Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2023 Topps Black and White Baseball
Baseball is back! Players have reported to spring training sites. Last-minute signings are starting to heat up. Games even start this week. Winter is over and spring has begun. Right? Ok, not quite. I live in New England, I get it. Spring is coming, though.
2023 Topps Black and White Baseball was an online-exclusive product released in mid-November. The card design is somewhat self-explanatory, with cards featuring black and white photography. There are some good images as well. The main checklist has 100 cards with another 10 “high number” cards featuring legendary players being short prints. Each base card is available in seven different parallels, all of them being numbered. Photo Negative is the most common with 99 copies, while Full Color are the most rare and are one-of-ones.
There are also a handful of insert sets, and most are found with the same parallels. Golden Hour are limited to just 50 copies each. There are also autographs that fall about once every three boxes.
2023 Topps Black and White Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 10
Packs per box: 3
Price paid: $50
Shop for 2023 Topps Black and White Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1:
Jose Ramirez, Bryce Harper, Ronald Acuna, Jr., Mariano Rivera, Randy Arozarena, Spencer Strider, Aaron Judge, Grayson Rodriguez RC, Tanner Bibee Photo Negative RC (81/99) & Triston Casas Frame Rate Night Vision (16/25)
Not a bad start, with parallels of a couple of the top rookies from last season.
Pack 2:
Shane McClanahan, Bo Bichette, Corbin Carroll RC, Sammy Sosa, James Outman RC, Adley Rutschman RC, Josh Jung Rookie Resolution, Andy Pettitte & Aaron Judge Night Vision (24/25)
I am not sure anyone could complain after pulling a rare parallel of one of baseball’s top stars! Even a Sox fan, like myself.
Pack 3:
David Ortiz, Austin Riley, Anthony Volpe RC, Chipper Jones, Mike Trout, Mike Yastrzemski, Gerrit Cole, Jarred Kelenic, Spencer Strider Shutter Speed & Shohei Ohtani Sepia Filter (48/75)
An Ohtani Sepia parallel to finish it off.
Lastly, the Austin Riley card back. Topps went very generic here on the backs.
These cards are stunning. This happens to be one of the more popular online exclusives that Topps releases each year as it sells out quickly. The cards look great, and even base cards are in fairly short supply. I have seen estimates that base card print runs are under 3,000 copies each. That is miniscule compared to Topps flagship..
I didn’t pull an autograph but I think I still did well finding some good names in the parallels.
Shop for 2023 Topps Black and White Baseball cards on:
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
