2018 Topps Allen & Ginter Blaster Box #1

Picked up a blaster box while out shopping.  Nothing major in this blaster except for some rookies.

Rookies: Garrett Cooper, J.P. Crawford, Paul Blackburn, Willie Calhoun, Brian Anderson, and Zack Granite. 

And here are the odds for a retail blaster box.

2018 Topps Allen & Ginter Hobby Box Break #1

Each year Topps Allen & Ginter gets this unusual hype that you don't normally see for most card sets.  It's because of the unusual combination of non-sport autographs in the set, non-baseball autographs in the set, and weird non-sport insert cards. 

It's a strange set, and oddly satisfying.

Each year I try to buy myself one hobby box.  Here's the box for this year.

The hits were a Dexter Fowler and Charlie Blackmon relic, and a framed mini autograph of Madison Keys (tennis player).

I'm pretty happy with these hits.  Getting an autograph is good since not every box is guaranteed to have an autograph.

Here are the hobby pack odds.

And I got this strange mini which had a peculiar finish on it.  It turns out these are glow in the dark minis and are case hits.  They are SSP (super short print).  Some people speculate that these are 1/1s but they're not.  I've seen a few duplicates on eBay already.  Too bad I got a non-player.  This is the rarest card that I got in my hobby box but I'm thinking if I tried to sell it I would probably only get $10 for it.

I got a good number of rookies, including: Jack Flaherty, Rafael Devers, Scott Kingery, Garrett Cooper, Brandon Woodruff, Nick Williams, Ryan McMahon, Ryder Jones, and Amed Rosario.

But the most important rookie card in the box... a Shoei Ohtani rookie! 

2017 Bowman Platinum Blaster Box #1

I picked up a pair of blaster boxes at a Walmart.  Here's the first of the two blaster boxes.  I can't get over how good these cards look!

Rookie Radar: Luke Weaver, Aaron Judge.  Bowman Rookie Card: Matt Strahm, Ryon Healy, Carson Fulmer, Dansby Swanson, Robert Gswellman, Tyler Austin, and Jorge Alfaro.

Some nice MLB inserts here.

The blaster boxes come with an exclusive pack of ice parallels.  I got two pros and two prospects: A.J. Pollock, Xander Bogaerts, Andy Ibanez, and Franklin Barreto.

Here are the blaster box odds.  Rookie Radar Autograph Gold Foils are 1:81,807!  Wow.  That might be the entire retail print run right there.  Which means there is only one Rookie Radar Autograph Gold Foil in all of the blaster box retail run.

2017 Bowman Platinum Baseball Rack Packs #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5

Whoa!  Found five rack packs of 2017 Bowman Platinum Baseball.  This is a retail only product which makes it a little more interesting and special.  These cards look great!  I really should collect more baseball.

Bowman's Next Generation: Jahmai Jones, Josh Staumont, Christian Arroyo.  Bowman Rookie Cards: Hunter Renfroe x2, Alex Reyes, Reynaldo Lopez, David Dahl, Gavin Cecchini, and Braden Shipley.

Bowman Rookie Cards: Aaron Judge, Jorge Alfaro, Cody Bellinger, Robert Gsellman, Tyler Austin, Raimel Tapia.

Rookie Radar: Alex Bregman, and Orlando Arcia.  Top Prospects: Oscar De La Cruz, Lewis Brinson, Juan Soto, Dylan Cease, Rafael Devers green parallel #/99, Dawel Lugo, and Amed Rosario purple parallel #/250.

These cards look great!  I really hope I can find more of this stuff, but I think it's probably all bought up by now.

Here are the hanger pack odds.  Look at those Rookie Radar Autograph Gold Foil odds of 1:48,709.  Talk about long odds.

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Blaster Box #1

I'm still regrettably late to jump on this Aaron Judge hype train.  I rarely buy retail, but I've been buying pretty much all 2017 retail baseball that I come across when out shopping.  I keep hoping for an Aaron Judge, but no luck still.

At least all the weird stuff in 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter is fun to look at.  I like looking at the unusual mini inserts.  Getting high number minis is cool.  A&G back minis are cool.  Black border minis are cool too.

The rookies in this blaster were Braden Shipley, Jose De Leon, Alex Reyes, and a Orlando Arcia mini A&G back.

Here are the blaster box odds.  Rip cards are in retail.  Rip cards are usually only in hobby boxes.  Crazy!

2017 Topps Chrome Baseball Blaster Box #1

I gave into the Aaron Judge hype train some more.  I could not help but pick up a blaster box of 2017 Topps Chrome Baseball while doing some shopping.  I didn't get an Aaron Judge rookie card, but I'm okay with that.

I forgot that Topps Chrome is so high quality.  The cards are gorgeous in person, and feel very nice in your hand.  I actually can't wait to go out and get some more of Topps Chrome.  Too bad hobby boxes are so ridiculously expensive.

The photography on the cards is just great!  My notable cards were a Tyler Austin refractor rookie card, a Andrew Benintendi rookie card, and a Kris Bryant prism refractor.

The blaster boxes come with a blaster-exclusive four card sepia pack.  Mine had a Manny Margot rookie card, Gary Sanchez, Alex Reyes rookie card, and Ryan Braun.

Here are the odds for retail blasters.  Looks like there are superfractors in retail.  Crazy!