There’s no better omen for a good baseball season than a good Topps flagship set. That’s what the 2017 version of Topps delivers.
A year after having a design that I wasn’t too crazy about (it cut off way too much of the photo), Topps let them breathe this year. So I’ve decided to buy three blaster boxes at various times — along with my usual spate of packs from Target and Wal-Mart — and share the results.
Get all of your 2017 Topps baseball cards here.
I’ll share the hits later, but first a few notes on my favorite base.
One of the first base cards to strike my eye was the Craig Kimbrel. There’s nothing too special about the photo itself, but the story behind it is special to me. Take a look at it:
Based on my detective work, I can tell that the photo was taken when the Red Sox played in Detroit. My initial reaction was that I at that game, and it looks like my quick research confirms that. The Red Sox played a four-game series at Detroit — Kimbrel didn’t pitch in the first two games, and the final game was a day game. That left only the Saturday night game as the only one Kimbrel appeared in. That’s the one I attended, and waited through two hour-plus rain delays.
Related: My photo review of my trip to Comerica Park
Overall, there’s nothing special about the photo (although it does feature his distinctive bend) but it’s always cool to see a card featuring a game you attended. The only other one I can think of that features a photo from a game I attended was the 2012 Topps Juan Nicasio card.
But on a larger sense, I’ve been very impressed with the photo selection in 2017 Topps. I might get more into it if I do a more detailed review of the set, but let me just say it’s been great. A lot of great action shots, especially among outfielders making catches (like this Jacoby Ellsbury card). Combine that with a cool border, and that’s the perfect elements for a great set.
Now onto the hits. Let’s start with the guaranteed Jackie Robinson Logo Patch card. It’s one per blaster box, and 50 different patches. Here’s the best one I got — the Carlos Correa.
I also pulled a Sonny Gray and Nolan Arenado ones. Overall, not a bad trio, but still kind of disappointing when they carry the box.
On the base parallel front, it’s worked out to about one gold and one silver foil per blaster box. There was also one Rediscover Topps buyback in the three-box lot, a silver 1993 Kevin Brown.
First Pitch also makes a return, as you can see in the first of the two above photos. It’s about one or two per blaster box for me, and some of the people featured I had never heard of. But it was cool to pull the Stephen Colbert — love that guy.
Topps also has a different type of Rediscover Topps, as you can see by that George Brett 1975 in the photo above. Sadly, it’s not an original. It’s just a reprint on the front and features an ad for Topps on the back. It’s about one per blaster.
Related: 2001 Topps Series 1 hobby box break
The heaviest insert is definitely the Salute/Jackie Robinson Day cards. Take a look at the ones I pulled from three boxes. You can see how much they are featured.
That’s 23 of these in three boxes, or just a shade under 8 per box. With such a large set, it will take you a while to build it all.
The other prominently featured set is the MLB Awards. It features everything from Rookie of the Year to MVP to Gold Glove winners, and even Comeback Player of the Year. Of course, the NL version features Jose Fernandez, who I had forgotten had died.
Other assorted inserts included Bowman Then and Now (2 out of 3 boxes had one), a look at MLB Network personalities (1 out of 3), and 5 Tools (2 out of 3). My favorite was definitely the 5 Tool, especially pulling an Andrew McCutchen (since I’m a Pirates fan).
But of course, the biggest draw insert-wise is the 1987 Design. Prices have started out pretty high for them (compared to your average insert) I’m guessing because of the popularity of that set. Based on my experience, you’ll get two or three per blaster box meaning you have to go through a ton of boxes to get the full 100-card set.
Overall, these boxes were OK, nothing too special. There weren’t any short prints among the base set, and still wasn’t able to complete the 350-card base set. That makes sense since there were 10 packs of 10 cards in the box, and most of them featured two inserts. Let’s say you average about 85 base cards per blaster box (since not all packs have two inserts), so it would take at least five boxes to get the full set, assuming you don’t get too many duplicates. So maybe a hobby box and a blaster would be a better bet.
But hey, for $20, this is a pretty good buy for the base alone.
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