Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2021 Topps Opening Day Baseball

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It is here. It is finally here! Does it feel like Christmas Eve to anyone else? Opening Day is tomorrow!

A new season. A fresh start. Anything is possible! Players have changed teams. New rookies will be called up (after service time limits kick in, of course).

For the next seven months we will have baseball! 

It made way too much sense to break a box of 2021 Topps Opening Day this week. As always, the set design mirrors the Topps flagship brand, with the addition of the Opening Day logo on the front of each card.

There is also an insert in every pack. So while the base design looks the same, all of the inserts are new.

Hits are extremely tough to come by in these boxes. Autographs are found just once in almost 20 boxes. 

2021 Topps Opening Day Baseball Box Break

Cards per pack: 7
Packs per box: 36
Price paid: $50 

Shop for 2021 Topps Opening Day Baseball boxes on eBay.

Pack 1 highlights:

Cody Bellinger (I still don’t think this looks like Bellinger), Dylan Carlson RC, Miguel Cabrera & Texas Rangers Opening Day (1:5.1 packs)

Pack 2:

Christian Pache RC, Keibert Ruiz RC, Adalberto Mondesi, Jose Berrios & Mariner Moose Mascots (1:3 packs)

Pack 3:

Rafael Devers, Deivi Garcia RC, Jose Altuve & Derek Jeter Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 4:

Christian Yelich, Eloy Jimenez, Kenta Maeda, Rangers Captain Mascots (1:3 packs) & Max Kepler Opening Day Edition (1:9 packs). The Opening Day Edition parallels really pop.

Pack 5:

Marcell Ozuna, J.T. Realmuto, Matt Chapman, Paul Goldschmidt & Mark McGwire Outstanding Opening Day (1:8 packs)

Pack 6:

Austin Meadows, Max Fried, Shohei Ohtani, Trevor Bauer & Mr. Met Mascots (1:3 packs). It will be interesting to watch how Ohtani does this season. Hopefully he can stay healthy and be the amazing two-way player we have seen flashes of. He has certainly been hot at the plate this spring, batting .552 with 5 home runs. 

Pack 7:

Max Kepler & Greg Maddux Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 8:

Nico Hoerner, Mookie Betts, Bobby Dalbec RC, Zack Greinke & Oakland Athletics Opening Day (1:5.1 packs)

Pack 9:

Ian Anderson RC, Bo Bichette, Ryan Braun & Bernie Brewer Mascots (1:3 packs). Anderson broke into the majors last year as a 22-year-old rookie. He started six games in the regular season, posting a 1.95 ERA. He was even better in the postseason, starting four games and allowing just two earned runs. 

Pack 10:

Trevor Story, Kris Bryant, Zac Gallen, Joey Votto & Reggie Jackson Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 11:

Chris Sale, Chris Paddack, Stephen Strasburg Photo Variation (1:531 packs!!) & Willie Mays Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs). The photo variations are extremely tough to find in Opening Day. This card has been selling for around $50 so far on eBay. 

Pack 12:

Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber & Chicago White Sox Opening Day (1:5.1 packs)

Pack 13:

Kyle Lewis, Gavin Lux, Ketel Marte & Billy the Marlin Mascots (1:3 packs)

Pack 14:

Jack Flaherty, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Joey Bart RC, Nelson Cruz & Ichiro Suzuki Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 15:

Corey Kluber, Andres Gimenez RC, Anthony Rendon, Justin Verlander & Giancarlo Stanton Outstanding Opening Day (1:8 packs)

Pack 16:

Leody Taveras RC, Pete Alonso, Shane Bieber, Salvador Perez & Clayton Kershaw Outstanding Opening Day (1:8 packs)

Pack 17:

Justin Turner, Stephen Strasburg, Gleyber Torres, Yordan Alvarez, TC Bear Mascots (1:3 packs) & Trevor Story Opening Day Edition (1:9 packs)

Pack 18:

Starling Marte, Alec Bohm RC, Corey Seager, Anthony Rizzo, Evan White RC & Orbit Mascots (1:3 packs). Bohm had an impressive pandemic-shortened first season. He hit .338 over 44 games in 2020. 

