The Grady Chronicles:Refractors Galore!

As we further dig into this box from Grady, we start unraveling lots of shiny.

This time, we look at some Topps Chrome.

Sepia Refractors with Vlad Jr and Eloy making an appearance.

Prism refractors not to be confused with Panini's Prizm. There is an S instead of a Z.

The always creepy Black and White which makes the players seem devilish.

 

And to finish it off, the plain base silver. Which is still a favorite of mine.

More shiny cards to come in this series, coming up tomorrow is the real Prizms.

Thoughts on today's shine welcomed in comments!

PACK WARS EPISODE 6

I know it must feel I open a lot of wax for this series, but secret is, I had to trade for most of these. Some I found at Walgreens and Walmart, but a good chunk I acquired through trading. I basically did it so I can do this series and just to have the weekly rip. When this series is over, I won't have any more to rip.

Today's matchup is two more shiny products and my first multi-sport battle crossover. Let's check it out.

 VS 

First, let's rip the NBA Hoops Premium

LeBron and RJ Barrett, good start

Iverson silver

Bleh

Bleh

Meh

Now onto the Chrome,

(solid)

(this would have been a great pull last year)

(Cabrera and Vlad Jr refractor)

 

Well, I can't pick a winner here. Both seemed equal but I will let you guys help me out in comments and tell me which break you think gets the trophy.

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:

CARDBOARD CONTEST!! Win This AWESOME Lot Of Topps Cards

Hey guys!
So far this year on the blog has been the biggest and best year to date and I wanted to take a minute and thank you readers by hosting a giveaway. Maybe one of the biggest I have done.

The prize, well, the winner can be ANY, ANY six cards out of this lot of four pictures.

 

Thomas Fish mini Sp in this lot

 For the autograph lovers

 I know someone must want this /10 Black Refractor

Yeah, I put this in there. I bet this will be the biggest want.

Here are the rules and how to enter. There are three ways to do so. ENTRANTS MUST HAVE A U.S. SHIPPING ADDRESS and must acknowledge that the prize will be shipped safely PWE and that I am not or Topps responsible for lost, stolen or damaged mail. I will ship it safe as I can but can't promise that the USPS will handle it that way.

Here is how you enter. Depending on how you are reading this there are three different ways.

1. BLOGGERS: Pick out your favorite post on this blog from this year or past years, post a link of it on your blog and tell me why it was your favorite and do your own post related to the one you chose of mine. Such as if I am talking about a favorite PC card, show yours or if you choose a Origins story about my favorite song, do yours. Comment on this post with a link to your blog post.
2. TWITTER FOLLOWERS: Tweet out your favorite Sport Card Collectors post this year or in the past and tell YOUR followers why you liked it and make sure to tag me @SportCardCollec so I can see your entry. If not, I can't count it as I didn't see it.
3. FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: Post on your own wall your favorite post from Sport Card Collectors from this year or the past and make sure to tag Sport Card Collectors in your post so I can see it.

ONE WINNER from all three social media platforms will win on random.org and be announced in the comments of this post. You all will have a week to complete this. There is a shot for two winners, one grand prize winner who gets to pick their cards first and then a second who can pick from what's left, IF this turns really big. By really big, I expect 50 entries combined the three platforms.

Thanks for reading as always and there will be more to come from this blog including more changes down the road.

CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019 Bowman Sterling Baseball (HUGE HITS)

Guess what's back...back again...Sterlings back..tell your friends.

Well, I am.

It's been five long years since we have seen Bowman Sterling but now it's back on the market and it is hot stuff. I have seen so many breaks of it and just about all of them had big hits.

So when I finally got my hands onto a box, I hoped to hit the same and guess what....I did.

Wanna see it, well read on!

 

Every box of 2019 Bowman Sterling baseball comes with 5 packs of 6 cards. Each pack has an autograph, making it five autographs per box, and each box runs roughly $220.

BASE:

The base is a simple chrome design. Looks pretty familiar to past releases. Has a border which most collectors like.

There are 100 cards in the base set including rookies and prospects. So this is not a veteran based product. However, all of the key prospects and rookies are included.


PARALLELS:
Being chromed, we are expecting refractors and they did not disappoint here.

Overall look at refractors:
Base Refractor /199, Speckle /99, Gold /50, Blue /25, Black Atomic /10, Red /5, SuperFractor 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Base refractor

Blue /25

INSERTS:
I don't know how often inserts fall, but I pulled one and it was a beaut!

Sterling Retrospect Black Atomic refractor /10!

HITS:
Overall looking at the autograph parallels, Base Refractor /150, Wave /125, Speckle /99, Orange /75, Gold /50, Blue /25, Black Atomic /10, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1.

Blaze Alexander

Ronny Mauricio

Travis Swaggerty Speckle /99

Luis Urias refractor! Nice card!

Vladimir Guerrero Jr! Woooooooooooooooooo! Blue Sterling Die Cut auto /25! This was actually out of my first pack so it set the pace for the rest of the break.

Other hits not in my box include,

• Sterling Retrospect Autographs
• Dual Refractor Autographs
• Triple Refractor Autographs

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Don't think I have opened anything this hot all year. Two nice autos, three others with potential. Then on top of it some decent named base and a /10 insert hit. I can see why I could hear and see so many collectors raving about this product.

My only wish going forward if this product continues to stay is adding in some veteran content. Maybe like 50 base. I know most Bowman products focus on rookies and prospects but it would be great to see some vets mixed in with these great designs.

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 add cards to the giveaway on Twitter I am hosting. Please follow me there to enter @SportCardCollec. Also follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well