Ripping Two 2020 Topps Chrome Hobby Packs

Today I swung by the LCS to pick up some toploaders and penny sleeves.  I rarely go to the LCS for much else these days because their hobby boxes are marked up 50% from online prices, and individual hobby pack prices are through the roof.

Despite that and against my better judgement, I grabbed two packs of 2020 Topps Chrome. 

Topps Chrome is my favorite baseball product of the year, and I have opened hobby box every year since 2013. I did get two hobby boxes this year, but I have yet to open them. I've started to hoard unopened products. It seems that they appreciate somewhat quickly over time, and I've made some extra cash by selling off some of my unopened products from past years. I think I'll hold these for a bit too. The only problem with this strategy is that it doesn't help me "scratch the itch" as we like to say.

So I spent $24 on two packs, which have four cards each. A nice bonus was a pack of cards from National Baseball card day.

Just for coming in to the store, one of the LCS employees handed me a clear cello pack with five cards in it. That pack contained all five cards above with the exception of the Yordan Alvarez. That card was handed to me after I made my purchased of $10 or more. I wasn't expecting any of it, so I'll gladly take the bonus.

Pack one:

Nothing really to see here. The photography on the Haniger card is great - I like the on-deck circle shot. I'm sure you could tell but Urena is a refractor. At least I got one Bucco.

Nothing too special with these three, but there was one more card in the pack...

Pretty sweet! Man, this really saved the day. Otherwise this was the equivalent of lighting 24 one dollar bills on fire. This is a prism refractor, which 1:6 hobby packs - twice as rare as standard refractors which fall 1:3. There's no better name to pull out of a pack right now. It's not a rookie, but the gold rookie cup is a great consolation prize. 

This card is fetching $15 on the secondary market, give or take. It's crazy to me that this guy is the hottest hitter in baseball and the most exciting young player at the moment - and if I chose to sell it, I would recoup just over half of what I spent. I don't buy cards to try and make immediate profit off of them - I'd have better luck scratching lotto tickets - but man, $24 is a steep price for 8 baseball cards. I have no regrets, but I wonder how much longer prices can continue to rise before things start to plateau and eventually decline. 

In a world of absurd sports card prices, I'm grateful for this really cool card, and I'm happy to stash it away as a great addition to my collection.