Card of the Day: Danny Farquhar 2009 Bowman Chrome Prospects Refractors

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Card of the Day: Hideki Irabu 1997 Bowman Chrome Refractor #198

2017/18 Topps Chrome UEFA Champions League Hobby Box Break & Review

G-O-A-L!!!!!!!!!!  As someone who enjoys listening to sports broadcasters, its very entertaining to hear them when a goal is made.  Lots of excitement is in their voice.  Especially when 90 minutes is almost up, and someone finally scores.

Topps Chrome Baseball isn’t due out until later this summer, but if you’d like to see what this year’s flagship design looks like on chrome stock right now, I’d give 2017/18 Topps Chrome UEFA Champions League a peek.  If the baseball set looks anything like these soccer cards, we’re in for a real treat.  Chrome is king, and having a design that transitions over to chrome stock is important.

The main set consists of (99) cards.  Parallels of the base set include Refractor, Purple Refractor #’ed/250, Blue Refractor #’ed/150, Green Refractor #’ed/99, Gold Refractor #’ed/50, Orange Refractor #’ed/25, Red Refractor #’ed/10, and Superfractor #’ed/1.  These parallels are extremely easy to identify and stand out quite a bit.  As you can see, the parallel coloring is not just limited to the card’s border.  The entire background is a solid color.

A handful of top players have photo variations.  Unlike some other products, these are easy to spot.  Lionel Messi, Christian Pulisic, Neymar Jr., Harry Kane, and Cristiano Ronaldo are the only ones in this group.  From what I’ve seen, all photo variations have a refractor-like coloring to them.  All you have to do is hold out the refractors and check the CMP code on the back.  The CMP code for photo variations ends in #8664.

Autographs fall (1) per box.  Traditionally, sticker autographs aren’t the norm when it comes to Topps Chrome, but given that these athletes are all outside the U.S. it was probably the easier way to go.  Base autograph parallels include Blue Refractor #’ed/150, Green Refractor #’ed/99, Gold Refractor #’ed/50, Orange Refractor #’ed/25, Red Refractor #’ed/10, and Superfractor #’ed/1.

Three inserts can be pulled – Award Winners, Future Stars, and Lightning Strike.  Each come with their share of autographs and parallels.  Award Winners are the most difficult to find (1:108 packs).

For under $70, Topps did a nice job with this product.  UEFA and Chrome fans should really enjoy it.

Here is what I pulled:

Auto

• Neymar Jr. Lightning Strike Auto #’ed/10

Parallels

• Bruno Varela Green Refractor #’ed/99
• Pizzi Purple Refractor #’ed/250
• Pique Purple Refractor #’ed/250
• Jesus Navas Refractor
• Pique Refractor
• Diego Reyes Refractor
• Kyle Walker Refractor
• Dele Alli Refractor

Inserts

• Kylian Mbappe Future Stars
• Marcus Rashford Future Stars
• Leroy Sane Future Stars
• Neymar Jr. Lightning Strike
• Philippe Coutinho Lightning Strike
• Antoine Griezmann Lightning Strike
• Gareth Bale Lightning Strike

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2017 Bowman Chrome Mini Complete Set Box Break & Review

Happy New Year!!!  Its 2018 and everyday baseball season gets closer.  Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training next month.  In 2017 we had an impressive rookie class.  Its going to be hard to top it.

All 2017 Topps MLB licensed products have been released.  The last two were Bowman’s Best and the Bowman Chrome Mini Complete Set.  2018 Topps Series 1 Baseball is due out near the end of the month.

I really like the 2017 Bowman Chrome Mini Complete Set.  Inside each box is a complete 273-card set featuring top tier rookies and prospects from 2017.  Along with it are (3) packs containing (10) special parallels each.  These exclusive parallels can only be found in here.  Parallels include: Refractor, Blue Shimmer Refractor #’ed/150, Black Shimmer Refractor #’ed/100, Green Refractor #’ed/99, Bowman 70th Logo Refractor #’ed/70, Gold Refractor #’ed/50, Orange Refractor #’ed/25, Red Refractor #’ed/10, Superfractors #’ed/1, and Printing Plates #’ed/1.

What I find the most attractive about this set is the configuration.  You can open the main box to access the parallel packs, yet the complete base set remains sealed separately.  I like that a lot.  There aren’t too many configurations that allow you to open something, get the “hits”, and leave you with a sealed set.

It certainly wouldn’t bother me if more rookie/prospect products were configured like this.  Boxes are currently selling for just under $200.  Demand is quite strong considering there aren’t any autographs.

Here is what I pulled:

Parallels

• Yoshitomo Tsutsugo Magenta Printing Plate #’ed 1/1
• Dane Dunning Orange Refractor #’ed/25
• Dakota Chalmers Gold Refractor #’ed/50
• Brett Phillips Gold Refractor #’ed/50
• Harrison Bader Gold Refractor #’ed/50
• Justus Sheffield Bowman 70th Logo Refractor #’ed/70
• Max Fried Bowman 70th Logo Refractor #’ed/70
• Rowdy Tellez Bowman 70th Logo Refractor #’ed/70
• Mickey Moniak Green Refractor #’ed/99
• Brendan Rodgers Green Refractor #’ed/99
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Green Refractor #’ed/99
• Garrett Whitley Green Refractor #’ed/99
• Brian Anderson Green Refractor #’ed/99
• Jorge Alfaro Blue Shimmer Refractor #’ed/150
• Christin Stewart Blue Shimmer Refractor #’ed/150
• Teoscar Hernandez Blue Shimmer Refractor #’ed/150
• Touki Toussaint Blue Shimmer Refractor #’ed/150
• A.J. Puckett Blue Shimmer Refractor #’ed/150
• Tetsuto Yamada Blue Shimmer Refractor #’ed/150
• Sandy Alcantara Blue Shimmer Refractor #’ed/150
• Jorge Ona Refractor
• Trevor Clifton Refractor
• Blake Rutherford Refractor
• Wuilmer Becerra Refractor
• Beau Burrows Refractor
• Dylan Cozens Refractor
• Albert Abreu Refractor
• Jonathan Arauz Refractor
• Kyle Freeland Refractor
• Justus Sheffield Refractor