Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2026 Topps Series 1 Baseball
Spring training is in full swing! Games are happening every day, and even the World Baseball Classic starts up soon. That can really only mean one thing … that Topps Series 1 Baseball is already available to collectors!
2026 Topps Series 1 Baseball consists of a 350-card base checklist, with a second 350-card checklist later to be included in Series 2. Each base card is available in a bevy of parallels these days. There are 19 different parallels of each card that can be found in hobby boxes; there are dozens of other parallels that are exclusive to other formats. Each base card subject is also available in a Golden Mirror Image Variation card. These have become extremely popular among collectors, but they are certainly NOT easy to find.
The rookie checklist in this release seems to be pretty strong! Look for first flagship cards of Jonah Tong, Jacob Misiorowski, Payton Tolle, Carson Williams, Jakob Marsee, Samuel Basallo, Cam Schlittler, Jac Caglianone, Colson Montgomery, Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel, Nolan McLean, Bubba Chandler and Chase Burns, among others. Very strong rookie class!
Each hobby box should come with a relic or autograph card.
2026 Topps Series 1 Baseball Hobby Box Break
Cards per pack: 12
Packs per box: 20
Price paid: $100
- Buy 2026 Topps Series 1 Baseball boxes — eBay | Amazon
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Pack 1 highlights:
Patrick Bailey, Clay Holmes, Ronny Mauricio and Judge/Bichette/Wilson AL Batting Average Leaders
What do we think of the new base design?
Pack 2:
Jacob Misiorowski RC, Jac Caglianone RC, Fried/Rodon/Judge, Butler/Kurtz, Brayan Bello and Roman Anthony Big Ticket Player (1:16 packs)
Pack 3:
Riley Greene, Drew Gilbert RC, Bubba Chandler RC, Oneil Cruz, Giancarlo Stanton, Soto/Lindor and Cam Schlittler Purple Rainbow Foil RC /250 (1:93 packs)
Pack 4:
Peralta/Luzardo/Webb NL Wins Leaders, Bobby Witt Jr., Luisangel Acuna, Mookie Betts and Christian Yelich 1991 Topps (1:4 packs)
The 1991 Topps inserts pay homage to one of the better base designs, in my opinion, with the team color frames from the 35-year-old set.
Pack 5:
Jo Adell, Ronald Acuna Jr., Hunter Brown, Philadelphia Phillies and Athletics
Pack 6:
Jackson Merrill, Marcelo Mayer, Evan Carter and Ronald Acuna Jr. Profiles (1:16 packs)
These Profiles inserts copy the original 1996 insert set. Back then the profiles were written by Tony Gwynn and Kirby Puckett, now we get Griffey!
Pack 7:
Fried/Crochet/Rodon AL Wins Leaders, Raleigh/Judge/Pasquantino AL RBI Leaders, Carlos Narvaez, Jacob deGrom and Dansby Swanson Major League Material Relic (1:91 packs)
Pack 8:
Josh Jung, Geraldo Perdomo, Francisco Lindor, Roki Sasaki, Jose Ramirez and Derek Jeter 1991 Topps (1:4 packs)
Pack 9:
Austin Riley, Logan Gilbert, Rafael Devers, Skenes/Yamamoto/Sanchez NL ERA Leaders and Giancarlo Stanton Rainbow Foil (1:11 packs)
With the uptick in print runs on all products, but flagship especially, it has become increasingly tough to pull parallels. When the numbered Gold parallels were first introduced in 2001, they were found 1:17 packs. Now? Just 1:49 packs.
Pack 10:
Jacob Wilson, Roman Anthony RC, Payton Tolle RC, Jose Altuve, Joe Ryan, Coby Mayo, Schwarber/Ohtani/Soto NL HR Leaders and James Wood 2025 Greatest Hits (1:15 packs)
Pack 11:
Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuna Jr., Jackson Holliday and another Athletics team card
Pack 12:
Samuel Basallo RC, Alejandro Kirk and Basallo 1991 Topps (1:4 packs)
Pack 13:
Junior Caminero, Carson Williams RC, Shota Imanaga, Marcelo Mayer, Raleigh/Judge/Paquantino AL RBI Leaders, Nick Kurtz and Chandler Simpson
Pack 14:
Colton Cowser, Cristopher Sanchez, Aroldis Chapman 2025 All Topps Team (1:34 packs) and Mayer/Anthony
The gold foil on these All Topps Team inserts really pop! When I pulled it I assumed it was a much tougher card to pull because of the quality.
Pack 15:
Dalton Rushing, Ceddanne Rafaela, Logan Gilbert, Xander Bogaerts, Skubal/Brown/Crochet AL ERA Leaders and Colson Montgomery RC
Pack 16:
Washington Nationals, Byron Buxton, Rafael Devers and Colby Thomas 1991 Topps (1:4 packs)
Pack 17:
Corey Seager, Payton Tolle RC, Jose Altuve, Clayton Kershaw, Max Fried, Shohei Ohtani, LA Dodgers and Adam Frazier Green Rainbow Foil /99 (1:237 packs)
Clayton Kershaw gets that one final flagship base card, the way it should be. Kershaw announced his retirement following last season.
Pack 18:
CJ Abrams, Masataka Yoshida, Corbin Carroll, Kyle Schwarber 2025 Greatest Hits (1:15 packs) and Boston Red Sox
Pack 19:
Logan Webb, Raleigh/Rodriguez, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yanquiel Fernandez Rainbow Foil RC (1:11 packs)
Pack 20:
Garrett Crochet, Brice Turang, Luke Keaschall and Riley Greene 1991 Topps (1:4 packs)
The Crochet card back. It’s a pretty standard flagship back, as usual.
Last but not least, the silver pack. I always save these to rip last.
Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Bryce Harper and Julio Rodriguez
Well, clearly the Schlittler parallel rookie card was the pull of the box, by far! Tough pull of a player that has shown some promise already. We will see what he turns into with some more time in the bigs.
Baseball is back! That must mean spring here in New England is right around the corner, right? Right?!?
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
