Cardboard Review:2022 Topps Archives Baseball

Baseball cards don't always have to be the next best thing, they can be a visit from the past.

That's what you get when you break into a box of Topps Archives. This year's edition is no different, so let's take a look and see what it has to offer.

Every hobby box of 2022 Topps Archives baseball comes with 24 packs of 8 cards. Boxes come with 24 packs of 8 cards and 2 autographs.

There is also a box topper, post card, that greets you immediately on top.

A closer look at it. Not a bad kick off to this box.

Let's see the rest.

BASE:

  

This years base card set pays tribute to 1963, 1978 and 1987. There are legends,

veterans,

And rookies.

 

(1:6 packs)

  

(1:6 packs)

 

2005 (1:24 packs) and 1992 (1:6 packs)

Along with a couple short-printed subsets as well that makes up the 380-card base set.

PARALLELS:

You can find the following parallels in Archives,

Rainbow Foil /150, Green /125, Silver /99, Red /75, Red Hot Foil /50, Blue Foil /25, Orange Hot Foil /15 (Hobby), and FoilFractor 1/1.

Rainbow Foil /150

Silver /99

Red Hot Foil /50 (nice card and parallel)

INSERTS:

Only three inserts to find, this is the main one.

Post Cards has 15 cards that falls 1:8 packs.

HITS:

Adam Frazier autograph

Luke Williams Autograph

I guess the positive spin on these pulls...they are on-card.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I really like the layout of Archives, but as always the value is a toughie for me. I have yet to pull a big-name autograph from this product since I started opening it. I think for me anyways, I take a shot at retail for this product. Yeah, you may not get an autograph, but there is a chance. But, you do get the taste of the product and land some of your favorite players in a classic design.

I was happy to finally land a Bobby Witt Jr and Julio Rodriguez rookie for my PC.

I would say looking at this break, the Ohtani was by far the headlining pull.

Thoughts on my break and the product welcomed in comments.

Random Cardboard Of The Day:2020 Optic Shohei Ohtani

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.

Nuttin' But The Hits:2021 Topps Chrome Hobby Box

I have yet to find any Topps Chrome retail as opposed to seeing flippers buying off shelves. So, here's another hobby rip. Let's hope for no more pitcher autographs.

There are 24 packs of 4 cards and two autographs per box. Boxes run $250.

Not too bad on the refractor front with Carlson and Dalbec.

Prism refractor

This is what I call the scary Halloween parallel.

Jon Lester purple

Not an A's fan but this is sharp with the green against the A's. I need to get this into a A's fans hands.

More of those 86 inserts.

Future Stars

Prismic Power

Beisbol

And now my two autographs,

 

PITCHER AUTOGRAPHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay. Got that out of the way.

I would say this box was a tad better than my first break just from the parallels alone, we won't talk about the autographs again.

Let me know your thoughts on my break and your thoughts on this years Topps Chrome.

Cardboard Review:2021 Topps Finest Baseball Master Box

Since the 1990's, Topps Finest has been a staple in my collection since the 90's.

Every year I try to pickup some form of it up whether it's through trading, a box break, mini box break, etc. It doesn't quite have the same UNPEEL as the 90's, but I still like it. And speaking of the peeling off, please don't ever unpeel those. Yes the cards look better, but my OCD goes nuts finding them that way. I have never once peeled one off.

Getting back on track, let's see how this years Topps Finest faired for me.

Each Master Box of 2021 Topps Finest comes with 2 Mini Boxes. Each mini box comes with 6 packs per box and 5 chrome cards per pack. Each Master Box comes with 2 autographs with 1 autograph per mini box.

Boxes go for around $270.

BASE

There are 100 cards in the base set with rookie and veteran content. The cards are chromed with a funky futuristic design.

The card backs give career statistics.

There is also an extended base card set with 25 more cards which gives the overall set total of 125 cards to chase. (Ruiz isn't in the extended base set and given just as an example of a rookie)

There are also rookie variations that fall 1:12 packs where the background is different.

PARALLELS

There are plenty of refractors to find this year as they upped from a few to a good handful this year. The offerings are, Refractor, Sky Blue /300, Purple /250, Purple/Aqua Vapor /250, Aqua /199, Aqua Shimmer /175, Blue /150, Green Speckle /125, Green /99, Rose Gold /75, Rose Gold Mini-Diamond /50, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, Purple/Pink Vapor /3, and SuperFractor 1/1.

Refractors fall 1:3 packs.

Green Speckle falls 1:47 packs. This card is beautiful in person!

Purple /250 falls 1:24 packs

Sky Blue falls 1:20 packs

Rose Gold falls 1:78 packs.

INSERTS

Legacies Inserts combine the past and the future of a team. These fall 1:6 packs and have 20 to collect. I gotta have the Kyle Lewis/Ken Griffey Jr.

Masters pays tribute to 1997 subset and falls 1:3 packs. There are 25 cards to collect overall.

Every year Topps celebrates a player and their careers with Finest Careers. This year it's Mike Trout and these fall 1:48 packs. There are 10 of these to collect.

HITS

The autographs are all on-card with 81 cards to land from. There are also parallels to find such as Blue /150, Green /99, Green Wave /99, Gold /50, Orange /25, Orange Wave /25, Red /5, Red Wave /5, and SuperFractor 1/1.

Base

Green Wave /99

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Price Point always plays a role for me as a budget collector. This is a big gamble product with a lot of big hits to chase though.  I suggest picking up singles or joining box breaks if you like what you see from my break as the average collector can't afford a full box.

Overall though, nice design and I always like the throwback inserts.

Thoughts on my break or on Finest in general welcomed below. I will also be doing a solid giveaway on Twitter or on here as well.