2007 Topps Series 1 Retail Jumbo/Rack Box

[PROGRAMMING NOTE:  I'm going to be upfront:  this wasn't a terribly exciting box.  Hence the occasional digression, including Youtube clips.  Enjoy.]

FINALLY a baseball box review.  I somehow missed out on getting a hobby box of 2007 Topps Series 1 a couple years ago, and had maybe 100 cards from various packs, so when I was ordering some other boxes, I decided to grab this one to hopefully finally complete my set.

While I couldn't expect much out of this box, it actually turned out to be interesting, in a way, as you'll find out below.  I did have previous experience with a box like this--2006 Topps, in fact.  At the local Meijer I saw what I thought was a rack box on sale for about $20 and immediately grabbed it.  Like this one, it actually turned out to be a box of those weird hanging jumbo-type packs that sell cheap because they don't have any inserts.  In this case, though, you at least get a stick of gum, I guess.  That box underwhelmed me since it didn't really help me much with my set and gave me a lot of crap doubles.  Anyway, on with the review.

• Purchased from/price:  Dave & Adam's Card World, $21.95
• Packs/cards:   24 packs / 22 cards
• Set size:  330 base cards (technically including the Jeter + Mantle/Bush)
• Key features:  Not much, really.  The stale stick of gum in every pack?
• Key cards:  #40, a variation of a Derek Jeter card with the Mick and Chimpy McFlightSuit shoop'd in (I can tell by some of the pixels).

(I couldn't find the Simpsons "Chimpy McFlightSuit" clip, so here's "Hail to the Chimp" instead)

Here's what the packs look like--note the gum separated into its own compartment on the left

Sample front and back

The key Jeter variation (I've circled Mantle and GWB)

• Set completion:  330/330 (100%)
• Extras:  198 (technically--see below)

• Inserts:  Nope (none expected)
• Autographs:  None (none expected)
• Relics:  None (none expected)

• Best pack:  Nothing really stood out much, but #4 did have these players:  Brandon Webb, Greg Maddux, Mike Sciosscia, Johan Santana, Scott Rolen and Albert Pujols
  
• Worst pack:  The only one I opened that was entirely doubles (again, see below)
• Quality control:  10/10  Nothing was really damaged, and I give Topps big points for learning from 50+ years of experience and separating the gum from the cards 
• Collation:  10/10  I pulled a full set, and even got smart with the doubles (I keep teasing this, but read on below)
• Value: 9/10  One full set and a bunch of extras for about $20 (plus three-year-old gum, if you're interested in that kind of thing).  No inserts, though 
• Set design and player selection:  9/10  I ding sets like this a point because those black borders are prone to showing flaws like bad corners and edges.  Other than that, I like the front and back design.  This was a typical Topps set of vets, rookies and subsets, which was fine
• Inserts and extras: 7 /10  This is where I most have to criticize the box--for its lack of any kind of inserts--but at the same time it's important to be fair about it.  You're not led to believe you'll get anything extra, and for the price you do get cards and gum, so it's not exactly unreasonable.  Also, the Jeter card is decently cool, and somewhat valuable thanks to is SP-ness--

Ok, I was up-front about digressions in this post, and now I have to admit that I made that last comment as an excuse to post one of my favorite (but relevant) clips from "The Critic", a show gone too soon:

I loves me some Maurice LaMarche doing is inimitable Orson Welles impression, be it on "The Animaniacs", "Pinky and the Brain", "Futurama", you name it. 

Overall score:  45/50

Besides the fact that I easily completed the set, here's the biggest reason I liked this box, even without the promise of pulling anything extra:  unlike my usual box busting process, on a whim I began sorting packs as soon as I opened them.  About nine or 10 packs in, I pulled one that was entirely doubles.  Remembering that Topps (and most other manufacturers, I'm sure) doesn't believe in being random with packs, and knowing that I could see the top and bottom card on each pack, I scanned each and separated out the ones that had cards I'd already pulled.  Because I did that, I only ended up with the one pack full of doubles.  Doing the math, 15 was enough to complete the set, and that left me with eight unopened packs instead of a bunch of semi-useless doubles.  Look for those eight extra (unopened) packs in some sort of future giveaway (that doesn't necessarily involve shameless self-promotion)

We have a baseball team too

 Michigan Wolverines: Rich Hill, J.J. Putz