An artistic electric blaze is a perfect way to describe 2017 Topps Fire Baseball. Artist Tyson Beck once again shows off his talents with this wildly designed Target-exclusive set.
Topps has had a lot of success with these retail only products. Even if you have a Target nearby, there is no guarantee what you’re looking for will be there. Keeping them in stock has been difficult. Having a rookie class like 2017 has seen drives up the demand even more. Especially when two of those rookies (Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger) continue to play further into the post season.
If you’re lucky enough to live near a Target store that still has some 2017 Fire on the shelves there are three possible formats that you can find this product in – Collector’s Box, Value Box, and Fat Pack. To obtain the pinnacle Fire experience, a Collector’s Box would be the best way to go. They retail for $70, but right now on the secondary market they seem to be going for around $80-$100. People are willing to spend a little more online if their own Target is sold out or they don’t have one at all.
2017 Topps Fire has a base set that consists of (200) cards. Parallels include Red Flame, Gold Minted (Value Only), Blue Chip (Fat Pack Only), Orange #’ed/299, Green #’ed/199, Purple #’ed/99, Magenta #’ed/25, Onyx (1 per Collector’s Box case), and Inferno #’ed/1. The Onyx parallels aren’t serial numbered, but given that only (1) comes per Collector’s Box case I’d say that each one is limited to 5-10 copies. Inserts are plentiful and all look fairly awesome. You’ve got Flame Throwers, Fired Up, Golden Grabs, Monikers, and Walk It Off.
I’ve heard some collectors complain that the parallels are a little difficult to identify. This certainly wasn’t the case with my box. Each one of my inserts, parallels, and autographs came out of the pack backwards. That made them very easy to spot.
A Collector’s Box guarantees at least (2) “hits”. One of them should be an autograph. For a retail-exclusive product, it shouldn’t be a surprise that all of the autographs are on stickers. The checklist for the autographs is very strong. Lots of top names. Dual and Triple autographs can also be found. Relics and Autographed Relics are in here too.
Overall, I believe Topps did a great job with this set. Fire finally got it’s own standalone baseball product. The designs are refreshing, checklist is deep, and the inserts really stand out.
Here is what I pulled:
Autos
- Steven Matz #’ed/200
- Noah Syndergaard Green #’ed/75
Parallels
- Larry Doby Purple #’ed/99
- Johnny Damon Green #’ed/199
- Lorenzo Cain Green #’ed/199
- Seung-Hwan Oh Orange #’ed/299
- Ryne Sandberg Orange #’ed/299
- Cal Ripken Jr. Red Flame
- Dansby Swanson RC Red Flame
- Billy Hamilton Red Flame
- Bryce Harper Red Flame
- Tyler Glasnow RC Red Flame
Inserts
- Noah Syndergaard Fired Up
- Noah Syndergaard Flame Throwers
- Curtis Granderson Golden Grabs
- Byron Buxton Golden Grabs
- Mark Trumbo Walk It Off
- Adrian Beltre Walk It Off
- Brooks Robinson Monikers
- Ryne Sandberg Monikers
- Miguel Cabrera Monikers
- Babe Ruth Monikers
Notable Rookies
- Cody Bellinger
- Ian Happ
- Alex Bregman
- Matt Olson
Filed under: Reviews | Tagged: 2017, baseball, box, break, collectors, fire, review, topps | 1 Comment »
