2023 Topps Hobby Box: Packs 13 - 18 (Some Keepers and Some Trade Bait!)

I took a break from ripping through my box of 2023 Topps Series 1 (hobby) yesterday since Monday's are for TCDB recaps but now I'm ready to keep going through the box.  Let's see what the second half brings us:

Pack 13:

265.  Anthony Santander

207.  Paul Sewald

129.  Nolan Jones

239.  Ketel Marte

314.  Ke'Bryan Hayes

148.  Seth Brown

135.  Buddy Kennedy

116.  Steven Kwan

307.  Danny Jansen

2022 Greatest Hits:  22GH-25.  Aaron Judge

316.  Nationals team card

82.  AL Wins Leaders

245.  Checklist

217.  Luis Arraez

The 2022 Greatest Hits cards are a decent way for Topps to document the previous season.  While I don't plan on collecting them, I do think an insert set like that has a purpose in Topps flagship.

Pack 14:

318.  Jerar Encarnacion

114.  Ian Anderson

262.  Camilo Doval

251.  Max Castillo

183.  Seiya Suzuki

269.  Steven Matz

182.  Nick Pratto

68.  William Contreras

1988 Topps:  T88-76.  Jose Altuve

311.  AL ERA Leaders

273.  Red Sox team card

138.  Marcus Wilson

18.  Tanner Scott

164.  Dany Jimenez

That Altuve will probably end up in small Jose Altuve PC that I have going.  For awhile, I would have said that Altuve was my favorite active (non-Reds) player but the whole cheating scandal definitely soured me on him.  That being said, I do still have a small stack of his cards set aside and I'll probably add this one to that stack.

Pack 15:

188.  Davis Martin

192.  Christian Yelich

221.  Rhys Hoskins

165.  Jeter Downs

33.  Kyle Farmer

141.  Jonah Heim

249.  Frank Schwindel

39.  Adam Wainwright

Topps Gold:  Jazz Chisholm, Jr. (#/2023)

64.  Josh Donaldson

10.  Trevor Story

254.  Jimmy Hergot

291.  Mets team card

134.  Royals team card

That Topps Gold parallel is only my second serially-numbered card out of the hobby box.  That's a far cry from what we found in the 2023 Topps Jumbo boxes, that's for sure (it's quite clear to me that Jumbo boxes are loaded as compared to hobby boxes this year).  That all said, I mostly bought this box with the intent on completing my Series 1 set so I don't mind getting mostly base cards!

Pack 16:

101.  Tyler Mahle

73.  Jon Gray

322.  Luis Urias

215.  Wander Franco

22.  Clayton Kershaw

92.  Triston Casas

42.  Franchy Cordero

100.  Paul Goldschmidt

Rainbow foil:  62.  Aaron Judge

1988 Topps:  T88-85.  Frank Thomas

241.  AL RBI Leaders

326.  Checklist

190.  Checklist

226.  Michael Harris II

A rare two-insert pack.  That Rainbow Foil Aaron Judge card will almost certainly find a home in a trade over on TCDB.  On the other hand, that 1988 Frank Thomas card will probably end up in my modest Frank Thomas PC.  

Pack 17:

197.  Andrew Benintendi

55.  Cristian Javier

266.  Tommy Pham

325.  German Marquez

206.  Gunnar Henderson

267.  Dean Kremer

330.  Julio Rodriguez

243.  Evan Lee

Home Run Challenge:  HRC-26.  Carlos Correa

194.  Josh Staumont

220.  Cubs team card

292.  Rangers team card

113.  Checklist

174.  Checklist

I think my main complaint about this year's base set is that there are too many of the checklist cards.  I'd rather have two or three simple checklist cards (checklist on the front and back) and then have more regular base cards for more players.  

Pack 18:

327.  Patrick Sandoval

298.  Shane Bieber

153.  Kevin Gausman

107.  Sandy Alcantara

115.  Raisel Iglesias

170.  Michael Chavis

15.  Michael Grove

27.  Mike Trout

Welcome to the Club:  WC-4.  Alex Rodriguez

70.  Darin Ruf

168.  Braves team card

246.  AL Home Run Leaders

2.  Zach Thompson

84.  Blue Jays team card

The Welcome to the Club cards are simply "fine."  I don't have a strong opinion on them other than the fact that it did allow Topps to produce another Barry Larkin card as I believe he is one of the players featured in the set this year.  

Overall, this was a solid batch of packs.  A bunch more needed base cards, a couple of inserts that will be keepers, and the rest trade bait - not bad!  At this point, I have six more packs to still rip plus the silver bonus pack, I'll try to get to those as soon as possible!