What: 2016 Topps Chrome Sapphire Edition baseball cards
Arrives: Wednesday (Aug. 24)
Box basics: Thirteen bonus parallels and two Superfractors per set

The Basics: The 700-card 2016 Topps set gets Chromed for a factory set limited to only 250 copies that will only initially be sold via Topps.com. The sets will be Blue Sapphire for the 65th anniversary of Topps baseball cards. More details will come soon -- that or at least the cards will. ... One important nugget? Players who have Superfractors in 2016 Topps Chrome will not have a Superfractor in this release. While card numbers are not the same between Topps and Topps Chrome, that helps keep things simpler for those eyeing Supers and helps the math work out on the production run. Update: The sets are now live on Topps.com with a price of $1,500 per set.

--

Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

>> Click here to buy cards on BlowoutCards.com

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Superfractors from 2016 Topps Chrome, Immaculate breaks, digging into Leaf Pop Century and more.

Continue reading →

Gary Sanchez is a rookie for the New York Yankees, though he's been around the baseball block a bit.

He's 23 but he's already got seven years of minor-league experience with two big-league at-bats last season before his call-up this year -- one that's paid off pretty well.

How well? He's got six home runs and 12 RBI while batting .379 in 15 games, tying him for the most-powerful start to a career for a Yankee through 17 games.

“This is a time when he’s going to play and play a lot," Brian McCann told Newsday. He’s a future All-Star. There’s not many guys walking around with his talent. He’s one of the best young catchers I’ve seen since I’ve been in the big leagues.”

Continue reading →

If you hadn’t noticed, there are a number of boxes with discounted prices this weekend as part of a 64-hour flash sale over on the mothership and they were dramatic enough that Buzz had to sit down and ponder the possibilities in many of them.

So much so here are five boxes that caught this collector’s eye.

Continue reading →

He's in his eighth season as a big-leaguer but Justin Turner has finally become a bit of an animal at the plate with a career-high 23 homers and 72 RBI (so far) this season for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He's been a mainstay at third base for the team the last couple of seasons and with his emerging presence he's attracted some fans -- or do we call them promotional buddies? -- along the way, which probably has helped get him on the radar of a few more.

There's one problem, though. When it comes to cardboard, he's a bit of a rare breed -- and that's translated into some cash for some collectors who have found and sold.

Continue reading →

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: 2016 Topps Strata baseball cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 1
Cards per pack: 2
Cards in this box: 2
Base (autograph) set completion: 
1 of 35 (3 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Breaks of Star Wars Chrome, Topps Strata , Immaculate Collection, Panini Preferred and much more.

Continue reading →

The Atlanta Braves have the worst record in baseball but they'll be one of the most-watched teams when it comes to hobbyists the rest of this season thanks to a call-up that appears to have paid off pretty well on Wednesday night.

Former No. 1 overall draft pick Dansby Swanson arrived and went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles in his big-league debut. The home-state star's promotion is about more than just performance, though, as less than 10 months ago, he was a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization -- and now he's immediately one of the faces of a franchise aiming to rebuild. It's a franchise with plenty of hobby favorites in the past and it doesn't hurt that there's a new stadium coming next year, too.

Now, the questions come about cardboard. Will this Rookie Cards now be included in 2017 Topps Series 1 and 2017 Topps Heritage? We don't know that yet -- but we do know he's among today's Topps Now stars on a call-up card -- not once but twice.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Busting Topps Chrome, Immaculate Collection, The Mint & more.

Continue reading →

What: 2017 Topps Heritage baseball cards
Arrives: March
Box basics: One autograph or Relic per 24-pack box (12 boxes per case)
Final checklist: Click here to view

What's buzz-worthy: The burlap is back as Topps revisits 1968 for the newest edition of Heritage with much of the same formula that has made it a hobby staple for the last 16 years.

Keep reading for more as well as a full gallery of images.

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Impressive 2016 Topps The Mint breaks, 2017 Topps Heritage debuts, 2015-16 Panini Preferred breaks, Dansby Swanson & more.

Continue reading →

Bowman Platinum is apparently making a comeback.

How do we know this?

Topps released a final checklist for the baseball brand on Wednesday -- and that makes it a likely candidate to be arriving very soon as a Topps.com exclusive. Update: Make that a Walmart exclusive.

It will arrive on Aug. 24 with a parallel rainbow that includes Purple (/250), Green (/99), Orange (/25), Black (1/1) and printing plates (1/1) parallels as well as Ice parallels only available two per "value box."

Update 2: There will be two autographs per 20-pack box, while blaster boxes (value box) will have seven packs and a four-card Ice parallel pack. Fat packs will include 12 cards.

Continue reading →

This Red Sox slugger has been in some elite company this season and his cardboard continues to pick up momentum.

