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.

2017 Bowman Platinum Blaster Box #3

And... I finally opened this blaster box too.

Ice Parallels (blaster box exclusive): Gary Sanchez, Starling Marte, Michael Kopech, and T.J. Friedl.

Rookie Radar: David Dahl.

Purple Parallel: Bryce Harper.

 The inserts in this set are so nice.  I really love the Platinum Presence cards. 

Rookies: Yulieski Gurriel, Tyler Austin, Cody Bellinger, Tyler Glasnow, Robert Gsellman, and Jorge Alfaro.

2017 Topps Chrome Blaster Box #3

I had this blaster box sitting around the house for months.  I wish I had bought more of this product.  This has to be one of the best blaster boxes I've had for this product so far. 

Rookies:  Mitch Haniger, Kyle freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Luke Weaver, Yulieski Gurriel, and David Dahl.

Rookies: German Marquez, Jordan Montgomery, Amir Garrett, Jesse Winker, Matt Strahm, and Joe Jimenez.

 Freshman Flash: Orland Arcia.

Rookie Autograph: Reynaldo Lopez. (1:82 odds)

Negative: Craig Kimbrel.  (1:38 odds)

Sepia Parallels: Chris Owings, Ivan Nova, Joey Votto, and Matt Holliday.

Getting an autograph -- albeit a fairly worthless one -- was a nice surprise.  The negative card was a nice surprise as well.  It's a lot thicker than the regular base cards.  The big splash of color parallels and insert cards make this product fun to rip.  Tons of rookies in this blaster box, but still no Aaron Judge! 

2017 Topps Chrome Rack Pack #2

It's about time I finally opened this.  It was just sitting around the house for months.

Rookies: Jeff Hoffman, Gavin Checchini, Hunter Renfroe, Alex Reyes.  Pink Refractor: Alex Reyes.  Topps Chrome 30th Anniversary Rookie: Andrew Benintendi.

2017 Topps Chrome Blaster Box #2

I'm going to go broke buying Chrome Baseball.  The cards just feel so good in your hand.  Topps really does make very nice cards.

Rookies: Antonio Senzatela, Dansby Swanson, Kyle Freeland, Rob Zastryzny, Dan Vogelbach, Renato Nunez, Jorge Alfaro, Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo.

Sepia Parallels: Chris Sale, Kyle Seager, Jackie Bradley Jr., Zach Britton.

These inserts are really nice.  Future Stars: Corey Seager.  30th Anniversary: Kris Bryant.

30th Anniversary Rookie: David Dahl.  Rookies: Luke Weaver.  Prism Refractor Rookie: Dansby Swanson.  Freshman Flash Rookie: Alex Bregman.

2017 Topps Chrome Baseball Rack Pack #1

Every trip to Target means more baseball cards.  Helped myself to a 2017 Topps Chrome Baseball rack pack.

Of the 15 cards in the rack pack (four cards per three packs, plus one bonus pack of three pink parallels) I got 11 rookies.

Rookies: Mitch Hangier, Antonio Senzatela, Jordan Montgomery, Matt Strahm, Kyle Freeland, Amir Garrett, German Marquez.  Refractor Rookies: Jharel Cotton. Freshman Flash: Orlando Arcia.

Topps Chrome 30th Anniversary Rookie: Dansby Swanson.

Pink Refractors: Christian Yelich, Ian Desmond, Braden Shipley.

Great rack pack overall.  Still no Aaron Judge rookie card, which means I'll be buying more Chrome on my next visit to Target.

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Rack Pack #2

Another day, another 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter rack pack.  But this time, the cards inside weren't just your average every-day cards.

Holy smokes.  Nevermind the Rediscover Topps silver buyback of Dusty Baker.  I hit a Corey Seager autographed relic book card!  This is crazy.  I don't think I've ever hit anything this good out of retail, ever!  The odds of hitting this card is 1:1,629!  My jaw is on the floor!

I swear, retail screws you over like 99% of the time, but then every once in a blue moon it sucks you back in with insanity like this.  I still can't believe I hit this card.

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Rack Pack #1

The Aaron Judge hype is dying down a little bit.  Since the all star break he has not been hitting so well.  In fact, he broke Adam Dunn's record for most consecutive strikeouts in a game for non-pitchers.  Nevertheless, I can't stop chasing his rookie cards.

I picked up a rack pack and got a relic card Jackie Bradley Jr.  Pretty cool to get a hit from retail.  I think I would have rather hit an Aaron Judge rookie card instead.  I also got a Jake Thompson rookie card (not pictured).

2017 Bowman Platinum Baseball Rack Packs #6 and #7

I stopped by a Walmart while traveling looking for more 2017 Bowman Platinum Baseball.  I was not expecting to find anything, at all, but I did.  I was stunned to see this product still on the shelves since it's been so hot.  The Walmart I stopped at wasn't even in a remote location either.

