Coffee Break:2025 Topps Archives Baseball Blaster Box

*it's too late for coffee, but, not too late for a post*

As I sit here finishing up my homework for the week, I decided that maybe I had time for a blog post as well.

Especially since family is visiting and playing Boggle with my wife. I refuse to play word games. No Scrabble, no Boggle. I don't have the brain compacity for that.

So, I will blog which is just enough for my brain compacity.

ESPECIALLY WITHOUT COFFEE.

The easiest thing I have to blog about tonight is a blaster box of 2025 Topps Archives Baseball I got for free from a contest win on Twitter from @NavyYardNats.

Let's rip it!

Each blaster box of 2025 Topps Archives baseball comes with 7 packs of 8 cards. Each blaster is roughly $20-$25 depending on where you buy.

There are no guarantees other than 4 exclusive parallels.

*yawns, hears family laughing over a long word that I don't get*

*tries to join in on the fun, but dropped a lame dad joke*

*back to blogging*

Archives is a fun product seeing new and old players in designs you may not have seen them in before.

This year's has 1964, 1996, and 2005.

Here they are,

 

 

 

Now onto the four black parallels,

 

 

(PC card alert)

and finally,

 

Now onto the inserts,

 

Juan Soto All-Star insert

Brookes Lee Boardwalk

Jazz Chisholm Jr Boardwalk

And that was it. Nothing too exciting and to be honest, it was a boring break. Not something I will go back and break again.

Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵)

Design 🍵🍵🍵
Photography 🍵
Inserts: 🍵
Hits N/A
Price 🍵
Value 🍵

Thanks again to @NavyYardNats for the contest box break!

Hope everyone has a good night sleep, that's where I am heading counting down to coffee in the morning.

Let me know your thoughts on this break and product in comments.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Coffee Break:2025 Mosaic Football Blaster Box #2

Well....well...well...what do we have here....that's right box #2 in my trade break.

I am beginning my show off of retail wax that I got in the 9-card lot of autograph Daniel Jones cards I traded away. If you missed that, here is the ARTICLE.

I thought I would start out with the football blasters first and now it is time for the second football one.

Without further ado, let's start to rip and take a sip with these highlights,  

 

My first Woody Marks rookie card. Yeah, that was supposed to be exciting, this is the best excitement I have for a guy with a unique name.

Dart Variation! Bad part, I already had two of these....this one will be going to a friend.

Sadly, that was it for the rookie highlights.

Now inserts.

This is a subset and a player I strongly dislike, but wanted to show it off to add some meat to this post.

This guy has been playing lights-out good, despite how bad this season has gone for the Giants, he has been a bright spot. This card is also a new PC piece.

Now onto the parallels.

Ughhh another Eagle. This time A.J. Brown. This is a "Mosaic" parallel.

Another "Mosaic" parallel. This time a rookie insert of McMillian who has played really well in Carolina.

Will Campbell. Another team I despise and an offensive lineman, ugh.

This guy started on my fantasy team but it wasn't long before I cut him.

Team color match on this Elevate. This is the one-per-blaster Orange Fluorescent.

Silver of Audric Estime. I have seen and heard the silvers seem to be the tougher pulls this year.

 

And finally, Justin Jefferson green parallel. Good player, bad team. Seems there is a lot of that.

There you have it. Another break and another kind of dull one at that but at least two Giants were in this one. To put these into perspective. Each Mosaic blaster box was $29.99. I have a feeling I didn't lure that back with either box break or even combined.

But, let me know in comments what you think.

In the meantime, I will finish my cup and get ready to seize the day.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

BEFORE I CLOSE OUT, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR YOU FAVORITE BLOGGERS AND TRADING CARD PRODUCTS IN NACHO GRANDES END OF THE YEAR AWARDS.

DETAILS ON THIS LINK:

https://fanofreds.blogspot.com/2025/11/tcdb-monday-turkey-day-approaches.html

Which by the way, I did not vote for myself in any category. I want this to be a real vote. It's no fun if I do it myself. I want to hear what the readers think.

Yes, I Had To

I haven't opened up a lot of products this year, with no sponsors and lack of funds, it's been a real tough go for me. 

