Live Blogging a Jumbo Box Break

Finally getting around to opening the 2026 Topps Jumbo Hobby box that I bought last week. I've been waiting until now before doing my sorting to determine if between the random Target packs plus this Hobby box will get me to a complete set. Based on what I've seen so far, I am not confident. 

First things first though. What are we getting in these bonus packs? Obviously, they will be Chrome 1991 Topps cards. But of whom? And will there be parallels? An autograph? With my luck? Doubt it. But, these will be the start of the trade bait. So let's see what I get.

Pack 1:

• #91C-20 Otto Kemp, 3B, Philadelphia Phillies
• #91C-32 Ozzie Smith, SS, St. Louis Cardinals
• #91C-74 Colby Thomas, OF, Athletics
• #91C-36 C. J. Kayfus, 1B/OF Cleveland Guardians

Thoughts: Three rookies and a Hall of Famer. The best card in the pack? Smith should be it. But nothing against the Wizard, but I think that Topps 75 Promo card looks awesome.

Pack 2:

• #91-C45 Nathan Church, OF, St. Louis Cardinals
• #91-C33 Trea Turner, SS, Philadelphia Phillies
• #91-C55 Fernando Tatis Jr., OF, San Diego Padres
• #91-C41 Pedro Martinez, P, Boston Red Sox Purple #184/250

Thoughts: Wow. I did get a parallel. It's numbered, and it's of a Hall of Famer. I've just added the Pedro card to the TCDB. So...win?

Before I continue, again, I'm sorry. These aren't the best pictures. My phone's camera is cracked. 

Okay, now for the important part of the program. The 10 packs of 40 cards. Let's see how this goes.

(At this time, I'll be posting highlights of each pack. Inserts for sure, but any key cards will be mentioned as well).

Pack 1: Another Nick Kurtz 2025 All Topps Team card, a Cam Schlitter 1991, and this

2026 Topps 1991 Topps Pete Alonso Bat #91R-PA

Pack 2: Inserts include 1991 Topps Didier Fuentes and 2025 Greatest Hits Manny Machado. The last card in this pack was former Cub Willson Contreras. The last card in pack 1? Brother William Contreras.

Pack 3: Got the 1991 Topps Paul Skenes and 2025 Greatest Hits Jac Caglianone.

Pack 4: Now we're talking. Inserts include a 1991 Dylan Beavers and 2025 Greatest Hits Matt Chapman. But it's the parallel cards that make this pack the winner. 

First, we have a Topps Gold Gunnar Henderson:

2026 Topps Gold Gunnar Henderson #46, #1797/2026

Then a 1991 Topps Blue Border Ronald Acuña Jr #'d to 150

2026 Topps 1991 Blue Border Ronald Acuña Jr. #T91-84, #132/150

Then the Big one...the Big Dumper...in a Team Border:

2026 Topps Team Border Cal Raleigh #140

Pack 5: Inserts include a 1991 Topps Corbin Carroll and a Big Ticket Julio Rodriguez

Pack 6: Along with the Big Ticket Player Juan Soto card, included in this pack is a card of a player that I thought I'd never own a Topps card of. But thanks to Commissioner Manfred's decree that once a player passes away, the lifetime ban is lifted. 

2026 Topps 1991 Shoeless Joe Jackson #T91-27

Pack 7: Inserts include a 1991 Vladimir Guerrero (not Jr), and a Topps ProFiles Elly De La Cruz (which I would be excited about, but I already have this one...so this is going into the trade pile).

Pack 8: Inserts include a 1991 Mookie Betts and a Big Ticket Players Samuel Basallo. Okay, did Adley fall so far that this guy, who is an Orioles catcher, become the better catcher on the team? Did I hold on to that 2024 Auto/Relic card (patch) of Rutschman too long?

Pack 9: Four of the seven All-Star Rookie Team players who are in S1 were in this pack (Jacob Wilson, Roman Anthony, Augustín Ramírez, and Isaac Collins). Inserts included the 1991 Frank Thomas, an Alysha Newman First Pitch card (Alysha Newman is a Canadian Pole Vaulter who earned the Bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics), and an autograph card of Nathan Church

2026 Topps Real One Autograph Nathan Church #24

Pack 10: Inserts included a 1991 Jose Altuve and ProFiles Bobby Witt Jr.

Overall, a pretty average box. I did get the guaranteed auto and relic card. Nothing screaming massive hit, but that's what normally happens with boxes I open. 

