3 packs of 2014 Topps Chrome Baseball for the heck of it.

I'm back and I figured why not try to get a post in before the month is over. I hate having that empty spot in my post history you know.

I ended up stopping in at Don's Sportcards to see what treasures he had dug up.  He's currently helping sell off a big collection from a guy who use to own a card shop.  Most of the stuff is from the late to mid 90's, but there always seem to be a few treasures buried in the stacks.  But this isn't a post of what I found. I'm saving those for later.  

 While there I did pick up 3 packs of  the new Topps Chrome Baseball.  Chrome is one of those products you either really love or not.  I'm probably in the not category. Don't get me wrong the cards look cool, but all the set really is is a paired down shiny version of the flagship. At least Topps doesn't insert Chrome cards in it's flagship product and then put out a whole separate chrome product like it does with Bowman.  But that's a rant for another time. Lets see what I got.

Pack 1 was pretty uneventful. Except for the Puig.

 Pack 2 had a little more variety with the addition of the Paxton refractor and a former Brewers outfielder.

 But Pack 3 surprised me with something even better. Sure there was a Mauer, Castro and D'Arnaud, but also ....

  I've never heard of Onelki Garcia, but it is an on card autograph card and a blue parallel numbered to 199 too boot.

Over all not to shabby when I pull one of the two autos per box.  Still not my cup of tea, but always worth a few packs.  Everything is up for trade. 

That's not a box, that's a MEGA BOX!

Oh Topps, you've done it again.  And by again I mean put another nail in the coffin of the local card shop.  Topps has been putting out a lot of online only and retail only exclusives lately.  The Topps Update Mega Box is just another in the line.  This is the only way you can get your hands on Topps Update Chrome cards. It's a shame because I think a Chrome version of update would have worked this year, especially with that Puig guy being in it. Although I can understand the reason behind it. One you don't want to put a product like Chrome out right on top of your base product. And you really can't wait to put it out much longer because the baseball season is done and lets be honest most collectors have moved on to their winter sports, if they collect those.  But how cool would it have been to have a pack or two of this been inserted into hobby boxes as a box topper.  I remember not too long ago Update had rookie refractor box toppers.

I just think cutting out the hobby shop on stuff like this is a bad idea.  And I assume that hobby shop sales still contribute a significant portion to Topps profits.

Will say this, the Chrome cards are nice and flat. That's the first thing I noticed was the absence of that characteristic arch we've come to know and hate about the chrome cards. The checklist is small. The set only has 55 base cards. Sets have been going for about 80 bucks on ebay. All have the MB prefix, which I assume is for the Mega Box.  There are also  Chrome Postseason Heroes inserts, Chrome relic cards and relic autos.  And of course there are the refractors.  I think Topps missed an opportunity not including chromed out mini inserts, but this isn't a full blown release.

Over all I was pretty happy with my two packs.

In the first pack all my cards were rookies and a Postseason Heroes insert. My second pack had a nice surprise as well.

I also ended up pulling a Puig rookie from my 5 regular packs