Come to me

 

I put the two Target gift cards I received for my birthday to good use. It's always fun to try out some new card content once in awhile. I'll never go cold turkey on that stuff.

I ordered these online, which was a pain (Target tried to withdraw from my bank account despite clearly accepting my gift cards), and I blame that mostly on the card hoarders. People try to say that "things are back to normal" in the card world with cards "back on the shelf." But those are still nonexistent at the Walmarts near me and extremely hit-and-miss at the Targets. Hoarders and Topps' inability to distribute cards at multiple locations, which it did for the entirety of my collecting from 1975-94, are to blame for this continued bullshit.

 

But the card boxes happily arrived on a Sunday, of all days, and it was fun to open them. Both are items I would never buy with my hard-earned cash, but they're fun to look through with someone else's!

 

I'm going to show the 2021 Chrome Platinum this time around. Maybe I'll show the Series 2 box another time, we'll see.

 

 

I've been intrigued by this delayed product ever since I saw singles from it pop up on ebay. I didn't even know it existed until that point. I'm also fascinated by the fact that this set should annoy me, but it doesn't. Despite it being absolutely enormous (700 cards), packed with an obnoxious number of rookies I've never heard of, and every card printed on the beyond-tired 1952 design, I think the cards are quite sharp. I don't know if I can even explain why I like it.

 

Let's see if you agree:

Pack 1

#340 - Danny Mendick, White Sox

#517 - Jeff Bagwell, Astros

#331 - Brandon Crawford, Giants

#81 - Ryan Weathers, Padres (prism gold)

I don't buy current blasters much anymore but anytime I do, all the annoying things about them come rushing back. Pulling Giants. Pulling White Sox and Padres. Both this box and the Series 2 box were teaming with White Sox and Padres, which do me absolutely no good. But again, not my money.

 

 

Pack 2

 

#100 - Seth Romero, Nationals

#414 - Ender Inciarte, Braves

#116 - Michael Kopech, White Sox

#56 - Taylor Jones, Astros, prism refractor

Probably the low point of the break. Eight cards to this point and absolutely nothing I am interested in. But it'll pick up a little.

 

A pack like this is a good time to show the card back.

 

That's the familiar '52 back (red back, not black back) with a limited year-by-year list of stats, which Topps didn't have to do because all Topps listed in 1952 was the previous year and lifetime stats. Also, these cards swap out the bio writing from '52 with a couple of bullet-point highlights.

Pack 3

#323 - Randy Arozarena, Rays

#336 - Rougned Odor, Rangers

#227 - Nelson Cruz, Twins

#376 - Chance Sisco, Orioles, blue prism refractor

The blue prisms would look nice with Dodgers, I suspect. (probably for Mets, Cubs, Jays and Royals, too).

Pack 4

#459 - Carlos Martinez, Cardinals

#617 - Ernie Banks, Cubs

#471 - Luis Urias, Brewers

#PA-TM - Triston McKenzie, Indians, on-card auto

 

The base autos in this product are snazzy and they're not too difficult to pull at one per 57 packs. Probably explains why these are $50 per 36 cards.

Pack 5

#200 - Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays

#692 - Andres Galarraga, Rockies

#605 - Tony Gwynn, Padres

#500 - Derek Lee, Cubs, prism refractor

Here we go. The first thing that caught my eye with this product were the players from the '80s and prior. I love 'em. The '90s guys don't do much for me, but 😍😍😍 that Gwynn and anyone around that time or before.

Pack 6

#499 - Reggie Jackson, Yankees

#510 - Tom Glavine, Braves

#106 - Jimmy Lambert, White Sox

#464 - Brendan McKay, Rays

See how the packs perk up with guys like Reggie and Glavine? OK, the second two really bring things back to earth, but I could stare at that Jackson for awhile. I just hope the background is actually real.

Pack 7

#436 - Dinelson Lamet, Padres

#10 - Clarke Schmidt, Yankees

#297 - Jake Arrieta, Cubs

#530 - Edgar Martinez, Mariners, red atomic refractor 88/100

Martinez came out of the pack staring squarely at me. I get the feeling this was the rarest card in the box. I shouldn't complain about a Hall of Famer, but it could've been 100 other guys and I'd have been happier.

Pack 8

#315 - Wil Myers, Padres

#456 - Nick Senzel, Reds

#526 - Juan Marichal, Giants

#658- Jack Morris, Tigers, prism refractor

That Marichal is fairly phenomenal. Put that next to some of the rookie cards in that set and those cards should, by all rights, melt. I'll never get over seeing titans like Marichal in the same product with some rookie who will be lucky to post a 5.00 ERA over 17 starts in the majors.

Pack 9

#599 - Garret Anderson, Angels

#610 - Jackie Robinson, Dodgers

#453 - Ian Kennedy, Rangers

#76 - Rafael Marchan, Phillies

Wooo! A Dodger in the final pack! Finally! And a good one!

It's been a long time since I've been attracted to a chrome product like I am with this one. There's no way I'll even think about attempting to complete it. Too large, too many rookies and I have a feeling collation is crap.

But for zero dollars, hell, it's quite a buy.

It feels good to do a modern box break on the blog again. Maybe when Allen & Ginter shows up, I'll do one again.

That's one set that has a chance on the shelves when it comes to the hoarders.