So today, we learned that the basic insert sets that will count for the S1 Master set will be:

• 1991 Topps
• 2025 All-Topps Team
• 2025 Greatest Hits
• Big Ticket Players
• First Pitch
• Titans of the Game
• Topps Profiles
• Stars of MLB

The Cover Athletes insert set, which I would have hoped would be a regular insert set, appears to be in the Homefield Advantage, Heavy Lumber, All Kings, and All Aces set. That's disappointing. It's looked to be a unique and quirky insert set that should have been easy to find. But this box had none. Oh well...

Now comes the sorting and figuring out what base cards I am going to need to complete the base set. I'm hoping the damage is minimal. I'll post an update once I get the cards sorted.

The 2026 edition of Topps Rip Night is this Saturday, February 21. I am hoping to get to one of the card shops in the area (most likely in Buffalo Grove) to see if I can find people to trade with (that's supposedly one of the things that happens at these events) before making plans for the Chicago Sports Spectacular in March. 

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

I Have Series 2 Cards...Finally!!!

And I was feeling left out...

With everybody in the Hobby Blogosphere showing off what they got from Topps Series 2, I've been feeling left out. Sure, I had my nine packs of Target retail, and I already have six of the seventeen SP's, but I still felt like I had nothing to contribute...

Until now.

I now have one full jumbo box, four regular packs, and six 36-card packs to open this weekend. The results will be coming later this week. I can tell you now that I can now say that one of my packs resulted in an SP...but thanks to my luck, I already have it. I'll explain it all when the box break/pack break posts come.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Enjoying the Darkness on These 2009 Topps Cards

So I did get to go to WalMart today and I did buy a blaster box after hearing the news of these black parallel cards. Sure enough, all 10 packs I opened had these black pictured cards in them, with only the player showing through the darkness.

I actually am beginning to like these cards. This, as some black stuff is starting to ball up and go up my arm like an alien symbiote...

They really don't look that bad. Just akin to 1995 Topps Cyberstats without that foil appearance. And because of the black borders, they are susceptible to chipping (just like 2007 Topps). I really think that these are similar to those unannounced parallels from the past two years (remember the red backs from 2007 and those gold foils in 2008). Which, if packed out properly, wouldn't be all that bad.

So what happened here? Did the vendor assigned to pack out these cards mess up? Did all Wal-Mart blasters for series I come from the same place? Will this be happening with series 2? Will these things show up at Target then? What's going on over there?

On the Stale Gum blog, the person who runs Trading Cards, TCG's and Me, the card blog from the distributor's point of view, left a comment stating that he will be able to "give a complete rundown on this" development. I'm looking forward to what he has to say.

Anyway, I'm going to keep the cards for now. I'm not planning on building a set of these...I just wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

P.S. In case you're wondering, the bonus relic card that I got was of Nolan Ryan and the patch commemorating the 1969 World Series.


Sorry, someone has already claimed the card for trading. jba

2009 Topps Series I Jumbo Box Break

It's been two weeks since I bought this thing and I've finally gotten around to breaking it open. Needless to say, I got my complete set, 50 insert cards, and 6 "hits."

I'm not going to spare you the details on the cards as by now you've already seen them. Unfortunately, I did not get an SP card (and remember, the Mantle card IS NOT A SHORT-PRINT!!!), nor a WBC redemption. But while the box guaranteed two relics and an autograph, I got my two relics, and TWO autographs. Here are the results:

Ten ToppsGold Cards:

• Rafael Furcal
• Fredi Gonzalez
• Vladimir Guerrero
• John Baker
• Andrew Miller (sorry Mario, it's spoken for...unless you got it already)
• Erik Bedard
• Ryan Church
• Jeff Francoeur (sorry dayf, it's spoken for...I'll explain why in a minute)
• Roy Halladay
• Scott Rolen

Two Blue Jays, Three Marlins, and Vladi. How cool is that. Unfortunately, all are spoken for. Why? Because someone traded me five WalMart Dick Perez cards last year, and asked for ToppsGold cards. I promised him all my Gold cards that I get. So along with a Ryan Sweeney and a Manny Delcarmen gold card that I got from the 28 packs, this gentleman is getting what you see above. Now unless someone can quickly e-mail me and can cough up the WalMart Lance Berkman card I need...

