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!

2017 Topps Allen & Ginter Hobby Box Break #1

I hardly ever, and I mean ever, buy baseball.  But apparently there is some guy named Aaron Judge who plays for the Yankees who is pretty good.  He's brought madness to the baseball card collecting world so I thought I'd try my hand at a hobby box of 2017 Topps Allen & Ginter.  I pre-ordered it from Blowout Cards for $100 plus shipping.

My three hits were a Miguel Cabrera relic, a Gary Stevens relic, and a mini autographed black frame parallel of Kenta Maeda who is a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  When I first saw that I had a redemption in one of my packs, I thought I might have hit an Aaron Judge autograph since his cards are redemptions, but I wasn't quite that lucky.  I should still feel pretty good about hitting an autograph card at all since most hobby boxes only have three relics.

Overall, it was a fun rip.  I didn't get an Aaron Judge rookie card either!  Dare I try my luck again on another hobby box?  Prices have already gone up another $25 since I ordered this hobby box.

Topps Replacements for 2014 Five Star Marshawn Lynch Redemptions

I had two outstanding redemptions for 2014 Topps Five Star Marshawn Lynch which have been outstanding for years -- almost three years now.  At this point, it's quite clear that the cards will never be signed.  Panini has the exclusive license to produce NFL cards.  Topps has given up fulfilling outstanding football redemptions as a result.  This isn't something that they've publicly admitted but it's been reported on the Blowout Cards Forums by a few individuals who have spoken with Topps representatives.

I really wish that these cards would be made, so it sucked to finally give up and ask for a replacement.  If I didn't ask for a replacement now, the pool of possible replacement cards would get worse and worse as time went on as more people asked for replacements.

I honestly was not expecting anything good because I've read so many horror stories about Topps replacements since Panini has taken over the NFL licensing rights.

But to my absolute surprise, I got some decent cards!  I got a Matt Jones 2015 Topps rookie autograph, a 2015 Topps Fire Melvin Gordon autograph patch rookie card #/50, a 2014 Topps Finest Brandin Cooks patch autograph gold parallel #/50, a 2014 Topps Finest Jimmy Garoppolo autograph patch rookie card, and a 2015 Topps Chrome Marcus Murphy rookie autograph!

Obviously, the Brandin Cooks and Jimmy Garoppolo cards are the real jewels of this replacement pack.

I can't say that I'm disappointed.  Of course I would have wanted my Marshawn Lynch autographs, but getting two top notch 2014 rookies out of Finest is solid!

I think Topps did me good on these replacements.

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 Panini Classics Football Box Break #2

I finally got around to opening up that second box of 2016 Panini Classics Football that I had ordered from Blowout Cards like six months ago.

The hits were a Larry Fitzgerald relic card, and a Tyler Ervin autograph.  Blah.  I do like the relic cards.  They have a simple but nice design, and the relics are game-worn.

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.