2017 Opening Day is soon on the way! Unless you're talking 2017 Topps Opening Day baseball, those are out in stores.
But, the feel of the product makes you think you are at the ballpark. It's got all of the necessities. The players, the mascots, the ceremonies, the celebrations and even the food. If you are looking at snow on the ground still like I am or even have bare ground, Topps Opening Day will make you a personal promise that you will feel baseball is on the way.
So let's get to ripping this product and get that warm feeling of cracking bats and the smell of fresh cut grass.
In every box of 2017 Topps Opening Day, there are 36 packs with 7 cards per pack. Boxes don't make any promises on hits but there are some to chase. And for the price of $30 per box or .99 a pack, this product is affordable for collectors of all kinds.
The base set is 200 cards. It features players of today and the future of tomorrow. There are also a few select cards you will see included in Series 2 that comes out later this year. The design, well, if you liked 2017 Topps Series 1, you will like this as Opening Day is just the same cards with the same photos except with the Opening Day logo.
Every box should land you a full base set. Not guaranteed.
All of the good rookies are included in this as well including Moncada, Judge, Bregman and Swanson.
Players who were traded or signed in the offseason are featured in their new uniforms.
Like with other Topps releases, there are hard-to-chase photo variations that fall 1:256 packs or 1:2-3 cases. They are not easy. I was fortunate enough to find one even though it wasn't easy to spot. With other releases Topps uses a code to help you define base vs varaition. I looked at every code as I went along and none showed different so I assumed I didn't have one. However, after sorting the cards into piles I noticed two Bryce Harpers both with different photos.
So I did my research and found out I had pulled a tough photo variation. I strongly suggest you use Beckett's variations gallery to figure out if you have one or not. You can find that,
HERE. Most of these variations have some incredible photos taken at unique angles like no other. Just look at this Harper. So cool.
There are also even tougher photo variations to pull with National Anthem and Stadium Signatures. National Anthem shows players joining in on the National Anthem and instead of their name, it has the words National Anthem. Stadium Signatures shows players signing for fans.
As with most Topps products, there are parallels. Most are tough to find, but these ones are very eye appealing. These are Rainbow Blue Foil that fall 1:7 packs. Not too many per box so that's good as well. My best find was Swanson.
Other parallels include,
- Opening Day 1/1
- Edition that falls 1:14,256 packs
- Printing Plates 1/1 that fall 1:3,269 packs
Now onto the inserts that pour out. You should find one-per-pack and packs with a parallel, you will find two.
Mascots have 25 cards and fall 1:3 packs featuring the mascots of MLB.
I know on Twitter how excited Orbit was to have his own trading card.
Eats! Incredible Eats have 18 cards and fall 1:8 packs.I know it made me really hungry after viewing most of these. I think this is a really cool insert addition
Superstar Celebrations has 25 cards that fall 1:3 packs and celebrates the 2016 season best celebrations.
And you can't have an Opening Day named product without an Opening Day right?? Well, that's where Opening Day at the Ballpark comes into play. There are only 15 cards that falls 1:5 packs
And the next insert, the toughest of the group so far other than the photo variation, is the Opening Day Stars. This is 44 cards deep and falls 1:27 packs. Will be interesting how these go on the secondary market with such deep checklist and only one per box. Could be tougher to find the bigger named players.
The inserts don't end there as two rarer inserts can be chased. MLB Stickers Collection Stars have
4 cards that fall 1:288 packs and MLB Wacky Packages have 9 cards and fall 1:1,169 packs. Really significant odds to chase there.
My box didn't land me a hit, but the product does offer them.
have 16 cards and fall 1:654 packs.
Mascots Autographs have 6 cards and fall 1:747 packs.
Mascots Relics have 5 cards and fall 1:2,097 packs.
Stadium Signatures Autographs have 17 cards and falls 1:17,820 packs And finally, there is
Opening Day Relics with 10 cards and falls 1:525 packs
Overall, with that box price and all that there is to chase, you really can't go wrong busting a box even if just for fun. There is definitely a lot of fun to find in here.
Obviously this isn't for the big hit seekers, but it's a fun product that covers kids of all ages. I am including adults in that.
If you are looking for an affordable MLB product to offer a kid that is interested in joining the hobby, I am sure this would be an easy winner that's not too complicated to figure out and has some fun chases.
Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the MLB Pick Em promotion. The above Springer may be the prize up for grabs in April. Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their site, as well.