One of my favorite things to do in this hobby is ripping packs. I would rather open up packs of cards before adding a PC card or finishing up a set. 

I can see you shaking your heads at that last sentence, I get it.

With this year being so tough, I have had to change my perspective and how I collect and enjoy the hobby. So instead of being able to open up packs, I have been using stamps and making small pwe trades on occasion. Not quite the thrill of opening up a pack, but I am getting adjusted to being more excited about it.

However, with the recent release of Topps Chrome baseball, the itch got the better of me.

I haven't missed a single year of opening some form of Topps Chrome from one or multiple sports since its inaugural year of 1996. Could I really let that streak end this year? It's my favorite product release ever and not being able to open up at least a pack was getting to me.

But so wasn't the price.

I told myself after finding out blaster boxes at Walmart were $40, twice what they used to be, that I wouldn't fork out that cash for a blaster whether I had it or not.

That's until I found out I had money leftover on a Walmart gift card, then I pulled the trigger.

Regrettably so.

You will see why below,

Every 2023 Topps Chrome baseball blaster box comes with 7 packs of 4 cards. So, you're paying $40 for 28 cards. Meaning each card better be worth $1.50 each. I am sure you can find better cards in a dime and quarter box and bring more home for the cost.

 

I kicked off with my first card of the new Topps Chrome with Jose Altuve.

I won't bother showing rest of the base cards as this was the biggest name I found, so let's skip to the rookie portion.

Not a lot going on here. Rookie pitchers are not my thing.

Final rookie card wasn't too bad. I would rather have found Volpe but I will take it.

Next up, let's take a look at my favorite part of Chrome, the shiny stuff.

Meh base silver finds. These are 1:3 packs.

Pink Outman was the highlight of this box. Two Pink Refractors are per blaster.

Ugh. Two Sepia Parallels fall 2 per blaster. Not a fan of either player.

And another not-so-exciting find. The Prism parallels fall 1:6 packs so only one-per-blaster so my one shot wasn't great.

The inserts for my box break weren't much better,

Let's not discuss any further on these most hated inserts. These fall 1:6 packs.

And finally, 1:24 packs falls Technicolor. Tougher pull when you think about these falling 1:3 blasters but still player wise not so great.

I guess I should have let my streak come to an end this year, but, I am a traditionalist, so I had to keep it alive. It was still fun having the thrill of the rip, but I should have not spent the money still. Hopefully I can trade some of these off for something I need more.

With future finances not looking any better, I am sure next year I will be facing the same thought process when Topps Chrome releases next year.

Thoughts on my break, Topps Chrome in general and the prices for this year's product welcomed in comments.

I hope everyone has a Thirsty Thursday, in coffee form of course and has a great day as well.

Speaking of Thirsty Thursday, this coffee card blogger needs another cup.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Finally Found One!

*sits down, cup of coffee, box of cards in hand, it's time for a new Cards Over Coffee*

\

I finally found one!

 

My reaction (same one I have with my first cup of morning coffee)

For some reason or another, 2022 Stadium Club Chrome became a hot product and took off like it was Prizm, Mosaic or Optic football. Shelves were cleaned, product was being flipped, you know the bad old days of Covid.

Fortunately, in my area, I was able to find a blaster just sitting there on the shelf and even though I technically didn't really have the funds to do so, I couldn't leave and grabbed it and tossed it in the cart with no glare from the Mrs...this time. Of course, explaining to her how hard it is to find this product helped as well.

*takes a sip, rips the plastic off the box, stacks the packs, takes a sip and gets ready to rip*

Each blaster box of 2022 Stadium Club Chrome comes with 4 packs of 7 cards. So there really isn't a lot of cards in a box so you are hoping to score on one of them. Blaster boxes are $24.98 which makes the packs $6+ each.

Let's hope this gamble was worth it. I am just hoping for some cool looking inserts, some base for my PC's and some rookies. Maybe get lucky and land a Julio.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

Not a bad start on my base, which was one of the best base cards I pulled from the box. Not a single Judge, Jeter or Griffey Jr for my PCs.

