Go Red! 2020 Topps Opening Day Target Red Foil Michael Chavis

February is American Heart Month. As a nod to the Go Red for Women activities going on this month to help raise awareness, I thought I'd contribute several "red" themed posts sprinkled throughout the month. Here's the next one.

Let's talk about this card...

When I talked about the Andrew Benintendi card from this set earlier this month, I mentioned that I never quite knew what happened to Benintendi. To go from such a top prospect to a midling player, I never quite saw what went wrong. That goes double for Chavis. There was so much promise, and it just...didn't come together. In both cases, it seemed the Sox knew something I didn't, and they were right in both cases. Which is too bad, since they were both fun to watch.

The card itself is, again, fun. The red foil card still works better on Red Sox cards, or obvious reasons. Although, the blue jerseys still don't work quite as well. The photo is again a nice image for the very narrow vertical space allowed on the 2020 Topps cards. I wish his hand wasn't cropped off behind him, but that's probably a little nit picky. Can't have everything I suppose.

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2021 Topps Series Two Big Blaster Break!

I'm actually assuming that these aren't called "big blasters" but I honestly don't know what else to call them. So, that's what I'm going with. The cards are the same as last time, but there's just more of them.

Let's see how it went!

Here's the box. It's apparently a Target exclusive, which is cool. I should also be on the lookout for exclusive Juan Soto cards. Good to know.

And, since the front didn't mention it, the top of the box mentions all the extra packs I'll find inside.

Just look at them all!

Chris Sale looking especially tall. 

An Arauz rookie. Great shot of number 36!

A fun throwback design of Rafael Devers. The picture captures a lot of action, but doesn't present the best face for Devers.

A nice celebration team card showing the team having a pretty good time.

A sparkly green card of some Yankee. 

A nice action shot of Matt Barnes. The horizontal format really works for this shot.

Look! It's the exclusive Juan Soto I was supposed to be looking out for. Apparently he's not kidding around. The black background is nice too. Wait, are they supposed to be black?

Or...is this a numbered variation? Well done by me!

Basic shot of Arroya batting. I think the cropping really works on this card.

Another rookie. Another crazy action photo. 

Great shot of Eovaldi staring down an opposing batter.

Michael Chavis wondering if he should take another base. I really like these "posed action" type shots. Clearly this is the middle of a play, but it's still a well composed shot.

And, then there's the opposite. As I said last time, this might be the best action shot in the set.

And we close it out with Vazquez threatening to gun down another baserunner.

So, quite the haul. Obviously, the extra packs gave extra opportunities. But, the Red Sox turnout was much appreciated, and the Soto parallel made sure it was a decent box. Very nice all-around.

Have you opened any of these?

How did it go?

2019 Topps Update Blaster!

You may remember that the Easter Bunny was good to me this year, bringing plenty of card packs for me to open. I'm still working my way through the boxes. I thought I'd continue to share them with you because, well, some of you might like it.

We'll continue with the next box, a second box of 2019 Topps Update!

I'm sure you've all seen plenty of this set by now. But, you can always skip over this. Right?

So...here are the highlights...

OK. So, not exactly a highlight. But, it's a nice shot of a full box!

The first Red Sox! Shawaryn pitched 14 innings for the Sox in 2019, and gave up 22 earned runs.

Still waiting for Chavis to break out...but might be running out of time. He's only 25...but we'll have to stop using the word "only" pretty soon.

Always nice to get an Eovaldi. He's the Sox ace this year, and one of the few bright spots.

Not exactly bright enough to carry a box, though. This break was a tough one.

Hope you did better.

2019 Topps Chrome Update Blaster!

You may remember that the Easter Bunny was good to me this year, bringing plenty of card packs for me to open. I thought I'd continue to share them with you because, well, even with the season underway there doesn't seem like theres other stuff I should write about.

We'll continue with the next box, the 2019 Topps Chrome Update!

Once again, excited the Easter Bunny was able to find older wax to open. I'm sure you've all seen plenty of this set by now. But, you can always skip over this. Right?

So...

This is what the box looks like. Looks like I'm hoping to get one of those six guys in the packs.

The packs themselves...same six guys. But they're in a different order. Why did Topps do that? Why come up with a second layout, but use the same players? Seems like a waste of time and effort to me.

He's not one of the six guys. But, he's an all-star. So, I'll take him. Or trade him. Or sell him. Whatever.

He's not one of the six guys either. Although, he really should be. This card always annoys me because the big blue advertisement in the back always makes me think I've pulled a blue parallel of some sort. Alas, it's just free ad space for Oxi-Clean.

Yay! One of the six guys I'm looking for! He's actually front and center on both the box and the packs. That must mean something, right?

He's not on the box either. But, it's a RC of a former Red Sox first round pick. That's definitely something to add to the collection.

