A Holly Jolly Baseball Card!

The beginning of November signifies a few important things around my house. It is really my favorite time of year. Unfortunately, it signifies the end of Baseball Season and Halloween, which are two of my favorite things as well. But those negatives are offset by a lot of the positives that November brings. And Baseball will be back in a few months, right?

First, being from South Georgia, this is the time of year when the weather finally starts to feel like Fall. The temperature on Halloween night was finally low enough to wear a sweatshirt and toboggan. Around here, a toboggan is a ski cap and not a sled. We almost never have a need for a sled around these parts. But I absolutely love the weather when it is hovering in that lower 50 region.

November also means that football season is getting serious. The College Football Playoff rankings are finally released and teams are in the thick of conference play. Nothing beats conference play when it comes to college football. Georgia played Florida on November 2 and has Missouri on the 9th, Auburn on the 16th, Texas A&M on the 23rd, and then closes the season with a non-conference rival, Georgia Tech on the 30th. What a month of football!

As for the NFL, the games really start to matter because the playoff race is shaping up. The teams that are going to compete have separated themselves from the teams that will be vying for the #1 Pick in the upcoming draft; with the exception of those few teams that are hovering around .500 and trying to make some second half magic. But football isn’t football until you reach November. That is truly when the temperatures drop and the match-ups heat up!

For me, I don’t need much else besides cool weather and football to put a spring in my step. But this time of year also means that the Holiday Season is upon us. We are just a couple of weeks away from Thanksgiving, which is a dream holiday for a fellow that likes to eat the way I do. We go to a couple of different houses on Thanksgiving and we eat and watch football all day long! 

Then, after Thanksgiving, my family’s favorite holiday is front and center; Christmas! Christmas brings back so many fun memories of childhood for me and I try to relive those with my kids every year. We watch Christmas classics like “A Christmas Story” and “Christmas Vacation”, we go see Christmas lights in surrounding neighborhoods, and we decorate our home while Christmas music plays in the background. And, we watch FOOTBALL!

Even though November signifies the end of the Baseball season, Topps takes the opportunity to release one of the more anticipated releases for my two daughters each year; Topps Holiday Boxes. Both of them enjoy opening packs throughout the year but they get excited with big hits like dad does. They want a card that “a player wrote on” and cards with pieces of a jersey in them. But when it comes to Topps Holiday Boxes, they love every card they pull. And this year, they loved them even more!

Topps Holiday Boxes are found at Wal-Mart and I have seen them at both $19.99 and $22.48. The boxes come with 10 packs of 10 cards each and contain 1 autograph or relic card. There are also Silver Metallic cards that are found 1:2 packs on average, so expect about 5 of those as well.

The set contains 200 cards and this year, there are some new short prints (SP), super short prints (SSP), and super rare super short prints (SSSP) to be found in the set. The SP’s are found 1:7 packs, SSP’s are 1:20, and the SSSP’s are 1:161 on average. Thankfully, as he normally does, Ryan Cracknell has provided collectors with a handy-dandy checklist with photos and codes so your search can be made a little easier. That article can be found HERE.

The set includes all of the top rookies from this year and the variations make some of them pretty valuable. If you are lucky enough to pull a hot rookie super rare variation that is a silver metallic, well, you need to go buy a lottery ticket! Also included in 2019 boxes is the chance to pull Santa Hat player worn relics and even a Santa Claus autograph! Paging 1990 Pro Set!!

The design is what makes this year’s version stand out for me over previous years. I have always been a “border guy” when it comes to sports cards. And 2019 Holiday does not disappoint. Last year, there were just snowflakes around the edges. This year, they brought a nice green border over half of the card that was infused with holly. The rest of the card edge has a snowy finish with more infused holly. Some people may think it’s corny, but I love it and so do the Lil Dub’s!

The variations are where things get super fun for the Lil Dub’s. I had them go through the cards and try to find the hidden objects. Some were pretty easy to find but some are more difficult. Fortunately, I pulled the base Shohei Ohtani here so they spotted the filled stocking pretty quickly.

As for the relics, some of these are still just plain one color swatches; but I still like the “Christmas Present” design they come with. Base relics fall at an average of 1:11 packs. The fun Holiday Relics are tougher and land at 1:638 packs. And while I have never been a “manufactured relic” guy, I think I would be fine with pulling one from this checklist that includes the likes of Ebenezer Scrooge, Santa Claus, and Frosty the Snowman. Those are REALLY difficult with stated odds of 1 in every 4,782 packs.

There are base autographs (1:334 packs), Relics Autographs (1:3,619 packs), and Holiday Relics Autographs (1:6,619 packs), and the autograph pulls are difficulty to say the least. With 10 packs per box, just a base autograph would fall 1 in every 33 boxes. That makes an autograph a really nice pull!

The set “is what it is” for most hardcore collectors; a novelty. But for $20, it is a great way to incorporate pack ripping with the rest of the family during the most festive time of the year. It has a way of making you forget about chasing some super-refractor of a player we’ve never seen play and just helps you focus on the cards. And that is really what made all of us start collecting, isn’t it? I give the 2019 Topps Holiday Box a “5” on the Dub-O-Meter and it is really pretty easy this year. The design is really fun for me in the setting that I am opening with my kids. And anytime you can combine cold weather, Christmas, fun with the family, and baseball cards, what else could you ask for?

J-Dub