Chrome is Weird

Shiny and new and weird.

One of the things that fascinated me the most when I first came back to the world of baseball cards in the mid-aughts was the whole concept of a Chrome card. What would it look like? What would it be like to feel? And why would anyone in their right mind pay so much money for a pack of 3 or 4 cards?

If I remember correctly, the first Chrome card I ever owned was a 2006 Topps Chrome Skip Schumaker "rookie card", and it skewed my view just a bit. These things felt weirdly like a piece of glass to hold. They also tend to attract grease and dirt pretty easily! And here I was, last Saturday, plunking down $18 for a brand new blaster of this year's edition more or less to get a few trade bait cards I could flip. I won't make a habit of this, I promise.

The box began with a special 4-pack retail bonus full of sepia-toned refractors. I didn't do so well with these. In addition to Austin Jackson, I also found Mike Minor, Michael Cuddyer and Michael Taylor. Lots of Mikes, basically. In another pack, Brandon Crawford was a non-special refractor, just shining on his own.

I doubled up on Bryce Harper in the same pack, as you can see here. Are there any Nats traders out there, or did everyone throw their collections into the river after the Strasburg market took a critical dive?

This is a Prism refractor. It's not an X-Fractor. Don't get it twisted.

Here's a really nice shiny looking insert card of a guy I've never heard of. I am really glad the Jays went back to their more classic look.

Here's another refractor. The Mariners a sad lot.

Refractor Starlin says hello. I broke my "No Cubs" rule again, but mostly just to point out that Starlin has been terrible and also to complain because he's on one of my fantasy teams. Wah!

All of these cards are available, as well as the base cards I didn't even bother to mention. There were no Cardinals to be found.