How did your boxes go?

2020 Topps Series 1 Blaster!

It took me forever to find these on the shelves! And, then, it took me a couple days to finally post about it. I hope you think it was worth the wait as I look at my first blaster break of 2020!

And hoping you still care.

There's the outside of the box, so you know what you're looking for on the shelves.

Seven packs, and the extra special rookie card retrospective card pack! Let's start with that one...shall we?

Ok. I usually don't understand the point of these manufacture patch/relic/medallion things Topps does. But, I absolutely LOVE these. Or, at least I love this one. The thick card with the cut-out for the rookie card logo adds a great depth to the piece. And, it doesn't scream cheap and gaudy like a big coin or made up patch. Simple, elegant, and wonderful. 

The first Red Sox card of 2020! And he's still on the team! A Red Sox card in the first pack has to be a good sign, right? As for the card itself? I like the design. It's not as cluttered as I'd feared, or as others have said. The design is actually pretty simple, and tucked off to the side. It leaves a lot of room for the picture, which I always appreciate. Well done.

Two packs, two Red Sox cards! Another guy who is still on the team. I like how JD's arm fits perfectly into the little notch in the card's design

No Red Sox cards in the third pack, so I guess I'll use this one to show off the horizontal design. I like the horizontal even better since it tucks the design away even more. 

Back on the Red Sox bandwagon! This is showing off the Future Stars subset. It also shows how Topps keeps flipping the side of the card the border shows up on. It wasn't much of a big deal for this blaster. But, I could imagine it being annoying if I'm flipping through a big stack looking for a specific player that I want. 

No Red Sox cards, so let's check out the Turkey Red inserts. This design works well as a small insert set. The cards look too similar if you've got hundreds of them in a binder. But, a few sprinkled here and there can add some variety.

No Sox again, so here's a combo card of two Blue Jays future stars. These guys have a special place in my heart since I was able to see them play in AA (along with Vlad Jr) a couple times. Fun to see them advance as a group like that. I also enjoy these combo cards. Sure, they can be corny. But, cards are supposed to be fun...aren't they?

Speaking of Mr. Biggio, here's the foil version of his solo card. I could really take or leave the foil parallels. I'm split between not needing ANOTHER parallel to chase and liking the idea of having another different Xander Bogaerts card to try and collect.

So, that's what I got out my blaster. I was pretty pleased.

What did you get in yours?

2019 Topps Holiday

OK. So, I'm finally doing one of these fairly close to the release date. Although, still not all that close. I was actually afraid I had missed out on this product. I despise Wal-Mart and avoid it at all costs. So, I didn't even notice that these cards were out until I started seeing tweets from others. By then, I didn't see any at my local Wal-Mart, and couldn't even find them on the Wal-Mart website. I had resigned myself to just buying the Red Sox team set at some point. But, on a whim yesterday I dragged myself to Wal-Mart, and lo and behold there were a half dozen or so boxes sitting on the shelf. I quickly grabbed one, and started opening. (Well, started opening later that night after I purchased the box and brought it home. But you get the idea.) How'd it go?

Even the box is festive. Sorry the pictures are so dark. Was was having more trouble than I realized.

Ten packs was a nice surprise. Seem to open lots of boxes these days from products with half that many.

First pack was the best of the bunch. Two Red Sox cards, and the SP Yelich candy cane bat. I'm usually not a fan of the intentional photo variations that Topps has been doing in its sets. But, for a themed set like this one that is supposed to be fun, it really works and was done well.

Two more Red Sox in the next pack! Is this a good time to mention that I LOVE the design? In past years the snowflakes have been fairly subtle...which is of course one way to go. But, I love the full-on holly borders on this year's set. If you're going to have a theme, go for it!

Joey Votto was the best card in the next pack. No Red Sox cards this time.

Jose Altuve led the next pack. The holiday theme really makes me not mind seeing the same image/design that I've seen on so many other sets this year. A lot more variety than an Opening Day logo or a chrome sheen.

Another Red Sox! And, this time it's stud rookie Michael Chavis. I'm excited to see what this kid brings next year.

Speaking of stud rookies, Fernando Tatis Jr is definitely one of the draws in the set.

Another Red Sox rookie! This one not quite as well known as Chavis. 

And another stud rookie! If he can fix a few holes, this guy is going to be a beast.

The box promises one auto or relic. I was hoping for an auto. But, I got this card of former Red Sox Jon Lester. I like the design of the relic, again carrying that "Holiday" theme as fas as it can go.

We'll close the box out with World Series hero Max Scherzer. 

Over, all not bad at all. I love the cards themselves. I got a good helping of Red Sox cards, and two of the top rookies. I could have done better with my SPs and my hit, but you can't get everything.

Have you opened a box of this yet? What did you think?