you have busted any.

REVIEW:2018 Topps Opening Day Baseball

It's almost time. The crack of a bat, the sound of a ball hitting a glove, the scent of hotdogs and mowed grass. It's almost Opening Day. Well, at least in baseball. I am still stuck with at least a good six to eight inches of snow but that's besides the point.

Speaking of Opening Day, just in time for it was Topps latest Opening Day release that's a fun for all product. Let's take a gander at the latest edition of it.

 

In every box of 2018 Topps Opening Day base are 36 packs of 7 cards each. Each pack has an insert or parallel. Sometimes two. Boxes run a very affordable $30-$35 each. 

The base set is the water slide one from Topps with the only difference being the Opening Day logo on the front of the card. The base set is 200 cards.

 

The other difference in Opening Day is that a few players including this man shown in their new uniforms.

 

The set also has all of the key rookies including Ohtani who was not in Series 1. He is actually card #200 in the base set.

 

Parallels are not abundant in Opening Day which helps out their value. The most common one to find is Blue foil that falls 1:9 packs. I found an Ohtani in my break.

 

There are also much tougher Opening Day 1/1 Edition and Printing Plates 1/1 to find as well.

 

We also wouldn't be discussing a Topps baseball product without talking base card variations. These fall 1:477 packs. The base card codes, the ones on the back bottom right of the card end in 77 while the variations end in 95.

 

Let's now take a look at the fun inserts in Opening Day that celebrate everything that has to do with Opening Day and teams.

Before Opening Day is new insert line to Opening Day and takes a trip to Spring Training. These fall 1:5 packs and there are 20 cards to collect.

 

Mascots. An always fun find and expected one in Opening Day. These fall 1:4 packs and there are 25 in the set to collect.

 

Team Traditions and Celebrations highlights the unique rituals of each fan base and the celebrations they each have as well. These fall 1:4 packs and there are 15 to collect.

Opening Day looks back at the kickoff of the 2017 season

 

MLB Sticker Collection Stars. Remember when I said you had to buy packs of Opening Day to find the remaining four, well, here you go. They are not easy to get however at 1:288 packs.

 

And finally, falling at 1:27 packs are Opening Day Stars. there are 44 to collect in this set!

 

 

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

• Opening Day Autographs
• Mascot Autographs
• Mascot Autograph Relics
• Opening Day Relics
• Diamond Relics (I want one!!!)
• Mascot Relics
• Dugout Peeks
• Mascots
• National Anthem
• Stadium Signatures
• Stadium Signatures Autographs

You can find the COMPLETE CHECKLIST for 2018 Topps Opening Day, HERE.

OVERALL: What's not to love about Opening Day? The cost is great for any collector, there isn't a lot of hoopla and Sp's complications as it's pretty straight forward product, it celebrates everything baseball, and there is still a shot at some tough valuable cards. Did I mention the price? .99 a pack, $10 for a blaster., $30 for a hobby. There is no risk involved it's straight up fun and that to me is what the hobby is all about.

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!

REVIEW:2016 Topps Tier One Baseball (HOT BOX+Case Hit)+A Giveaway!

I have always seen products like Tier One from a distance, but never had guts enough to give it a try, well, I wished I had after breaking today's box and definitely will going forward.

See why I feel that way in this short review below.

In every box of 2016 Topps Tier One baseball, you will find three cards. Two will be ON CARD autographs and the other will be a relic card. There are also hot boxes, like today, that contain an extra bonus hit. Boxes will run you roughly $110.

I will be posting my review box as I broke it. Without any base cards or inserts, this will be a cut to the chase form of review but I will give as much info as I can.

Inside of the box pictured above, is a cut out and a silver pack that sits within.

After opening that silver pack, this is the card that popped up first.

Can't say it could have started any better. An on-card autograph of a top pitcher in Clayton Kershaw. And it's a Tier 1 Autographs, which is a case hit like last year. The Kershaw I pulled is a base version that comes numbered to 99 or less. There are also three parallels that can be determined by the color of the ink with Copper /25, Silver /10 and Gold 1/1.

 

There is also a solid mix of players on the Tier One autograph checklist. I will leave a link at the bottom of my review to the checklist.

Up next, the more common autograph you should find in Tier one in Breakout Autographs. These are numbered to 299 or less. The checklist for these contains a lot of the younger upcoming players and rookies. My pull was /249 of Kyle Waldrop. It also appears from the checklist that some players have more than one card and photo.

 

The other common autograph /299 is Prime Performers which features a nice mix of feature a checklist of veteran players and retired stars.

