Random Blaster Box- 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball

I have never been the one to buy in to the hype of the various Chrome releases. I find it funny that some bloggers will blast designers like Panini for using foil board but get giddy when they hear Topps’ schedule for Bowman and Topps Chrome. To me shiny is shiny.

Now why I ended up grabbing a blaster of 2010 Topps Chrome is a surprise to me, maybe I finally bought in to the shiny appeal (Don’t bet on it) or maybe I just wanted to see what the “whoop-de-do” is all about, but Chrome is Chrome and here I sit with a stack of shiny cards laid out in front of me. With the playoffs in to the ALCS/NLCS round the MLB season will be finishing up soon so this will most likely be the final baseball packs that I open for a while.

I do honestly like the shine and some of the cards really pop out with the chrome but why did Topps go and ruin the allure of the refractors? Remember when Finest first arrived on the scene in 1993 and refractors were 1 per box? That was when a refractor meant something, now they are hitting at 1 in 3 packs.

I didn’t pull any Mariners, a disappointment for me, but I was fortunate enough to pull 2 young Diamondbacks, Justin Upton and Stephen Drew, so I had some luck with the blaster. One of the coolest cards though was the Prince Fielder; Topps picked a great shot to use on the card. The Upton card is a decent action shot too; it is actually pretty cool how the chrome highlights the slide marks in the dirt.

Most of the cards were of young players who merely filled in positions or old dogs on their way off to meet up with Ole’ Yeller. A post Tommy-John Tim Hudson, Todd Helton and Alfonso Soriano littered my packs. I did come across some solid players like Adam Lind and some kid out of Minnesota name Morneau. I know this year he only played half the season but his half season topped some player’s entire season.

I pulled 3 Refractors (Zach Duke, Adam Lind and Jair Jurrjens), 3 X-Fractors (Gavin Floyd, John Ely and Mike Stanton) and a Purple Refractor #/599 of Stephen Drew, definitely the highlight of the box. The Drew card is another card that pops because of the Chrome and the Purple Refractor makes it even better. Check out the ball whizzing by Drew’s head, he was safe by barely an arm’s length.