{"id":6208,"date":"2020-07-27T09:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T09:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/2020\/07\/27\/inside-the-pack-2020-topps-series-2-retail-blaster-box-review\/"},"modified":"2021-03-08T12:18:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T12:18:33","slug":"inside-the-pack-2020-topps-series-2-retail-blaster-box-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/inside-the-pack-2020-topps-series-2-retail-blaster-box-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Pack: 2020 Topps Series 2 Retail Blaster Box Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to Topps flagship products, I\u2019m usually not a big Series 2 guy. Series 1 is always a no-brainer because it\u2019s the first big release of the year, and Update is usually an easy one to talk myself into because of all of the rookie cards that make their way into the product. Series 2 usually finds itself without an identity for me \u2014 not enough rookies, not enough excitement.<\/p>\n

This year, however, I decided to open some, because I don\u2019t anticipate Update having many rookie cards due to the late-starting baseball season. Like I did with Bowman this year<\/a>, I went the retail route, opting for tougher odds on big hits in exchange for the lower price point and more packs to open.<\/p>\n

I pre-ordered 7 blaster boxes from Walmart and received them about a week after release date. Blaster boxes, as usual, come with a \u201cmanufactured relic.\u201d Typically this is a heavy metallic logo or something, and I generally don\u2019t care very much for them. This Series 2\u2019s relic, however, is pretty cool. Called a \u201cplayer medallion,\u201d the card contains a heavy coin-like object embedded in the card, with the player\u2019s headshot emblazoned in full color on it. This was one of the first manufactured relics I recall actually liking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The lack of exciting rookie cards in Series 2 holds true, with one big exception: Luis Robert. The White Sox phenom has his first regular issue flagship card in this product, and with cards selling for between $15 and $20, hitting one essentially covers the cost of the box. I got 3 across my 7 boxes.<\/p>\n

As has become standard for Series 2 in particular, photo variation shortprints abound. I didn\u2019t receive any super shortprints, but I did pull SPs of Elvis Andrus, Blake Snell, and Trey Mancini, as well as a legends card of Gary Carter. Other parallels I received were quite limited \u2014 I got a Throwback variation of Jose Trevino #\/99, and an Advanced Stat back of Clint Frazier #\/300.\"\"<\/p>\n

Inserts in this product aren\u2019t very exciting. The best of the bunch is a continuation of the Decades Best insert set that began in Series 1, which I noted was one of my favorite sets in a long time. The other major insert set is a Turkey Red-style card and its Chrome parallel partners. These were very common and have a huge checklist, which leads me to wonder why Topps didn\u2019t just make a stand-alone Turkey Red product. The Chromes are nice, but Turkey Red is a design that Topps has been trotting out over and over again over the past decade and a half. There are other really great and exciting tobacco-era sets to base card designs after!<\/p>\n

Walmart blasters also have an exclusive unannounced insert set featuring Pete Alonso. For some reason that\u2019s beyond me, this insert set is called \u201cEmpire State Award Winners.\u201d Beyond being a mouthful, it seems strange to call it \u201cEmpire State\u201d as if Topps didn\u2019t have the right to use the name of the state \u201cNew York.\u201d And the plural \u201cWinners\u201d made me think there were other players included in the set, until I discovered that all my cards were of Alonso. As a University of Florida alumnus myself who watched Alonso play for my favorite college baseball team, getting a bunch of cards of the Polar Bear didn\u2019t bother me in the least. These cards also have blue (unnumbered) and black (#\/299) parallels, which are tough to differentiate from the standard cards because of the already dark color scheme.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m likely to go back to skipping Series 2 next year, but this year\u2019s product served my needs well. I opened a bunch of cards at a low price point, got some rookies, and really enjoyed the manufactured relics. I do suggest picking up a medallion relic of your favorite player because they\u2019re really attractive. And I can\u2019t recommend a Luis Robert rookie card enough \u2014 he\u2019s going to be a stud!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to Topps flagship products, I\u2019m usually not a big Series 2 guy. Series 1 is always a no-brainer because it\u2019s the first big release of the year, and Update is usually an easy one to talk myself into because of all of the rookie cards that make their way into the product. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"amp_validity":null,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6479,"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6208\/revisions\/6479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mojobro.com\/bigleaguecards\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}