Topps Fire is a retail exclusive to Target stores. It has a terrible return on investment for the flippers, and even collectors that want to recoup some of the box cost. But….it’s a very unique product that is much different from other baseball card releases.
A few years ago when Topps Fire debuted, it became a hot commodity on the sealed wax flipping market. So…I dove in. Topps Fire burned me. I was left with a few boxes I didn’t want, had to open, and lost a bit of money.
Still, I liked the product even though it was worth slightly more than a wax box of 1991 Fleer. Moving forward, I wanted to open some Topps Fire blasters, but just a few boxes.
Topps Fire released a couple weeks ago and my local Target store was stocked with them…until someone cleared the shelves. That someone was probably the same person peddling the $20 blasters on Facebook Marketplace for $35. Spoiler Alert: that same seller still has them for sale nearly three weeks later. They got burned by the Topps Fire.
Target was restocked with Topps Fire a week later, and my local store was chocked full of it. Probably 15 blasters and about a dozen of the “hobby” boxes that are $70 and include two autographs. Personally, I wouldn’t pay $50 for the guaranteed two-autograph boxes.
As I walked up to the card section there was a sign stating “more sports cards available at service desk.” I was actually in search of Stadium Club, and also hoping that some basketball was available at the service desk to flip to pay for any baseball I would buy.
All that was left at the service desk was a couple blasters of Topps Chrome and a couple hanger packs of Chrome. Limit one each per customer. I passed as that ship has sailed.
Topps Fire it is. I grabbed five blasters as that puts me right around $100, and knowing that there is likely no more than $40 or $50 in cards I pull. Again, I’m a collector on this product and I feel that $100 spent will be fun opening the blasters. Not everything about the hobby is ROI.
The young lady at the check out lane told me she could only sell me four of the boxes. That was perfectly fine to me. She added, “I don’t know what is going on, but sports cards are crazy.”
My total spent on the four blasters was around $85. I pulled TWO autographs from the four boxes. One of the autographs was even numbered /50, and it’s a player I have never heard of, Rangel Ravelo of the St. Louis Cardinals. It sold for $5 shipped, so that tells you the type of value inside Topps Fire.
The other autograph, as of this writing, is still for sale in my eBay Store. It is a rookie auto of Jake Rogers from the Detroit Tigers, and I have it listed for $6.
Surpisingly, I did pull a card that sold for more than $20. It was a gold parallel of Luis Robert, and it sold for $23 shipped.
Even though the return was not a concern to me, I do feel it necessary to report my sales since I brought it up. Most of the cards I listed have sold with a few dollar cards still available along with the Rogers auto. My gross sales to date are $68, which is better than I expected.
Even though the return was not a concern to me, I do feel it necessary to report my sales since I brought it up. Most of the cards I listed have sold with a few dollar cards still available along with the Rogers auto. My gross sales to date are $68, which is better than I expected.
Now, let’s take a look at the Chicago Cubs cards from 2020 Topps Fire. First, I want to share probably my favorite base card to date from 2020. Sammy Sosa.
Admittedly, I was upset with how Sosa’s Cubs career came to an end, but over time I want to see him back in the good graces of the organization and welcomed back. He was such a big part of the 1990’s not only in Chicago, but baseball in general. Also…this Topps Fire design screams the 90’s.
Adbert Alzolay gets a rookie card in Topps Fire, and I love it.
Another Cubs rookie making this year’s Topps Fire set is Robel Garcia, although he is no longer with the team. And in just four blaster boxes I am well on my way to a Robel Garcia rainbow. I have the base…
And the flame parallel.
And the blaster box exclusive gold mint parallel.
And the orange parallel serial numbered /299.
Back to the base with Kyle Schwarber. Look closely, and that bat looks destroyed. There are a lot of marks on the barrel of the bat.
You can’t have Bryant
Without the Rizzo.
Moving on to a parallel and insert.
Here’s another Cubs rookie and this is the gold parallel of Danny Hultzen.
Finally, Jason Heyward gets an insert card in the Arms Ablaze set. It appears all of the insert sets are gold.
That was a fun rip. In all, I pulled 14 Cubs cards in the four blasters which I was very happy with. What do you think about Topps Fire?