Opening Day is here baseball fans! After the longest and weirdest offseason ever, we final have baseball that counts back on the field. The 60-game sprint to the Playoffs begins today and sports fans are getting the content they’ve been craving since March.
Topps Opening Day has gained some popularity this week with the explosion in the price of Luis Robert cards. He has a limited SP (Short Print) card in the set that has been selling in the $50-75 range this week on eBay. The Opening Day set is Topps kid-friendly brand, designed with a low cost and fun inserts like Mascot cards, Team Traditions & Celebrations, and the Opening Day cards that celebrate last year’s Opening Day festivities.
The cards have the look and feel of Topps Series 1, however they have the Opening Day logo in the bottom left-hand corner. The Target Mega Box has 16 packs per box and 7 cards come in each pack and costs $14.99. There’s also a 7 card bonus pack of Red Parallels.
Here’s a look at the highlights of our box:
Pack 1:
Opening Day New York Yankees, Jesús Luzardo Rookie, Gerrit Cole, Eric Hosmer, Mookie Betts, Nolan Arenado, Mike Yastrzemski.
Pack 2:
Opening Day Cincinnati Reds, Jordan Yamamoto, Ronald Acuña Jr, Eduardo Rodriguez, Dansby Swanson, José Berríos, Giancarlo Stanton.
Pack 3:
Will Smith Rookie Cup, Trea Turner, Carlos Santana, Jeff McNeil, Matt Olson, Manny Machado.
Pack 4:
Mookie Betts Sticker Collection Preview, Vladimir Guerrero Jr Rookie Cup, Gavin Lux Rookie, Hunter Dozier, Brandon Woodruff, Trey Mancini, Francisco Lindor.
Pack 5:
Mark McGwire Spring Has Sprung, Josh Hader, Masahiro Tanaka, David Dahl, Jonathan Villar, Jorge Alfaro, Nelson Cruz.
Pack 6:
Hanser Alberto Opening Day Edition, Paws Mascot Card, Pete Alonso Rookie Cup, JD Davis, Aaron Nola, Dakota Hudson, Matt Chapman.
Pack 7:
Kansas City Royal Opening Day, Victor Robles Rookie Cup, Keston Hiura Rookie Cup, Michel Báez Rookie, Ryan Braun, José Ramírez, Gregory Polanco.
Pack 8:
Los Angeles Dodgers Opening Day, Albert Pujols, Kenya Maeda, Scott Kingery, Kyle Seaver, Starlin Castro.
Pack 9:
Miami Marlins Opening Day, Kyle Lewis Rookie, Adbert Alzolay Rookie, Joc Pederson, Carlos Correa, Michael Brantley, Gary Sánchez.
Pack 10:
Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day, Zac Gallen Rookie, Brendan McKay Rookie, Tim Anderson, Gleyber Torres, Tommy Pham, Javier Báez.
Pack 11:
Paws Mascot Card, Nick Solak Rookie, Bryce Harper, Ketel Marte, Ken Giles, Austin Meadows, Whit Merrifield.
Pack 12:
Minnesota Twins Opening Day, Paul Goldschmidt, Andrew Benintendi, Kenley Jansen, Mike Moustakas, Ozzie Albies, DJ LeMahieu.
Pack 13:
Ted Williams Spring Has Sprung, Yuli Gurriel, Anthony Rizzo, Liam Hendriks, Willson Contreras, Michael Conforto, Walker Buehler.
Pack 14:
Chicago Cubs Team Traditions and Celebrations, Shohei Ohtani, Sean Murphy Rookie, Orlando Arcia, Josh Bell, Marcus Stroman, Kirby Yates.
Pack 15:
Bo Bichette Sticker Collection Preview, Andrés Muñoz Rookie, Max Fried, Amed Rosario, Merrill Kelly, Luis Arráez, Charlie Morton.
Pack 16:
Swinging Friar Mascot Card, Jean Segura, Dee Gordon, Joey Lucchesi, Eddie Rosario, Marcus Semien, Justin Turner.
Red Parallel Bonus Pack:
Orlando Arcia, Max Fried, Amed Rosario, Merrill Kelly, Jorge Alfaro, Nelson Cruz, Dakota Hudson.
Grade: B-
Grading this box is tough. The product doesn’t have a lot of frills for serious collectors. The addition of the SP Luis Robert Rookie card did add a chase element to the product. Also, this year the product featured some announcer and broadcasters autographs randomly inserted. I’ve always had a soft spot for those broadcasters who become a part of the way we enough the game now.
With that said, the cards don’t have a ton of value in them. In a normal year, I would use these for TTM (Though the Mail) Autographs or for in-person autographing when possible. That is kind of out of the window this year, but maybe we’ll be back to normal next year!
I did ok with rookies in this box and the Bo Bichette Sticker Collection Preview card is really cool looking. The box did what it is designed for, giving collectors a cheap way to amass a lot of cards (119 per box). Knowing that going in it delivered what I expected and that’s the reason the box got a B- rather than a lower grade. If this had been a Topps Series 1 probably would have given it a full grade lower.