Ten Ring of Honor Cards:

• Dwight Gooden (1986 Mets)
• Ivan Rodriguez (2003 Marlins)
• Darryl Strawbery (1999 Yankees)
• David Ortiz (2007 Red Sox)
• Ryan Howard (2008 Phillies)
• Orlando Cepeda (1967 Cardinals)
• Andy Pettitte (2000 Yankees)
• David Justice (2000 Yankees)
• Gary Carter (1986 Mets...foil missing on top half of name)
• Jim Leyland (1997 Marlins)

Not bad. Now remember, all the ROH cards in series one are odd. Why? Because the even cards will be the in-store promotion this year.

Ten Legends of the Game Cards:

• Christy Mathewson
• Walter Johnson
• Babe Ruth
• Mel Ott
• Jackie Robinson
• Roy Campanella (twice)
• Bob Gibson
• Nolan Ryan (and you won't believe what also came in the pack this card came from)
• Cal Ripken, Jr (see Nolan Ryan)

These look really nice. Now it makes me want to go after the cards from both Walmart AND Target. And I thought that Topps was cutting me a break here.

Ten Turkey Red Cards:

• Ian Kinsler
• Andre Ethier
• Ryan Ludwick
• David Ortiz
• Jose Lopez
• Garrett Atkins (twice)
• Aubrey Huff
• Cole Hamels
• Geovany Soto

Most of these are reserved for a guy who may be trading two of the SP's. Stay tuned.

Ten ToppsTown Cards:

• Chipper Jones
• Hanley Ramirez
• Evan Longoria
• Ryan Howard
• Alex Gordon
• Lance Berkman (gold)
• Ryan Howard (gold)
• Alex Gordon (gold)
• Johan Santana (gold)
• Hanley Ramirez (gold)

Not bad. So that means, with one ToppsTown Gold card from the 26 packs, I have six gold cards to split between my two kids and me. All codes are going to be used.

Okay...I've bored you to death with the inserts. Here are the "hits":

One Silk Card:

Johnny Cueto
One Topps Black Card:

Randy Johnson
Two Autograph Cards:

Curtis Granderson
I can only imagine that this card is going to somebody as a prize...he's still thinking about it though...)

Eddie Kunz
Mets prospect. Don't know who this is...

And...finally...

Sorry, it's time for Wheel of Fortune. Hold on...

Pat: Okay, Brenda, you're up.

(Brenda spins the wheel. Stops at 1,000 triangle.)

Pat: One thousand.

Brenda: I'd like an N please...

(The board lights up two squares. Sound effect "ding" two times. Vanna walks across boards, touching button to reveal...


Pat: That's two N's Brenda...and two thousand dollars. Would you like to solve the puzzle???

Okay, that's enough Wheel. The two relics were manufactured patch cards of Cal Ripken Jr, and Nolan Ryan. The funny thing was that each card appeared in the same pack as it's Legends of the Game card. What are the odds???

Well that's all for tonight. I have to e-mail a few people this evening. I'm not buying any more cards for now. But at least I came up with something good. If anybody wants any of the above cards, let me know.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Just Happy to Be on the List...Thanks Fielder's Choice

So here I am, working on this humble little blog, realizing that I am still way low on the totem pole of popularity/readership/viewership/whatever you want to call it, when out of the blue I get an e-mail from Dave at Fielder's Choice. The title of the e-mail simply stated:

You've been entered into a FREE group break at Fielder's Choice!‏

Curious, I click on the link. He indicates that he's hitting a few huge milestones for him:

• 6 months since starting the blog
• 25,000 hits (already past 26,000)
• 200 posts

Inspired by a box breaker on YouTube, and because it's the season to be giving, he purchased a tin (warning) of 2007...wait for it...Upper Deck Sweet Spot. His plan, to give the cards in the tin to those on the net who've made his blogging experience fun. He invited 30 bloggers, box breakers, etc, threw their names into a hat (okay, some kind of randomizer thingy), matched them with teams (well, based on what team they preferred, I didn't respond), and posted everything on his site.

Looking at the names on the list of people he invited, it's like an all-star list of bloggers. It seems that all the heavy hitters (pardon the pun...couldn't resist) were invited. And there I am, second to last on the list. If this was an all-star team, I'd be the token Pirates or Nationals player...the "just happy to be here" guy (not that there is anything wrong with it...I'm truly grateful!!!). I commented that I was happy that he thought of me and congratulated him on the milestones.

