I absolutely love 2022 Topps Opening Day. It has nothing to do with the design. It's all about it taking me back in time to an era when collectors actually had access to baseball cards in stores and the packs were reasonably priced.
Two weeks ago, I saw that Target had blasters of this stuff on their website. At first I thought about grabbing just one to rip open on Opening Day or something. But after clicking on the item, I quickly discovered this year's blaster contains a whopping 22 packs... each containing 7 cards. That's a total of 154 cards... which is twice as many as last year's Topps Opening Day blasters. I've complained about Topps and their cash grab products on numerous occasions over the years... and honestly can't remember the last time Topps offered up something with so much value.
I was so excited, I texted Ryan (SumoMenkoMan) and even told him about it. Each of us grabbed three blasters. A few days later, my boxes arrived in my mailbox.
The following week Ryan was in town on a business trip, so we met up for dinner. He suggested bringing a box and having an old fashion buddy box break. We originally planned on opening them in the restaurant, but without even saying anything to each other... we decided it was probably not the right atmosphere. It happened to be pretty cold that night, so sitting at one of Japantown's outdoor tables was out of the question, so we settled for my car.
Can't remember the last time I opened up a box of cards with a friend, but it's been at least a few years. Ryan actually brought two boxes, so I helped him open his second box.
Due to a really painful gum infection, I was out of commission for the next few days... so I didn't get around to opening up my last two boxes until yesterday. We figured between three boxes, we should be able to complete one set and and have a second starter set... which we'd be able to help each other out with.
Unfortunately... the only downside to my blasters was collation. I fell fourteen cards short on my first set and fifty-one cards short on my second set... which sent me back to Target's website to grab one more blaster.
Ryan and I noticed there was definitely a pattern in the way Topps inserted cards into packs. I'm hoping the fourteen cards I need for my first set will be part of the box I just purchased. In the meantime, I figured I'd show off five of my favorite cards from the first three boxes...
2022 Topps Opening Day #50
Topps continues their tradition of utilizing nice action shots on Fernando's flagship base cards. This one is a little awkward since it's mid-swing, but I'll take this over your standard portrait shot any day of the week.
2022 Topps Opening Day Triple Play #TPC-8ABC
One of my biggest complaints about today's inserts and parallels is that card companies are flooding the hobby with them. I wish they'd make less sets and lower the production rates... which would give collectors more base cards and less clutter. However with a budget product like Opening Day, I think it's okay to have a plethora of inserts... especially when they're interesting like these Triple Play cards.
They are obviously based on the 1980-81 Topps basketball cards. But Jim over at cards as i see them pointed out last week that Topps also utilized part of their 2008 baseball card design using the dip in the top of the photo to place their logo.
My only complaint about this card is their decision to add Hosmer to this card. The Padres have been trying to trade him for awhile now. If it were me, I would have replaced him with Jake Cronenworth.
2022 Opening Day Luck of the Irish #LI-4
If you're wondering, this is indeed an insert and not a parallel. Here's Luke's base card for comparison:
2022 Topps Opening Day #137
The other insert set I was hoping to show off in this post was the Mascots. Unfortunately, I didn't pull Stomper or the Swinging Friar out of my first three boxes. Hopefully they show up in the 4th.
So I'll show off two awesome action shots instead...
2022 Topps Opening Day #67
2022 Topps Opening Day Blue Foil #38
Hey Ryan... it was fun busting blasters with you. And Jim... hopefully we'll be able to meet up in a few weeks. If we do, maybe we can open up some packs while we eat.
Everyone else...
What are your thoughts on this year's Topps Opening Day?
Did you buy a blaster?
If so, I should have a bunch of extras... even after building my second set and helping Ryan out.
Happy Sunday and sayonara!
19 comments:
Actually got a blaster while on vacation. What is your want list?
I enjoyed the set. It gave me a preview of what the hardly-on-shelves ‘22 Topps looked like, and I love how they have the mascot cards in them. I’m trying to get as many of those as possible and put them in Kylers collection and try to get them signed when we go to games. We did good and pulled 6 out of our blaster. Almost makes me want to get another blaster if I can find them in the wild.
I really like the Opening Day set forbthis year, and have bought three blasters of the product. Every time I go to the store, I debate about picking picking up another blaster.
I'm generally not huge on Opening Day and find it a bit boring, but I did indeed buy a blaster and enjoyed opening up the quantity of packs. I also have a blaster coming for my son to put in his Easter basket. While he's more into Pokemon cards, he loves playing MLB The Show on PS5 and I think he'll enjoy opening the baseball cards and seeing the players from the game.
I need to find one before Opening Day. Nice to have a buddy break. 👍
I bought a hobby box. So now I'm a pending trade away from completing the base set.
Didn’t ready the last part about the mascots. I pulled a Stomper if you need it.
I haven't seen any in stores, but I am looking forward to buying some. The buddy break takes me back to 1976 when a friend and I found a full box at White Hen Pantry. We had just enough money to buy all of the packs. Nice to share the packs with a friend.
Yup, ordered up a blaster and posted it on my blog a couple weeks ago.
I noticed the Opening Day collation issues in 2013 when I found a bunch of discounted OD blasters and bought them all. It was weird how some inserts appeared more frequently than some base cards.
But collation has been a disaster since the '90s. I don't know if they're ever going to change it.
Mascot cards are always the highlight of OD sets for me.
Bought two blasters, one for each kid. Will likely be Easter/start of season presents. I don't much care for the set but have come to appreciate it as a fun rip for kids with great value for the maximum cards per dollar demographic. I do with that there were Giants mascot or Opening Day inserts but those haven't existed for over a decade.
man i hope byron buxton plays 150 games this year. that is a great looking card! i will see if i can find a few packs for us to bust assuming we can make the meet up work!
Luck of the Irish!! Nice! I’ll get my third box opened this weekend and hopefully we can finish off both of our sets!
I'm a sucker for red white and blue bunting. That Irish card looks cool.
I did get a blaster. 22 packs is a lot of cards. I'm happy to report that I pulled the Mariner Moose, so the streak continues.
Since I'm a set guy I just bought the master set for $55 on ebay.
Nice!
I actually ended up with two blasters of Opening Day earlier this week. I am going to make some posts on 2022 cards in the coming weeks. I like the set overall. I agree on the Padres card, Cronenworth over Hosmer. I will post my hits later in the week. Nothing as good as the "Luck of the Irish" card.
I don't really have any thoughts on the set itself, but your guys' rip party sounded like a lot of fun. I don't think I've opened any packs with another person since I was probably in my mid-teens.
I had forgotten that last year's Opening Day was cheaper, so I didn't mind the price tag. I didn't even notice it til I picked up the blaster and thought how heavy it was. Nice pull on the Irish card!
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