His name is Mookie Betts and he smacked another homer -- a three-run shot -- last night in Baltimore to up his season total to 28. That comes off the heels of a three-homer game Sunday that put him side-by-side with Ted Williams as the only Red Sox players with a pair of three-homer games in the same season.

It's sparked a wave of Topps Now cards -- and pricey Relics that sold out near-instantly -- but it's not the only cardboard that Betts has that's now in more demand.

Continue reading →

What: 2016 Topps WWE NXT wrestling cards
Arrives: December
Box basics: One autograph in per mini-box.

What's buzz-worthy: The first online-exclusive Topps WWE product will focus on the newcomers from NXT, the company's developmental level, with an autograph in every pack.

The Basics: More info and images to come soon -- the product was merely teased by Topps on Tuesday night.

Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

>> Click here to order wrestling cards on BlowoutCards.com 

Topps' most-expensive baseball card box ever arrives tomorrow and The Mint aims to “raise the bar for premium card collecting.”

And the first few cards to trickle onto eBay looks like there could be something to that.

Continue reading →

Topps Bunt brought baseball cards to the digital realm in 2012 -- and Topps Crossover is bringing them back.

Topps revealed Crossover on Tuesday with an announcement on its website. Every Tuesday, Topps will list a Crossover card set on its site that can be ordered for just one week -- cards that had been found only in the digital realm. And they won't just be baseball, either.

“We are constantly hearing from physical trading card collectors and users of Topps’ apps how great it would be to get printed versions of the digital cards.” said Jeff Heckman, Director of New Product Development and Ecommerce marketplace. “We have taken that feedback to heart and decided to launch Topps Crossover.”

Continue reading →

The Blowout Cards Forums are where thousands of collectors converge daily to discuss, well, a little bit of everything. Here are five threads about collecting and more that you should check out right now.

What's Buzzing Today: Aaron Judge & Tyler Austin, 2016 Donruss football breaks, Olympic cards & more.

Continue reading →

Earlier this month the late Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame but this past weekend the treasures from that career entered the hands of collectors around the world.

The auction of "Snake" Stabler's personal collection of memorabilia via Pristine Auction ended on Sunday night with one six-figure item that didn't reach its reserve and many others of note. In all, the auction generated nearly $200,000 in sales.

The priciest item was his 1976 Hickok Belt Award for Professional Athlete of the Year (above), which reached $107,427.60. It's an honor that was awarded the final time with Stabler's win and this is the first copy of the award to hit the open market. It's an 18K gold belt buckle with a three-carat diamond, a three-carat ruby, a three-carat sapphire and 26 diamond chips totaling 5.5 carats.

Continue reading →

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: 2016 Topps Chrome baseball cards (blaster box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Packs per box: 8 (seven standard packs plus one Sepia Refractor pack)
Cards per pack: 4
Cards in this box: 32
Base set completion: 
20 of 200 (10 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Kris Bryant, Matt Harvey, Paul Goldschmidt, Prince Fielder

Rookie Cards (3) – Raul Mondesi, Joey Rickard, Frankie Montas

Continue reading →

When Topps revealed its plans for The Mint, it was dubbed as a release that takes its baseball cards to high-end levels not seen before and one that “will raise the bar for premium card collecting.”

Now that the final 2016 Topps The Mint checklist is here, we'll know how high.

Continue reading →

After another ridiculously dominating run in the pool last night, Michael Phelps claimed the 22nd Olympic gold medal of his career and ran up his medal collection to 26.

It's a mark that's not likely to be touched -- but it's also a mark that can't compare to his number of certified autographs.

Although he's a pricey signature, he's one of the most-prolific Olympians when it comes to autographed cards.

Continue reading →

The best players of today on new cards using memorable designs of yesteryear is the point of the 2016 Topps #TBT, an ongoing baseball card set from Topps that has been released one pack a week this summer.

And this week the players are all Ichiro Suzuki and his "Journey to 3,000" that ended on Sunday at Coors Field in Colorado.

Continue reading →

The wait for the checklist is over.

Topps has landed Daisy Ridley autographs and she makes her debut in Star Wars: The Force Awakens Chrome on Aug. 19.

But who else is in there? We know that now.

Continue reading →

One of the hobby's more unique-looking brands and quickest rips arrived today with some fun potential and a relatively small checklist primed for some sweet pulls.

It's the 2016 Topps Strata baseball.

Continue reading →

This 2016 Topps Olympics Relic of Simone Biles is limited to only 50 copies and sold for $350 on eBay.

The Rio Olympics are well underway and, so far, many of the stars in the field of play have been either those we have seen before and have plenty of cards (Michael Phelps) or newcomers without anything (Lilly King).

But the U.S. Women's Gymnastics Team has claimed gold and that has helped collectors and dealers claim green when it comes to their cardboard.

Now, of course, some of the demand has been there all along -- regardless of outcome -- but three of the "Final Five" appear in this year's Topps Olympics release.

Continue reading →