Pack 19:

Dansby Swanson, Nate Pearson RC, Clayton Kershaw & Roger Clemens Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 20:

Andrelton Simmons, Casey Mize RC, Jose Abreu & Houston Astros Opening Day (1:5.1 packs)

Pack 21:

Brandon Woodruff, Freddie Freeman, J.D. Martinez, Tim Anderson, Max Scherzer & Ozzie Smith Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 22:

Manny Machado, Gerrit Cole, Victor Robles, Dustin May & Rosie Red Mascots (1:3 packs)

Pack 23:

Yadier Molina, Triston McKenzie RC, Xander Bogaerts, Aaron Nola & Stan Musial Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 24:

Charlie Blackmon, Randy Arozarena, Yu Darvish & San Diego Padres Opening Day (1:5.1 packs)

Pack 25:

Jacob deGrom, Giancarlo Stanton, Jo Adell RC, Alex Bregman & Clark Mascots (1:3 packs)

Pack 26:

Willson Contreras, Blake Snell, Luis Robert, Nolan Arenado & Chicago Cubs Opening Day (1:5.1 packs). It is weird to see Arenado playing for the Cardinals after his eight seasons (and eight Gold Gloves and four Silver Slugger awards) with the Rockies. 

Pack 27:

Trent Grisham (if you are looking through your older cards, Grisham used to go by Trent Clark), Ozzie Albies, Jose Ramirez, Patrick Corbin, Luis Castillo & Tony Gwynn Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 28:

Joc Pederson, Eduardo Rodriguez, Whit Merrifield, Cleveland Indians Opening Day (1:5.1 packs) & Willy Adames Opening Day Edition (1:9 packs)

Pack 29:

Lorenzo Cain, Javier Baez, Justin Upton, DJ LeMahieu, Josh Donaldson & Ace Mascots (1:3 packs)

Pack 30:

Craig Kimbrel, George Springer & Jackie Robinson Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 31:

Tyler Glasnow, Jon Lester, Byron Buxton & Kirby Puckett Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs)

Pack 32:

Walker Buehler, Jesus Luzardo, Albert Pujols Outstanding Opening Day (1:8 packs) & Mike Trout Opening Day Edition (1:9 packs)

Pack 33:

Buster Posey, John Means, Francisco Lindor, Sixto Sanchez RC, Albert Pujols & Sluggerrr Mascots (1:3 packs). It looks like Sanchez is going to start the year in the minors. I don’t expect it will be very long before he is back on the mound for the Marlins. 

Pack 34:

Juan Soto, Andrew Benintendi, Mike Soroka, Rhys Hoskins, Ramon Laureano & Javier Baez Outstanding Opening Day (1:8 packs)

Pack 35:

Cavan Biggio, Mike Trout & Rickey Henderson Legends of Baseball (1:3 packs). It’s great to be able to pull twelve different Legends of Baseball inserts.

Pack 36:

Ryan Mountcastle RC, Tarik Skubal RC, Fernando Tatis Jr., Aaron Judge & Wally the Green Monster Mascots (1:3 packs)

Lastly, the Tatis card back. There is plenty to be excited about with the young Padres superstar. Let’s all hope he can stay healthy and continue to live up to the lofty expectations many have for him.

As you can see, there are no guaranteed hits in a box of Opening Day. For some, that is a deal breaker when deciding on what products to buy. Clearly, that’s not the case for me. The price has certainly come up since last year (along with everything else in the hobby right now), but it is still fairly reasonable with a $50-60 price tag.

I definitely got lucky to pull an Image Variation. Those are extremely tough pulls, and do carry a nice value. 

Likely included mainly for young collectors, I am not a huge fan of the Mascots insert cards. I am also not a huge fan of the team Opening Day inserts. As a player sorter, the team cards kind of throw me off. Do I put them with the most prominent player in the photo, or with the team logo cards from yesteryear?

I definitely do appreciate the inclusion of the Legends of Baseball insert set. Those can definitely help the younger generation learn about and appreciate the old timers. 

I would love to see this product back down to pre-boom pricing, but it is still a fun rip at $50.

Shop for 2021 Topps Opening Day Baseball on:

Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site, like eBay, and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission.
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2 comments

  1. Jeffrey A Freeman 1 April, 2021 at 06:20

    I bought 4 packs of this product at a buck a pack and somehow pulled an on-cards auto. Thankfully it wasn’t a mascot auto but it’s also not a player, not even a scrub. No, it’s Met’s announcer Gary Cohen, a bald man, and it’s horizontal. But it’s on card.

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