Guess I will be on the hunt for those.

As for the card itself, I like this version of Chrome more than Topps Chrome. The photography is much better because of the Stadium Club branding.

The rookies I pulled from the box. Not any big names.

Overall there are 400 base cards in the set to collect with rookies, legends and present players.

Up next are my parallels,

Base refractor, never heard of this guy. But, a rookie refractor seems like a PC fit I suppose.

X-Factors, one fell per pack. 

Overall, there are X-Fractor, Base Refractor, Wave, Blue /199, Green /99, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1 parallels to be found.

Now onto my inserts...fingers crossed on landing Trophy Hunter card of Griffey, Judge and Jeter.....

Nope, Beam Team of Oneil Cruz and Pete Alonso. These fall 1:6 packs and has 25 cards to collect.

Team Of The Futuer of Fernando Tatis Jr. Whatever happened to this guy, goes from hobby sweetheart with Acuna Jr and now both guys are way out of sight. These fall 1:6 packs and have 20 cards in the set to collect.

*takes a sip to build up two other finds in the break*

Then came a couple big surprises....

In Pack 2, I found this Brandon Marsh autograph!

Then in Pack 3, another autograph!!! 2 retail autos!! I don't know who this is but this is a green parallel autograph /99.

 

Overall, I am feeling like this after the break....and after two cups of coffee.

*takes as sip before finishing up today's post*

I didn't quite get the PC cards I had hoped for, but pulling was pretty cool. One of the best retail breaks I have had in a while.

Thoughts on my break welcomed in comments. Most of the cards including the autographs will be available for trade as well.

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Coffee Break:2021-2022 Panini Hoops Basketball Blaster Box

*these repulished posts make for a good weekend read don't they? time for another break*

You ever have one of those so-called "blonde moments"? Well, I can admit that I did recently.

And I am far from blonde unless you call dark hair and growing bald just that.

I saw a box of 2021-2022 NBA Hoops sitting on the shelf at Walmart and thought I saw it as the NBA Hoops Winter edition that comes with a Christmas Sweater so I snagged it. Everyone knows how much I love my Christmas cards.

I never noticed that I grabbed the wrong box until I opened it and saw no holiday sweater card. 

Then I read it. UGH.

Well, regardless, I still got to open some basketball cards something you couldn't do a year ago.

Let er rip!

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

In every blaster box of 2021-22 Panini NBA Hoops basketball, there are 8 packs of 11 cards. Each blaster has no guarantee other than some inserts and possible parallels and hits. Blasters currently run $27.98 each.

The base card set is Hoops like. Good photography along with an outside white border.

270 cards make up this year's Hoops checklist. There is some incredible photography used in this set such as this Zion and the main base set is built up of 200 veterans

And 70 rookies. My box was weak rookie card wise.

There are plenty of photography packed inserts as well.

You can find the following parallels in this years Hoops,Anniversary Edition, Blue, Green Ice, Hyper Blue, Neon Green, Purple, Purple Winter, Red Backs, Teal Explosion, Winter, Yellow, Silver /199, Green /99, Hyper Red /99, 75th Anniversary /75, Red /75, Blue Explosion /59, Artist Proof /25, Hyper Green /25, Orange Explosion /25, Red Explosion /15, Artist Proof Gold /10, Hyper Gold /10, and Artist Proof Black 1/1.

 

These are blue and purple.

Inserts can come with the following parallels, Holo, Hyper Red /99, Artist Proof /25, Hyper Green /25, Artist Proof Gold /10, and Hyper Gold /10.

There are 30 cards to collect in Lights Camera Action

15 cards make up the Frequent Flyers set.

Arriving Now is 25 cards deep in its checklist featuring rookies.

25 cards in the Class of 2021 insert set.

Sky View has 25 cards to collect.

The Slam inserts return featuring the basketball covers from the magazine.

My favorite card from this break was the holo version. This card looks amazing. Would make for a great set chase.

Not too much excitement in this break other than that last card. But, maybe a buddy of mine needs some more set help and I am willing to help out.

Thoughts on this break welcomed in comments.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*