05 October 2015

Pack of the Day 106: 2013 Topps Mini Baseball Box Break


One of the things I picked up in my Dave & Adam's Card World order was a box of 2013 Topps Mini Baseball cards. For just a little more than the price of a blaster I got a whole box of (little) baseball cards. It comes with fairly low expectations, but you can pretty much count on 4-6 low-numbered parallels and probably a relic card with an outside chance at an autograph.


I've shown most of these base cards at one point or another before. The Josh Reddick card gives me an excuse to post a link to my 2013 Topps Josh Reddick Super Rainbow. No more of the cards from that rainbow have popped up since I added the Magenta Chrome Printing Plate, so that project might be about as complete as it's going to get. That Ben Zobrist photo just makes me laugh every time I see it. R.A. Dickey is another one of my player collections. I may not have shown that Dallas Keuchel card before. Did anyone know who he was in 2013?


There is really only one insert set in 2013 Topps Mini Baseball, a small version of the Chasing History set from the regular Topps issue. I pulled 4 of these that I needed for my set, so that was pretty good for me. I've had boxes where all the cards were doubles. They are seeded at 1:4 packs, so you get 6 per box.


Here are the horizontal cards. The Gold parallels are numbered out of # / 62 and you get three or four of them per box. Most boxes have six total parallels in them, but some only have four or five. I got three Golds in this box. Pablo Sandoval's World Series card is the horizontal card here.


I've got two more Gold parallels here that feature fairly well-known names, but no superstars. I guess you could do worse than Michael Brantley and Dan Uggla. The Pink parallels are numbered # / 25 and you get 1-2 of them per box on average. Other possibilities are Black # / 5, Platinum # 1 / 1, and Printing Plates. I've pulled a couple of Black parallels and at least one Printing Plate, but no Platinums yet. Jay Bruce is a decent pull for one of my Pink parallels, and I am not sure I really know who Luis Jiminez is.


Each box contains one relic or autograph, with autographs being much more rare than relics. In the seven boxes I have opened and tracked I have pulled one autograph and six relics (including 2 Hank Congers!). The hit in this box is a PGS (Plain Gray Swatch) relic of Jayson Werth. Not much to say about it, really. The Nationals really had a rough 2015, and Werth was a part of that.

And that does it for this box of 2013 Topps Mini Baseball. It's a fun break even though there aren't really any big hits to chase. You still get a few cool bits in each box and the price is right. I am looking forward to the Astros playing the Yankees tomorrow in the WIld Card game. I really hope they can pull out a win. From here on out they have a tough road as there aren't any patsy teams in the playoffs.

4 comments:

  1. "Did anyone know who he (Dallas Keuchel) was in 2013?"

    Astros fans. The true ones who actually stuck around for all those 100+ loss seasons.

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    1. I was just getting into baseball and baseball cards in 2013, so I wasn't aware of all the new players. I would keep track of the Astros scores and the standings in the newspaper from 2000-2013, but that was the extent of it.

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  2. I love this set! I'm surprised that with a print run of only about 3700 per base card that prices aren't a bit higher. Definitely a great set!

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    1. I think there are just so many things on the market that a reprint set without much hit potential gets passed over for the shinier big mojo hit products. I really like the mini sets. I was disappointed that I didn't get more of the 2014 boxes when Topps did their big clearance sale and blew the whole print run out. There were guys on Blowout buying 200-500 boxes of it and by the time I logged in to buy a few boxes they were all gone.

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