 

Other regular autographs are dual autos that are numbered to 25, triple autos that are numbered to 10 and Cut Signatures that are numbered to 1/1. 

There are a ton of other sick autograph relic finds in Tier One too. One of my favorites from previews is the Signature Tools auto relic cards. These sweet one-of-one pulls feature an actual piece of the pen used by an athlete to sign cards. I know some may find that cheesy, but I love it.

 

Other autograph relic finds are Autographed Tier One Relics come numbered out of 99 with Dual Patch parallels numbered to 25 and 1/1 Triple Patch parallels. There are also dual auto Tier One Relic booklets are numbered out of ten. Prodigious Patches come with player signature and a jumbo patch piece that has Base versions are numbered out of 10 with Platinum parallel numbered to 5. One-of-one auto relics hits include Tier One Autographed Bat Knobs, Autographed Limited Lumber bat relics and Cut Signature relics. There is such a sick deep lineup of autographed relic material. It's like putting the whole baseball HOF on a team. 

 

If that wasn't enough, there is also relic content to find too. 

The third card from my pack was this Kolten Wong relic numbered to 199.

My pull was a basic Tier One Relic card, which are numbered to 399 or less. However, there are dual swatch parallels that are numbered to 50 and triple swatch parallels are numbered to just five. 

 

There are also Tier One Relics Legends that are numbered to 99 or less also with dual swatches that numbered to 25 and triple swatches numbered to 5 parallels. 

 

Then to my surprise after an already solid box, a Prodigious Patch surprised me being my 4th card. It features a jumbo-sized patch and is numbered out of ten. Mine was 10/10 of Jacoby Ellsbury. It has a beautiful swatch with even a few minor dirt stains.

 

To round out the rest of the memorabilia, Tier One Bat Knobs, there are Limited Lumber bat relics and Tier One All-Star Relics that are very rare 1/1 pulls.

 

And if you are curious how the checklist looks, you can find that, HERE on the Topps Website.

 

Overall, I really liked the product. Solid design all around and some great pulls. The checklist is deep featuring players of today, yesterday and of tomorrow. But, with any high end product, you do only get three cards and it's a risk. However, there is ton of stuff to payoff with if you take the risk and hit it big.

NOW TIME FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!!

 

WIN THIS:

 

It's as easy as can be to enter to win the card above. Just read and follow these rules:

1. Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to host this/these nice giveaways with. Follow them on all social media sites and visit their site, HERE, as well.
2. ***VERY IMPORTANT***MUST BE A U.S. RESIDENT to enter or have a shipping address in the U.S. Shipping costs have gone haywire and I can't afford to ship everywhere.This is always hard to do as I appreciate all readers but I hope you all understand non-U.S. readers.
3. Random winner will be chosen after 7 randoms
4. Card may be shipped PWE. I like to forewarn on this.
5. LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW telling me ONE PRO AND ONE CON OF THE PRODUCT.
6. EARN AN EXTRA ENTRY FOR SHARING THIS CONTEST ON YOUR BLOG AND/OR ON TWITTER. Make sure to leave your link in comments too so I can count it. If not, I won't be able to give you the credit. Commenting with it is very important or you WILL LOSE OUT an extra entry!
7. Sport Card Collectors or it's owner (person who runs the blog), WILL NOT be held responsible for lost, stolen or damaged mail. Sorry had to add this in since someone tried to scam me once about this.
8. Contest starts today, ends on June 26th 2016. Winner will be announced in a separate post on June 27th 2016. 
9. Don't forget to thank the above sponsor of this contest and I won't mind a thank you as well :)

Good luck to all that enter and thanks for reading!

Shared Birthdays

March 19th just like any day comes around once a year, however it stands out above other days as it makes me another year older.

Yes, today is my birthday.

I am not sure what's going on today and what hopeful cardboard surprises I find, but I thought it would be fun to share to show a couple of athletes I share my birthday with. I also share my birthday with Glenn Close and Bruce Willis.

Up first is dominant Dodgers Pitcher, Clayton Kershaw who turns 28 today. Who has won 114 games and lost only 56.

 

Up next, comes a guy from my Giants, Ahmad Bradshaw who turns 30 today. Who has rushed for almost 5,000 yards in his career and closing in on 40 TD's. He is also a Super Bowl winning one as well. Not bad for a guy who was drafted in the 7th round.

And finally, Bills Backup QB EJ Manuel, who turns 26 today. Who has thrown for over 3,000 yards in his career and closing in on 20 passing TD's.

 

I don't think these are shabby names to share birthdays with.

So who do you guys share your birthday with? Athlete or famous person?