Rookie Radar: Alex Bregman, David Dahl.  Bowman Rookie Card: Jake Thompson, Olrando Arcia.  Top Prospects: Franklin Barreto, Kolby Allard.

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Blaster Box #2

Picked up another blaster box of 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball.  It was a pretty bad box, except for one lone card... an Aaron Judge rookie card.

It's my first Aaron Judge Allen & Ginter rookie card.  Other rookies were Joe Musgrove, Josh Bell, and Mitch Haniger.

I'm glad I got the Aaron Judge rookie card, but paying $20 for it stings a little bit.

2017 Bowman Platinum Blaster Box #2

In my first blaster box of 2017 Bowman Platinum I got a crap ton of rookies.  Not so lucky in this box.  Although I got less, I did get a nice Aaron Judge and Yoan Moncada rookie though.

Bowman's Next Generation: Kyle Lewis.  Platinum Presence: Yoan Moncada.  Top Prospect Purple: Ian Happ.  Rookie Radar: Hunter Renfroe.  Bowman Rookie Card: Gavin Cecchini, Braden Shipley, Aaron Judge, and Yoan Moncada.

Blaster box exclusive ice parallels: Andrew Miller, Yoan Moncada, Brent Honeywell, and Amed Rosario.

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!

Fairfield Repack Box #1

I got suckered into buying one of those Fairfield repack boxes at Target.  I could see that one of the packs was a hobby pack of 2015 Topps Platinum Football.  For $15, I figured it would have more value than a regular retail box break due to the hobby pack.

Upon opening the box I was pretty disappointed.  Most of the packs in there were junk.  There was some old Notre Dame pack, junk Score packs, and a bunch of 2013 Upper Deck USA Football packs.

I basically was hoping to just get lucky and hit something in the one pack of Platinum since all the other packs were worthless.  I even contemplated throwing all the other packs away without even opening them.

My curiosity got the better of me and I decided to open up everything.  I started the weird Notre Dame pack of cards.  It was junk.

Then I picked up the 2013 Score Football retail packs.  One pack was thicker than the other.  I just figured it was one of those decoy cards.  To my surprise, there was actually a hit in there!

It was a Ryan Mathews Future Franchise Fabrics relic jersey card!  It even had a little pen mark on the fabric too.  Has Ryan Mathews become a franchise player?  Nope.

I then started to open up the rest of the junk packs.  I had no idea what these 2013 Upper Deck USA Football packs were.  They looked like high school or college cards.  Either way, I figure it to be more retail junk.  But then...

I hit this crazy triple autograph!  What?!  I was shocked.  My jaw hit the floor.  I've never pulled a triple autograph before.  This was nuts.  Even if it was a triple autograph from some off the wall set with some unknown players on it, this was still pretty cool!

The three players picture are Addison Olah, Chad Taylor, and Damian Halstead.  Apparently they were Canadian high school football players.  Now they're playing in college, but none of them appear to be at any top football schools so there is little hope that any of them will be NFL prospects.

For $15, this is one of the most surprising breaks I've ever had.  My expectations were practically zero, and I ended up getting way more than I bargained for.

Oh, and that 2015 Platinum Football hobby pack?  Yeah, got nothing.

2016-17 Panini Optic Basketball Rack Pack #6

Well, I think I did a good job turning $60 into $10.  $10 is probably about the value in cards I got from the last six hanger boxes.

Rookies: Malik Beasley, Kay Felder.  Rookie Holo: Ron Baker.  Rookie Kings Gold #/199: A.J. Hammons.

At first when I saw the gold card I got all excited thinking it was numbered to ten like in football... but it's numbered to 199.

2016-17 Panini Optic Basketball Rack Pack #5

No, wait.  This is a bad box.

Rookies: Jamal Murray, Sheldon McClellan.  Hall Kings Holo: Scottie Pippen.

Only two rookies, and one notable insert.  Definitely a bad box.

2016-17 Panini Optic Basketball Rack Pack #4

This looks like it was a bad box.

Rookie: Chinanu Onuaku, Henry Ellenson.  Rookie Holo: Taurean Prince.  Court Kings Holo: Dwayne Wade.

You'd think that the Dwayne Wade holo might be worth something, but it doesn't look like anybody is buying (or even selling) these inserts.

2016-17 Panini Optic Basketball Rack Pack #3

I can't really say much about how I'm fairing on these hanger boxes since I don't know the players, but the cards sure are nice.

Rookie Kings: Dario Saric.  Rookie Kings Purple: Thon Maker.  Rookies: Malachi Richardson, Alex Abrines, Dragan Bender.

All I gotta say is that these basketball players have badass names.  Dragan Bender?  That sounds like a medieval slang word for getting drunk.  And as for Thon Maker?  He should change his first name to "Shot."