Pack Break - 2012 Topps Opening Day (Jumbo)

April 2012 is just around the corner and what does that mean in the baseball card world?  The release of Topps' annual Opening Day cards.  I'm not building this set, but I'm always intrigued by new cards so I grabbed a jumbo pack to get a hands on impression.

First thing I noticed this year is the slight price increase.  Retail packs are now $1.09, jumbos are $3.19 and blasters are $10.49.  I doubt this will be a deal breaker for anyone that was already planning on buying this product.

Jumbo packs contain 24 cards and seem to have the best odds when it comes to inserts:

• Superstar Celebrations 1:2
• Fantasy Squad 1:2
• Elite Skills 1:2 
• Mascot 1:2
• Opening Day Stars 1:2
• Blue Border Parallels (sequentially numbered)
• Printing Plates (sequentially numbered)
• Opening Day Autographs 1:142

By now we should know what we're getting with Opening Day, but let's go ahead and bust the pack and take a look at the cards.


#161 Hunter Pence (Phillies)
#098 Ben Zobrist (Rays)
#104 Alexi Ogando (Rangers)

#146 Ian Desmond (Nationals)
#135 Josh Reddick (A's)
#176 Geovany Soto (Cubs)
#038 Brett Myers (Astros)
#175 Jason Bay (Mets)
#001 Ryan Braun (Brewers)

#100 Matt Kemp (Dodgers)
 
#FS-27 Mike Stanton - Fantasy Squad (Marlins)
  
#061 C.J. Wilson - Blue Border #0602/2012 (Angels)

#M-13 Dinger - Mascots (Rockies)
#047 Nick Swisher (Yankees)
#128 Lance Berkman (Cardinals)

#201 Jose Reyes (Marlins)
#126 Danny Valencia (Twins)
#087 Ryan Howard (Phillies)
#192 James Shields (Rays)

#186 Martin Prado (Braves)
#185 Jeff Niemann (Rays)

#200 Albert Pujols (Angels)
#190 Stephen Strasburg (Nationals)

#163 Heath Bell (Marlins)

This was a good pack for me as I got a Brave and 3 other players I collect (Berkman, Pujols & Bell).  The look of the card is what I expected - lack of foil which for me is an enhancement to the design. 

As far as the inserts go I was glad to see that the gold foil stamping has returned for the serial numbering on the parallels...even though the parallels seem pointless to me.  Since the Mascots have been done before I could do without those.  The Fantasy Squad cards are OK looking, but nothing spectacular.  I had to resort to Google image searches for the other inserts.  I like the Superstar Celebrations, but the Elite Skills are just too bland for me.  The only inserts I'm chasing this year are the 3D Opening Day Stars.  That has kind of become a thing for me...chasing the various 3D card sets.

All in all it's decent product for the price.  I know Topps isn't targeting hardcore collectors here and that is OK.  Like with many hobbies kids are the lifeblood.  I'm all for anything that drives more people to the hobby and I hope that is the case with 2012 Topps Opening Day.