Happy Memorial Day! I hope most of you are enjoying a relaxing day, courtesy of the many brave men and women who died in service to our country.
Earlier this month, I was at Wal-Mart looking for something to give my wife for Mother's Day on behalf of our four kids. I wasn't planning on buying cards. I wasn't even expecting Wal-Mart to have any. Yet, because card collecting is an addiction, I check the isle where they would be. My eye caught something shiny...
I knew the cards inside would probably not be worth the cost, but I didn't care. I wanted the container. I mean look at it!
That's just pretty. That will be a nice storage container for some future Red Sox cards.
So what about the cards inside? Well, the packaging said there would be a total of four packs, plus a special bonus card!
I had to laugh when I saw that Wal-Mart discount sticker. Was this Championship Collection tin produced in partnership with Wal-Mart? Did they just have somebody go around buying cards once they hit clearance? How did that fat pack of 2023 Topps get there? Curious minds would like to know!
Let's start with the 1st Edition pack, since that was a particular selling point on the wrapper. I knew nothing about this set
until I looked it up. As you may have guessed, another Topps unnecessary parallel cash grab! It was an online exclusive that was only sold to 582 Montgomery Club members!
So it's the base set with a special logo on it. Whoopie! As far as packs go, this is one was really good. You have some future Hall of Fame players in Ohtani, Judge, and Posey. Plus a special green foil card serial numbered to 150. No Red Sox, but a strong start for this tin!
Let's do the Chrome pack next:
Not horrible I guess. The RC logo appears on all 4 cards, and two of those ended up becoming All Stars (Ramos and Kwan). Bradish is a purple refractor, which looks good in person. So far I can't really complain, outside a lack of cards featuring my favorite team.
So here's the thing about 2023 Topps. This was one of those years where my nearby Wal-Mart had plenty of Series 1, but I never saw any Series 2. As a result, I have about 250 cards from the initial release, and the only Series 2 cards are the Red Sox players I had traded for. Chances are high there won't be many needs in these packs...
Well, I must say I was pleasantly surprised here! Half of the base cards here are needs! I also get my first Red Sox of the tin, plus an extra copies of Gunner Henderson's rookie card and Julio Rodriguez's excellent ASR card. The 1988 Trout is nice too, although the Wander Franco not so much. Still, not the letdown I was expecting it to be!
Now about that clearance special fat pack... there's where the real disappointment set in:
I'm only showing you the inserts, because all of the base cards were doubles for me. Every. Single. One. I didn't really get any good players aside from a Mookie Betts. The inserts are at least nice - another serial numbered parallel, future Hall of Famer Arenado, and rising star Bobby Witt Jr. Not enough to make the pack worthwhile, but not a total loss either.
I'm going to end things on a high note, as the bonus card is really cool. Nestled between the packs, I'm surprised it didn't get dinged:
The late, great, Rickey Henderson everybody! This card is from the 2021 Topps x Derek Jeter: Captain's Crew online set. A simple design with a great photo. I like it!
The cards alone aren't worth the cost of what I paid, but that tin makes it worth it to me. That being said, I'm glad this was a one time purchase!
