2022 Topps Holiday Mega Box Baseball Box Break & Review

Collector Type: Set/Christmas fans

The Topps Holiday Mega Box has become a fan favorite. I truly don’t know how the hobby made it through the holiday season without it. Scrolling through my Twitter feed all I see are people’s shopping baskets filled with these boxes.

Topps offered the 2022 Holiday Mega Box on their website for a short time before selling out. Walmart would be your best option to find a box now.

(200) cards make up the base set. Many holiday elements are added to the 2022 Topps Baseball flagship design. Parallels include Metallic (1:2), Red Metallic #’ed/99 (1:92), and Gold Metallic #’ed 1/1 (1:8,915).

Photo variations offer even more holiday items to look for. Some are easier to come by than others. I always check the CMP codes to be sure.

• Base – #811
• SP – #819 (1:7)
• Rare – #820 (1:20)
• Super Rare – #821 (1:160)

Each box contains (10) packs. You should at least find (1) SP. My favorite variation has Will Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf pictured in the bottom left corner of Shohei Ohtani’s card.

You will also find (1) relic, autograph, or autograph/relic per box. Most likely a one-color relic is what you’ll get, but much rarer hits can be pulled. This includes relics and autograph/relics of an Elf, Santa Claus, and Mrs. Claus. Consider yourself very lucky if you hit one of these. The Holiday Faux relics and autograph/relics are extremely rare.

Packaged along with the packs is a tree ornament. Parallels of the ornaments would be a fun addition some year.

The Topps Holiday Mega Box is not meant to be taken too seriously. At $24.99/box, its a cheap fun rip.

On a side note, I think Topps should make an online-exclusive set of Topps Chrome Sapphire cards featuring Christmas/holiday season characters. They would probably be a big hit. Especially if they threw in some parallels.

Here is what I pulled:

Relic:

• Pete Alonso

Parallels:

• Cooper Hummel RC Metallic #27
• Emmanuel Rivera RC Metallic #20
• Cedric Mullins Metallic #86
• Max Muncy Metallic #199
• William Woods RC Metallic #127

SP Variations:

• Royce Lewis RC #94 – Christmas lights on arm
• Gabriel Arias RC #12 – Candy cane on arm

Box Topper:

• Shohei Ohtani Ornament

Notable Rookies:

• CJ Abrams #112
• Bryson Stott #133
• Jeremy Pena #129
• Wander Franco #181
• Bobby Witt Jr. #150

2021 Topps Holiday Mega Box Baseball Box Break & Review

Collector Type: Set/Relic/Autograph/Christmas Fans

The base set consists of (220) cards. Parallels include Metallic, and Gold Metallic #’ed 1/1.

Short Print Photo Variations offer some fun holiday elements to watch out for. I always check the CMP codes when identifying them:

• Base – #420
• SP – #426
• Rare – #427
• Super Rare – #428

Each Walmart-exclusive box should contain a relic, autograph, or autograph/relic.

One insert set comes in the form of MLB Star Ornament Die-Cuts.

Its a niche product. Some people enjoy it a lot, while others won’t touch it at all. I find it to be a fun holiday spin on cards. The base design this year reminds me of The Matrix code. Perhaps its a bit of subliminal marketing given that the new Matrix movie, The Matrix Resurrections, comes out later this month.

For $21.98 I’d say my box was more than decent. The SP’s fall (1:7) packs, and I was able to pull two from this 10-pack box. And the two I pulled are of very popular players.

Here is what I pulled:

Relic:

• Cody Bellinger Relic

Short Print Photo Variations:

• Mike Trout Santa Belt #27
• Juan Soto Santa Belt #100

Parallels:

• Tyler Stephenson RC Metallic #141
• Ryan Mountcastle RC Metallic #174
• Shane Bieber Metallic #130

Insert:

• Pete Alonso MLB Star Ornament Die-Cut

2021 Bowman Platinum Baseball Mega Box Break & Review

Collector Type: Rookie/Prospect/Autograph

Shiny foil! Bowman Platinum is back as a Walmart exclusive. A Mega box contains (20) packs and guarantees (2) autographs. Blasters are the only place to find the Ice Foil parallels.

The base set consists of (200) cards. (100) veterans/rookies and (100) top prospects. Parallels include Ice Foil (Blaster), Foilboard #’ed/299, Aqua Ice Foilboard #’ed/250, Pink #’ed/199, Blue #’ed/150, Green #’ed/99, Green Icy Foil #’ed/99, Gold #’ed/50, Orange #’ed/25, Red #’ed/10, and Foilfractor #’ed 1/1.

