My First 2023 Topps Hobby Box (for myself!)

A couple of weeks ago, I ripped through a full case of 2023 Topps Series 1 Jumbo boxes as part of a group break.  While I didn't get to keep most of the cards, I did have a blast opening the boxes and I ended up loving this year's base set more than any set since perhaps 2011 or so.  Thus, as my small way of saying "thank you" to Topps for finally making another decent flagship set, I decided to purchase my hobby box (unfortunately my first choice would have been a jumbo box for myself but those started going for ridiculous prices by the time I went to order).  

I always enjoy seeing other people's box rips so hopefully I can make this one enjoyable for all of you.  As is usually my custom, I'm going to provide a pack-by-pack recap.  I'll scan the highlights as I come across them (and I'll split this box into a couple of different posts in order to keep things somewhat tidy - and give my poor scanner a rest)!

2023 Topps Series 1 (hobby) box:

The box starts off with a silver foil pack but I think I'll save that until the end of the break.  Thus, let's dig into the first several packs out of the 24 pack box.

Pack 1:

272.  Kevin Kiermaier

127.  Shea Langeliers

317.  Cedric Mullins

304.  Alex Wood

95.  Jonah Bride

160.  Cal Raleigh

83.  Tylor Megill

31.  Riley Greene

309.  Sean Murphy

Welcome to the Club:  WC-13.  Larry Walker

48.  Jacob DeGrom

131.  Cody Bellinger

108.  Alex Cobb

91.  Josh Naylor

Lots of cards in a pack, I respect that from Topps.  I don't plan on collecting most of the inserts from this year's flagship Topps set so most will be made available for trade (the exception is the All Aces set which I do hope to build)!

Pack 2:

136.  Dylan Bundy

157.  Christian Vazquez

252.  Austin Meadows

260.  Matt Chapman

Orange Rainbow parallel:  66.  Brandon Crawford (#/299)

146.  Alex Verdugo

216.  Checklist

227.  Yandy Diaz

268.  Yasmani Grandal

238.  Liover Peguero

17.  Shohei Ohtani

41.  Brian Serven

224.  Jake Cronenworth

312.  Pavin Smith

The Orange Rainbow parallels are seeded 1:277 hobby packs making that a quite rare pull for me!  

Pack 3:

296.  Cristian Pache

67.  Travis Swaggerty

110.  Randal Grichuk

193.  Luis Garcia

50.  Mookie Betts

293.  J.T. Realmuto

34.  Zack Thompson

158.  Kris Bryant

80.  Tanner Rainey

1988 Topps:  T88-83.  Corey Seager

150.  Ronald Acuna, Jr.

208.  Blake Snell

140.  Lenyn Sosa

24.  Miguel Cabrera

I've said this already but I'm glad Topps finally broke away from using the 1987 design in their throwback insert sets.  I'd be even happier if Topps did away with this type of set altogether in the flagship brand but that doesn't seem likely to happen.

Pack 4:

230l.  Albert Almora

300.  Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.

19.  Joey Votto

319.  Brad Miller

88.  Luis Robert

7.  Bobby Witt, Jr.

281.  Aaron Ashby

189.  Brad Keller

133.  Roberto Perez

323.  Adrian Houser

77.  Kyle Bradish

328.  Brady Singer

187.  Seth Lugo

44.  Jesus Sanchez

It felt odd to open a pack and not find a single insert or parallel inside!  Odd, but not necessarily bad as I've often railed against Topps for their "insert bloat" in the flagship brand (that's one of the biggest reasons why I stopped buying/collecting Topps flagship over the past decade or so).

Pack 5:

23.  Fernando Tatis, Jr.

209.  Darick Hall

283.  Matt Strahm

294.  Tommy Edman

109.  Eric Lauer

237.  Brandon Marsh

21.  Max Scherzer

313.  Cal Mitchell

1988 Topps:  T88-6.  Oneil Cruz

103.  Taylor Ward

96.  Kyle Gibson

185.  Brayan Bello

40.  Keegan Thompson

229.  Ryan Helsley

My second 1988 Topps card of the box already.  This pack didn't excite me all that much.

Pack 6:

89.  Brett Baty

142.  Lucas Giolito

36.  Brandon Lowe

287.  Brendan Rodgers

74.  Tarik Skubal

171.  Mychal Givens

132.  Gavin Sheets

204.  Manuel Margot

210.  Checklist

94.  Oswald Peraza

126.  Harold Castro

212.  Jordan Lyles

102.  Salvador Perez

61.  Tyrone Taylor

If you are keeping score at home, it's now two packs (out of six) that have been insert free.  That's 33% of the box thus far!

I think I'll call this post here...my fingers could use a break from all that typing!  I'll return to the box in future posts - so stay tuned for that!