2020 Topps Series 1 Baseball Hobby Box Break & Review

Collector Type: Set/New Rookie Card Hunters

A new baseball season is upon us.  The trucks are being unloaded.  The bubble gum is ready to be chewed.  The players are arriving.  Spring Training gives teams the opportunity to stretch their legs, and showcase some of their young talent.  Who’s going to be the surprise stars?  Which prospects will get the call to the big leagues?  Who’s going to the World Series?  These are all questions which will be answered in the coming months.  One thing is for sure.  Topps will be there to cover it all.

2020 Topps Series 1 Baseball kicked-off with a Million Card Rip Party at AT&T Stadium.  Some of the best and well respected group/box breakers in the hobby gathered together for a massive Rip Party.  The party went late into the night until one million cards had been opened.

2019 National League Rookie of the Year Pete Alonso arrived to open the first pack.  Topps even had specially made Pete Alonso autograph cards for the event’s participants.  These feature the 2020 Topps flagship design, are serial numbered to (100) copies, and have the Topps Million Card Rip Party logo in the upper-right corner.

Throughout this historic event Topps interviewed Pete Alonso and various other breakers.  When you’re opening that many boxes some awesome cards are bound to be pulled.  Chris Justice of Cards Infinity pulled an insane Mike Trout/Ken Griffey, Jr. Baseball Stars Dual Autograph #’ed/5.

A lot of collectors have been eagerly awaiting this latest Topps flagship set.  Aristides Aquino, Gavin Lux, Bo Bichette, and Yordan Alvarez are just some of the players who have their first RC logo cards in here.  Yordan Alvarez has both the RC logo and Gold Cup logo on his base rookie.  That’s something you don’t see often.

Inside a hobby box such as this you’ll find (24) packs with (14) cards per pack.  The second you open the box you’ll be greeted with a special Silver Pack.  Housed inside that pack are 1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary Chrome cards.  If you’re lucky you might pull a parallel or autograph.

The base set consists of (350) cards.  Parallels include: Yellow (Walgreens), Purple (Meijer), Rainbow (1:10), Gold Foil (1:2 Jumbo), Gold #’ed/2020, Advanced Stat #’ed/300, Vintage Stock #’ed/99, Independence Day #’ed/76, Black #’ed/69 (Hobby/Jumbo), Mother’s Day Hot Pink #’ed/50, Father’s Day Blue #’ed/50, Memorial Day Camo #’ed/25, Platinum #’ed 1/1, and Printing Plates #’ed 1/1.  (100) cards have Clear parallels #’ed/10.

It wouldn’t be a flagship set without photo variations.  There are tons to look for.  Over (100) to be exact.  I’ve always found checking the CMP codes to be the most efficient way in identifying them.

• Base – #269
• SP – #284
• SSP – #285

Technically considered a parallel compared to a photo variation, the CMP code for the Advanced Stat cards end in #283 and are #’ed/300.

Many of the photos used for the base set are quite fun.  Some look as if they’ed be used in Stadium Club.

The hobby box format comes with (1) autograph or relic.  Jumbos guarantee (2) relics and (1) autograph.

I’m happy to see Turkey Red make a comeback as retail exclusive inserts.  You can even find Chrome Turkey Red cards.  Mixing the artistic filter with chrome technology was a wise choice.

Another new thing I like are the Rookie Card Retrospective RC Logo Medallion Manufactured Relics.  Little RC logo medallions are embedded into classic Topps rookie card reprints.  They just look really cool.

Topps knows that collectors enjoy special experiences.  Lucky collectors can pull certificates for the “Celebration of the Decades” event.  According to Topps, “Winners will be invited to an exclusive experiential event that will be talked about for decades!”

The 2020 baseball card collecting season has begun!

Here is what I pulled:

Relic

• Rhys Hoskins 1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary Relic

1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary Chrome Silver Pack

• Jesus Luzardo RC
• Dustin May RC
• Kris Bryant
• Whit Merrifield

Parallels

• Randy Johnson Topps Choice Black #’ed/299
• Yuli Gurriel Advanced Stat #’ed/300
• Anthony Rendon Gold #’ed/2020
• Randy Arozarena RC Gold #’ed/2020
• Big Air, Big Hair Rainbow
• Danny Hultz RC Rainbow
• Tyler White Rainbow

Inserts

• Pete Alonso Home Run Challenge
• Justin Verlander 2019 Topps Now Review
• Cal Ripken Jr. Topps Choice
• Austin Riley Decade’s Next
• Orlando Cepeda Decades’ Best
• Max Scherzer Decades’ Best
• Stan Musial Decades’ Best
• Houston Astros Decades’ Best
• Rod Carew 1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary
• Wade Boggs 1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary
• Trevor Bauer 1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary
• Alex Young RC 1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary
• Ronald Acuña Jr. 1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary
• Mookie Betts 1985 Topps Baseball 35th Anniversary

Notable Rookies

• Aristides Aquino RC #20
• Yordan Alvarez RC #276
• Gavin Lux RC #292
• Bo Bichette RC #78