Both veterans/rookies and top prospects have photo variations. CMP codes continue to be the easiest way to identify them. Base veterans/rookies have a CMP code that ends in #631. Base top prospects have a CMP code that ends in #644. Photo variations for both end in #678. So, if you pull a card that has a CMP code that ends in #678 you’ve got a photo variation.

Veterans/Rookies with Photo Variations:

• Jo Adell #5
• Ronald Acuña Jr. #9
• Joey Bart #14
• Fernando Tatis Jr. #55
• Mike Trout #61

Top prospects with Photo Variations:

• Heston Kjerstad #40
• Nick Gonzales #87
• Austin Martin #90
• Austin Hendrick #91
• Spencer Torkelson #92

Autographs include Top Prospect Autographs, Meteoric Autographs, Platinum Die-Cuts Autographs, Platinum Etchings Autographs, Precious Elements Autographs, and Renowned Rookies Autographs.

Autograph relics include Platinum Patches Autographs, Platinum Pedigree Autographs, and Platinum Pieces Autographs.

Relics include Platinum Patches and Platinum Pedigree.

Inserts include Meteoric, Platinum Die-Cuts, Platinum Etchings, Precious Elements, and Renowned Rookies.

Fun box to break. Be very careful when flipping through your cards. My two autographs were easily stuck to other cards. I almost missed one of them.

Checklist

Here is what I pulled:

Autos:

• Yolbert Sanchez Top Prospect Auto
• Jordan Diaz Top Prospect Auto

Parallels:

• Xander Bogaerts Foilboard #’ed/299
• Max Kepler Gold #’ed/50

Inserts:

• Max Meyer Meteoric
• Luis Patino RC Meteoric
• Garrett Mitchell Precious Elements
• Robert Hassell Precious Elements
• Marco Luciano Precious Elements
• Austin Hendrick Precious Elements
• Clarke Schmidt RC Renowned Rookies
• Nick Madrigal RC Renowned Rookies
• Luis Garcia RC Renowned Rookies
• Jarred Kelenic RC Renowned Rookies

2019 Topps Holiday Baseball Mega Box Break & Review

Hey look!  My local Walmart finally got some 2019 Topps Holiday Baseball Mega Boxes.  Walmart exclusive!  I’ve been wanting to try a box.  The Walmart here doesn’t have the best card section like some others do.  In store, a box should cost around $20.

The 2019 Topps Holiday Baseball Mega Box set consists of (200) cards.  Parallels include Metallic (1:2 packs), and Gold Metallic #’ed 1/1 (1:7,045 packs).

New for 2019 are the Base Short Print Variations.  Its hard to believe that none of the past Holiday boxes have had these.  There are three types that you can pull.  Each can be identified by the CMP code on the back.

• SP (1:7) – #063
• Rare (1:20) – #064
• Super Rare (1:161) – #065

Given that this is a holiday-themed set, all Base Short Print Variations have some type of holiday element added to them in addition to the holly berry border.  Candy cane bats, Christmas socks, and Santa Claus hiding out in the background are all great examples of what you can find.  My Base Short Print Variation was found upside down in the pack.

Housed inside each box are (10) packs.  Among those packs there should be (1) relic, autograph, or autograph relic.  My favorite hits are the Holiday Faux Relics.  These cards feature fictional relics from Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Frosty The Snowman, and even the Workshop Elves.  Cards like this always make interesting conversation pieces.  I know a lot of people like to make fun of them.  But imagine pulling one of these cards out around Christmas time.  It would create a memory that would last a lifetime.  Every holiday season you could bring it back out to display while remembering where you were, and who was around you when it happened.

Isn’t creating memories a core part of collecting?

If I would’ve pulled the Pete Alonso Gold Metallic #’ed 1/1 I could’ve gotten the entire Alonso rainbow from one box.

Checklist

Here is what I pulled:

Relic

• Nomar Mazara

Base Short Print Variation

• Shohei Ohtani SP

Parallels

• Pete Alonso RC Metallic
• Kolton Wong Metallic
• Pedro Avila RC Metallic
• Jake Arrieta Metallic
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RC Metallic

Notable Rookies

• Pete Alonso RC
• Yusei Kikuchi RC
• Keston Hiura RC
• Nick Senzel RC
• Michael Chavis RC
• Fernando Tatis Jr. RC
• Cavan Biggio RC
• Carter Kieboom RC

Card of the Day: Shohei Otani 2017 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Prospect Refractor #31

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