2021 Topps Baseball Japan Edition Hobby Box Break & Review

Collector Type: Set

I had to hop on Sports Card Info’s private jet, fly to Japan, and hunt down this box. When I returned to the states I found out Fanatics purchased Topps. Get ready for the return of Topps Chrome Football and Basketball! We’re in for a fun ride.

This isn’t the first time Topps has made a special version of a flagship set for a specific country. In 2020 we saw Topps Baseball UK Edition. Soccer fans got 2020-21 Topps UEFA Champions League Japan Edition. This is however the first Japan Edition for the Topps Baseball flagship set.

As of right now, you can buy a box directly off of the Topps Japan site for about $87. I don’t believe they’re shipping internationally though.

The base set consists of (220) cards. Parallels include Cherry Blossoms #’ed/99, Jade Green #’ed/75, Purple #’ed/50, Gold #’ed/25, Red #’ed/5, and Platinum #’ed 1/1. Cherry Blossoms and Jade Green are exclusive to this product. Each card comes with the Japanese flag on it.

Relics come in the form of Japan Comes To MLB Manufactured Patch, and MLB In Japan Manufactured Patch.

There is only one type of Autograph Set.

Inserts include Japan Comes To MLB, and MLB In Japan.

Despite not being guaranteed an autograph or relic in every box, I found this break to be more entertaining when compared to other flagship boxes. I found a decent amount of low-numbered parallels. The names may not be the most appealing, but that is just hit or miss.

Here is what I pulled:

Parallels:

• Yohan Ramirez RC Gold #’ed/25
• Trea Turner Purple #’ed/50
• Trevor Bauer Jade Green #’ed/75
• Cristian Javier RC Cherry Blossoms #’ed/99
• Orlando Arcia Cherry Blossoms #’ed/99

Inserts:

• Shogo Akiyama Japan Comes To MLB
• Yu Darvish Japan Comes To MLB
• Shohei Ohtani Japan Comes To MLB
• Matt Chapman MLB In Japan
• Hideki Matsui MLB In Japan
• Derek Jeter MLB In Japan

Card of the Day: Shohei Ohtani 2013 BBM Japan 1st Version #183

Card of the Day: Ichiro Suzuki 2001 Topps Gallery RC Japan Variation #151

The 2011 Little League World Series

Despite it poured this morning and a hurricane is on the way, I made it up to the Little League World Series today.  I had myself a hamburger, root beer slushy, and some M&M’s.  I watched a little of the Mexico vs. Japan game, but you all know what I was there for…PINS!!!

Mexico vs. Japan

Where’s Nomar, Hershiser, and Kruk?

It didn’t take long for me to get a bunch of new pins.  Most of them were free.

This pin is made by Wilson Trophy and is actually quite big.  The red and blue in the background is translucent and looks really cool when held up to the light.

Baseball Factory just happened to be giving these away when I got there.  They stopped giving them away after 200 pins.

I saw a line forming and I had no idea what it was for, but got in it anyway.  The line ended up being for Russell Athletic wristbands.  A man in front of my turned around and gave me this pin from his district.  It shows George Washington crossing the Delaware River.  Instead of paddles they’re holding baseball bats.

Honda

Subway

Dunkin’ Donuts

I saw that the Lycoming Mall was having a card show this weekend.  I went over to check it out, but it wasn’t anything special.  There is a Dick’s over at the mall, and I remember seeing Dick’s LLWS pins online.  After asking if they had any, they gave me some for free.