The Grady Boxes: Box 5

A few times a year, blog reader and good friend Grady M (@gradyfishinsea), sends me a box full of goodies. He has been doing this for many years since we met on my Facebook page.

These boxes usually consist of my four New York teams, some player collections and so much shiny that I have no other choice but to smile.

I never know what is arriving and what surprises hide within until it arrives. But I do know that it will be fun.

So, when Grady sent me a Christmas box round of cards, I had a hard time waiting until Christmas to open it, but I did.

Inside of the big box it came in, were multiple empty blaster boxes full of treasure.

I thought to myself, how does one post so many cards on a blog without spamming it completely. After much thought, I sat down and decided I would show off some, yes some, of my favorites from each blaster box.

Let's take a peek of what was inside of this 2023 Topps Allen And Ginter blaster

I kept asking and begging people to trade me the Halloween parallels from this year's Topps Update, but nobody would.  Fortunately, I found some in my Grady box.

(looks like Rod Beck to me)

These are cool, but my favorite ones are the pumpkins, ghosts, cats, etc. If you have any of those from any player, I am interested in trading for them!!

More playing cards! Think I have five of them now for my set chase.

 

And two new Lamar Jacksons for that side PC. Always excited to add shiny ones.

Well, that does it for the final box in this series.

A big thanks goes out to Grady for his continued generosity to my collection.

Cardboard Review:2021 Topps Update Hobby Box

Baseball season is over, but not the baseball card releases which is great news for collectors!

Today I am breaking a box of 2021 Topps Series 3..I mean Update.

In every hobby box of 2021 Topps Update baseball has 24 packs of 14 cards. Each box has either an autograph or relic and box prices run around $80.

Each box also comes with a hobby exclusive silver pack that has more of those 86 Topps designs.

Here are the parallel offerings,  Black /199, Blue /150, Green /99, Purple /75, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1.

Pulled a nice Black parallel of KeBryan Hayes! Other than that, not much to show.

BASE:

The base set is built up of 330 cards and uses the same design as Series 1 and 2. Players who were traded are also updated in their new uniforms.

 

As always, Update brings the fun with it's subsets.

 

Here's another. There are also All-Star and No Hitter subsets

To go along with Rookie Debut and of course the best part for me in Update, the rookie cards.

PARALELLS:

You can find the following parallels for Topps Update,

Rainbow Foil, Gold Foil, Gold /2021, Green Foil /499, Advanced Stat /300, Orange Foil /299, Red Foil /199, Vintage Stock /99, Independence Day /76, Black /70, Platinum Anniversary /70, Mother’s Day Hot Pink /50, Father’s Day Powder Blue /50, Memorial Day Camo /25, 70th Anniversary 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1

 

Rainbow Foils fall 1:10 packs

Gold /2021

Orange Foil /299

Green Foil /499

INSERTS

Topps Black Gold. There are 25 cards in the set to collect and they are niiiiiiiiiiiiice.

More 1986 design to celebrate 35 years of it. I feel like this insert has gone on for 35 years. There are 50 cards in this set to collect.

70 cards, 70 years, this set has it all

 

There are 20 cards to collect in Platinum Players die cut.

HITS:

Just like my luck with both flagship series, I hit a relic. Which is what you will find 9 out of 10 times unless you decide to go Jumbo that actually guarantees autographs.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Just like my thoughts with flagship, I am not a fan of the hobby box layout with only one hit and that one hit being a relic most of the time. Steep price for it as well. With that being said, I have always preferred retail blasters for both flagship series and update. It lands me the rookie cards I want for my collection which is what these types of products have always been about.

One more thing, NO MORE 86 TOPPS!

On a positive note, I really like the parallels in Update. They are shiny and attractive. There are also plenty of great photography in the base and subsets that helps bring you closer to the game. Or me at least who hasn't been to a game in almost 10 years.

Your thoughts below on Topps Update are welcomed below!

Breakin' Wax:2020 Topps Update Blaster Box

Today, I am breaking a 2020 Topps Update Blaster box without the box picture. I hate when pictures get lost in translation.

Anyways,  here were the best base cards I found.

Best rookie cards

Topps Update Gold /2020 parallel

Blue or purple parallel? I don't know.

Rainbow Foil parallel

Lots of turkeys including a Pettite and Bichette I needed.

Turkey Chrome

1985 insert

My regular inserts

Overall, not a bad break. I got some decent Update rookies and my inserts weren't too shabby. I also enjoyed the Munson as my father was a fan of him growing up.

Thoughts on my break and Update overall welcomed in comments!