After the dust settled, I wound up with the Brewers. Meaning that if there were any Brewers cards in that tin, they'd be mine. Now, it's an Upper Deck product, so obviously, I have no idea who's in it. So after going to the number one source of the hobby, I learned that there are four Brewers cards in the set:

• Ben Sheets #12
• Bill Hall #13
• Prince Fielder #82
• Rickie Weeks #84

Each card is numbered to 850, meaning that this set is not for the normal set collector (unless you have unlimited funds, and a whole lot of patience at shows and online). There didn't seem to be any relics or inserts involving Brewers players, but I'm not picky, anything will work for me.

To all in the pot, I wish you all good luck. I hope you get what you want if you get anything. To Dave, congratulations again. Thanks for making the blogging experience fun for me. And again, thanks for thinking of me.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

One 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights Hobby Box Yielded...

Two weeks after finally getting around to sorting the stuff from the Jumbo box of 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights am I finally able to report on what came out of the regular hobby box (36 packs) of same product.

I didn't get a full set of 330, but was impressed with the collation as I did not get any duplicates in this box. The details are as follows:

• 313 base cards (again, no duplicates)
• 18 Gold Foil Cards
• 1 Chrome Refractor (Chris Volstad, third year in a row I get a Marlins player for a Chrome Refractor box topper)
• 1 All-Star Game Relic (Chase Utley)
• 7 Topps Gold Cards (Kevin Cash, Andy Phillips, Cancel, DWright AS, Barajas, Aaron Boone, Griffey White Sox card, the card is gone though...someone is getting it in trade)
• 6 First Couples (Harrison, Tyler, Polk, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower)
• 4 WBC cards (J Reyes, Peavy, A Jones, J Santana...all extras because I pulled them in the Jumbo box)
• 2 Ring of Honor cards (Justice and Knight...again)
• 2 Mets Ring of Honor cards (Howard Johnson and Strawberry...again)
• 6 Year in Review (Micah Owings, Alex Gordon, Polanco, Cameron, Damon, Carlos Zambrano)

Now that everything is accounted for, let the trading begin!!!

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

One 2009 Topps Updates and Highlights Jumbo Box Yielded...

It's been busy at work and at home, so even though we opened both boxes of 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights almost two weeks ago, I have not had a chance to sort out the cards until now.

The good news is that one jumbo boxes did give me a full set of 330 cards. Here is the rest of the damage:

• 78 duplicates
• 31 Gold Foil Cards
• 1 Chrome Refractor (Max Ramirez, Rangers)
• 2 All-Star Game Relics (Ryan Dempster, Alfonso Soriano)
• 1 Autograph (Steve Holm, Giants)
• 1 Stamp (Washington & Lee 10/90)
• 1 Black Gold card (Jeremy Sowers, Indians)
• 1 Take Me Out to the Ballgame
• 10 Topps Gold cards (Luke Scott, Ambres, Affeldt, Hurley, Marte, Marmol, Littleton, Pavano, Ryan Tucker, Bixler)
• 10 First Couples (Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Johnson, Bush, Clinton, W. Bush)
• 10 WBC cards (Iwamura, Utley, J Reyes, Peavy, Paul Bell, Catalanotto, Varitek, A Jones, J Santana, Carlos Lee)
• 5 Ring of Honor (Cone (without the 'e'), Justice, Cepeda, Sutter, Knight)
• 5 Mets Ring of Honor (Gooden, Strawberry, Carter, Orosco, Darling)
• 10 Year in Review (Thomas, Teixeira, A Gonzalez, Varitek, Maddux, Granderson, Lackey, David Price, Cabrera, Maybin)

Needless to say I'm thrilled that I was able to get a full 330 card set from the jumbo box. All items above I will use for trade bait in my quest to get the three retail exclusive sets (WalMart, Target, KMart).

I'm still going to sort through the cards from the regular box that my kids and I opened. I hope it doesn't take me another two weeks to do so though.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

That Went a Lot Faster Than I Thought

With my daughter (and then my son) helping to rip open packs (making sure she doesn't bang them on the table like they were a deck of playing cards), all 46 packs of Topps U & H are now open.

We are still sorting out the damage, but I can tell you that we did get the guaranteed 2 relics and 1 autograph card in the jumbo box. I'm so glad I'm a Cubs fan because my relic cards were of Ryan Dempster and Alfonso Soriano. The regular box yielded a Chase Utley relic. And for the record, my autograph card was of Steve Holm of the Giants. I even got a Stamp card (Washington and Lee University).

My kids are dividing up the Topps Town cards between the three of us (they each get a gold card), and will be taking over the computer shortly. Got to go.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama