Buzz Break: 2021 Topps Series 1 baseball cards (blaster box)

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The box: 2021 Topps Series 1 baseball cards  (Walmart blaster)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
First Buzz preview with checklist/SPs/more: Click here

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

Packs per box: 8 (seven standard, one 70th anniversary patch-card pack)
Cards per pack: 14
Cards in this box: 99
Base set completion: 
82 of 350 (23 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Ronald Acuña Jr., Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Cavan Biggio, Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, Gleyber Torres, Charlie Blackmon, Aristides Aquino, Freddie Freeman, Rafael Devers, Miguel Cabrera, Josh Donaldson

Rookie Cards (14) – Ian Anderson, Cristian Pache, Dalton Varsho, Evan White, Tarik Skubal, Spencer Howard, Cristian Javier, Albert Abreu, Daniel Johnson, Santiago Espinal, Isaac Paredes, Luis Garcia, Dane Dunning, Mitch White

Insert/short-print cards: 17 (all in gallery below with some base)
Rainbow foil parallel (1) – Matt Olson
Blue parallel (2) – Corey Seager, Marcus Semien (Walmart boxes only)
70 Years of Topps (2) – Pete Alonso, Justin Verlander
1986 Topps (2) – Mookie Betts, Albert Pujols
Topps Through the Years (1) – Hank Aaron
1952 Topps Redux (7) – Luis Robert, Albert Pujols, Justin Verlander, Jacob deGrom, Yadier Molina, Sonny Gray, Manny Machado
1952 Topps Redux Chrome (1) – Blake Snell
Topps Commemorative 70th Anniversary patch cards (1) – Mike Trout

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: My first look at this one in-person and my first pack of the year left a pretty strong impression. Sure, the names are small -- I've noted that a few times on Twitter -- but they are not as un-readable as I had feared and this design feels a little crisper (and a tad less boring than last year) when in hand. Beyond that? This one is going to be a beast in Chrome with Refractor stock, etching and colorful parallels. My first pack here was the patch pack -- oddly named as they are really a plastic metal-looking inlay -- and I found the guy shown on the box, Mike Trout. My first card in my first pack? Ronald Acuña Jr., a guy whose box score I might check first of anyone. These are small boxes but the one-per-pack 1952 Topps Redux set a big winner at just 50 cards and then with a Chrome element. These are crisply done Heritage-style cards that should be popular as they are clean and the set isn't too big to collect. (I expect we'll see more in later releases.) The Blue parallels are only found in Walmart packs, while parallels on the whole aren't as easily found but there are some new inclusions you'll see once you rip into hobby or jumbo. (My hobby boxes are on the way.) You can find a number of possible cards here with the variations, ink and more but at long odds. Pretty normal but perhaps not as easy as one might like ... that happens with a release that's widely collected with a number of options to rip from. The Rookie Card presence here is beefy -- 50 RCs -- but I think I'll wait and see how they shake out to assess more. (I think I liked last year's crop a little more at arrival but we'll see.) There are a number of nods to the mask-wearing MLB world of last year with cardboard cutouts in the stands ... and you'll even see a card showing what I believe to be hand-sanitizer for the first time in baseball card history. That's all for the moment ... I'll share a few more thoughts when my other boxes arrive for you to see here.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: A (Trout manufactured Relic and the retail-only 1952s make this one a win to me)
Fun Grade: B (need more parallel volume or one more insert here in this format for my taste)

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