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019 Topps Update Baseball

Baseball season is winding down, we are now in the World Series, and so isn't the final few baseball products such as the latest release in Topps Update or as I call it, Topps Series 3.
Update however, has set itself apart from the flagship as it carries the most sought after rookie cards on the market, year in and year out. That's right folks, more popular than Bowman and even some more popular than their autographed rookies.

Update for me is usually all about the rookies, so let's see if I had any other surprises in store this year.

 

Each hobby box of 2019 Topps Update baseball comes with 24 packs of 14 cards. There is one hit per box and boxes currently run around $85.

 

I didn't do much studying on the product before it's release, so I found a surprise to me when I opened it. A 2019 Topps Silver pack. Something I hadn't ever gotten before as I believe they were handed out at shops and online retailers when buying the product. This was a plus for me! Jumbo boxes come with two of them.

Let's see how that rip went first.

 Kerry Wood and Jeff Bagwell stand out here

And then some JV. This is a blue parallel /150

BASE CARDS:

The Topps Update set comes with 300 cards.It includes all of the late season call-ups, All-Star Game related subsets and other fun subsets.

 The closest to a Yaz rookie I will get

 Plenty of Vlad Jr cards for you Vlad Jr collectors.

Fishin' Wonder if he will the MVP award?

Rookie Combos

Team Card

And my favorite base card of them...let it rain!

SHORT PRINTS/VARIATIONS

As with any product, especially baseball, there are Short Prints or variations. Luckily for us unlike the old days, they are defined by a CMP code on the back bottom right of the card. I go by the last two digits on that code (sorry no pic of the card back this time)

Here are the codes you are looking at

• Base ends in 010
• SP Variation ends in 055
• SSP Rookie Variation  ends in 057

You may need a magnifying glass sometimes to tell the difference but you should find one per box on both hobby and jumbo box levels.

 Paul Goldschmidt Sp ends in 55.

PARALLELS

Here is an over look at the parallels in Update,

Purple, 150th Anniversary, Rainbow Foil, Gold /2,019, Vintage Stock /99, Independence Day /76, Black /67, Mother's Day Pink /50, Father's Day Blue /50, Memorial Day Camo /25, Platinum 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

150 Years falls 1:6 packs

Gold Falls 1:8 packs

Foil falls 1:10 packs. Nice find on the Vlad Jr

Black /67

INSERTS

1984 Inserts has 50 cards to collect


Most of the inserts include parallels such as Blue, Black /299, 150th Anniversary /150, Gold /50, Red /10, and Platinum 1/1.

 Black /299

 The Family Business. There are 25 to chase in this set.

Iconic Cards. To me, the more iconic one would have been the no name. But, that's just me. There are 50 in this set to collect.

Greatest Players. Find 100 in this set. WOW.

HITS:

 

All Star Game Jersey. No surprise to find a jersey in my break as I find them and as will you 9 out of 10 times. If you are autograph chasing, go find yourself a Jumbo Box.

Other hits not found in my box include,

• 1984 Topps Baseball Autographs
• Legacy of Baseball Autographs
• 150 Years of Professional Baseball Autograph
• Bryce Harper Highlights Autographs
• Est. 1869 Autographs
• Iconic Card Reprints Autographs
• Shohei Ohtani Highlights Autographs
• The Family Business Autographs
• Cut Signatures
• All-Star Stitches Autographs
• All-Star Stitches Jumbo Patch Autographs
• All-Star Stitches Dual Autographs
• Topps Reverence Autograph Patch
• 150th Anniversary Manufactured Medallion Autographs
• 150th Anniversary Manufactured Patch Autographs
• All-Star Stitches Jumbo Patch
• All-Star Stitches Dual Relics
• All-Star Stitches Triple Relics
• Major League Material
• Own The Name Nameplate Letter
• 150th Anniversary Manufactured Medallion Relics
• 150th Anniversary Manufactured Patch Relics

HERE IS THE OVERALL CHECKLIST FOR 2019 TOPPS UPDATE BASEBALL. YOU CAN FIND IT HERE

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This is a sit on it and wait product. Rookies, not hits carry this one. The price is a bit steep for only one hit that's most likely a jersey card, but, potentially down the road it may be worth a lot and box prices could go even higher. It's all about how much risk you want to take. Remember they also have plenty of retail options as well.

If you want in on a box break of this product without paying box prices, I suggest Midwest Box Breaks as they pull fire!

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to do giveaways with. ALWAYS check my Twitter @SportCardCollec for those..Also follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well

Here is the NPN info and all odds info: