Buzz Break: 2017 Topps Gallery baseball cards (blaster box)

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2017 Topps Gallery baseball cards (blaster box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for collector's box)

Packs per box: 8 (seven standard & Artist Proof pack)
Cards per pack: 4
Cards in this box: 33
Base set completion: 
23 of 150 (15 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Jose Altuve, Kenta Maeda, David Price, Stephen Strasburg, Javier Baez, Josh Donaldson, Yu Darvish, Paul Goldschmidt

Rookie Cards (7) – Josh Bell, Christian Arroyo, Jake Thompson, Brett Phillips, Ty Blach, Mitch Haniger, Paul DeJong

Insert/short-print cards: 10 (all inserts in gallery below)
Artist Proof (4) – Matt Harvey, Brett Phillips, Gregory Polanco, Carson Fulmer
Masterpiece (1) – Giancarlo Stanton
Hall of Fame Gallery (2) – Tim Raines, Willie McCovey
Gallery Heritage (1) – Francisco Lindor
Gallery Heritage Green (1) – Cody Bellinger (/250)
Featured Artist card (1) – Mayumi Seto

Autographs: None

What's Buzz-worthy: This blaster box was very average if not worse until it yielded the Bellinger insert parallel -- one in 95 packs -- which would have been a hot pull last year. (It's still not bad now.) The four-card Artist Proof pack (exclusive to blasters) was also average, while this box didn't include any SPs, which are one in every 20 packs (every three blasters). ... The base cards are all illustrations by Mayumi Seto and, for the most part, this is a set that is among the best art-driven releases I've seen. Since these are done by hand and not simply a Photoshop job, a few of them have likenesses that aren't as sharp as others (seen to a degree more with the rookies) but that's probably due to the action photos that they were modeled after in some cases. The autograph list here is huge but I'd argue that, while those biggest names will be rare and are solid finds, the biggest draw here are original paintings and sketches. All artwork on the cards seen here is by either Seto (base set) or paintings by Dan Bergen (inserts). ... A collector's box is the way to go with this brand (hit the link above), but the blasters can have autos (one in 10 boxes) and sketches at long odds. All in all, this feels like a successful return for a brand we haven't seen in more than a decade for baseball cards.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: A-
Fun Grade: B

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