First Buzz: 2025 Topps Cosmic Chrome baseball cards

[anusinha]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonkey

For those too lazy to click the link or read the entire thing.



"The Hobby Box UK has accused Fanatics employees of rigging box breaks and funneling high-value cards to specific dealers.

The most explosive claim?

A Fanatics employee allegedly told multiple breakers at the May 2025 London Card Show that he knew exactly who would pull a 1/1 Cristiano Ronaldo autograph—because the card was sitting in his hotel room.

The Hobby Box UK claims to have purchased video footage capturing this conversation.

At the London show, the Ronaldo box went to a well known UK breaker.

Later in the summer at The National in the USA, the same breaker allegedly confirmed the Fanatics employee gave him the box with the 1/1."

You have to be completely naive to think stuff like this isnt going on

[JoshMN]

Originally Posted by anusinha

You have to be completely naive to think stuff like this isnt going on

You are definitely not full of crap, anus. I agree 100%. They aren’t just pulling these 1/1s out of their ass…

[tyrith]

Originally Posted by dunquixote1

Yes I’m aware.

That being said, Stars In The Night Ohtani is selling for $200+. That’s wild. And Witt goes for over $100. Even for “early” standards that seems so high. Last years Ohtani was never $100 card and is still in the $50-75 range.

There’s demand for this product whether people like it or not. Breaks may not be selling fast but people are certainly buying singles.

Yeah, I was off on where things would be at the start. I don't see how these prices can hold, they are so far off prior years. Particularly base inserts. I was going to add Pursuit Suns to that, but frankly, they look pretty badass this year, so maybe they'll hold a premium.

[premium1981]

Originally Posted by johnlocke36

https://www.sportscardradio.com/fana...ocking-the-uk/

obv no idea if any truth to this or not but will be interesting to follow. but when you couple these accusations with the fact that math is obv impossible (doesn't mean rigging could be horribly QC) it doesn't look good

That's the most "Evidence" I have seen and I will also be interested to see how that plays out. One disgruntled employee doesn't prove anything but maybe a court case could bring more stuff to light.

[premium1981]

Originally Posted by wilsonsingles

A multi-million dollar not knowing where their top 20 hits are going is a laughable accusation. Calling it a pack out issue is even crazier.

Premium, you are way smarter than that.

I don't think its any more laughable than you claiming you know its going on with no proof. I have a logical thought process. I don't paint anything as all good, or all bad, or all conspiracies, or no conspiracies. I use the facts I have to make my decisions. I do not think the people running Fanatics are necessarily ethical in how they do everything.

Here is what we do know. These card manufactures have a hard time getting the products done correctly. You can go back to the Topps days of mini wood cards not being produced and packed into Ginter. Or to recent flagship releases where they forgot to make the black parallel's. Or their odds spreadsheets where they make copy and paste mistakes. That we know. They mess up A LOT. That is one of the main reasons I do not think they can mass direct their hits to specific breakers. And just to remind, if we are talking about the Rookie Debut Patch Autographs, they didn't even pull the big ones did they? Wasn't it mid tier and under pulls? It just doesn't add up. Even if they are competent enough to pull this off (I don't think they are) why would they go through all of that trouble to send them the crappy players of these great cards? Was the Nick Kurtz pulled on Fanatics? Was the Lebron super autograph? I genuinely don't know, but these are two recent big pulls that come to mind. If it was all a setup these type of cards would only be seen on Fanatics by their own breakers. Maybe they were, someone would have to confirm this yay or nay.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by premium1981

I don't think its any more laughable than you claiming you know its going on with no proof. I have a logical thought process. I don't paint anything as all good, or all bad, or all conspiracies, or no conspiracies. I use the facts I have to make my decisions. I do not think the people running Fanatics are necessarily ethical in how they do everything.

Here is what we do know. These card manufactures have a hard time getting the products done correctly. You can go back to the Topps days of mini wood cards not being produced and packed into Ginter. Or to recent flagship releases where they forgot to make the black parallel's. Or their odds spreadsheets where they make copy and paste mistakes. That we know. They mess up A LOT. That is one of the main reasons I do not think they can mass direct their hits to specific breakers. And just to remind, if we are talking about the Rookie Debut Patch Autographs, they didn't even pull the big ones did they? Wasn't it mid tier and under pulls? It just doesn't add up. Even if they are competent enough to pull this off (I don't think they are) why would they go through all of that trouble to send them the crappy players of these great cards? Was the Nick Kurtz pulled on Fanatics? Was the Lebron super autograph? I genuinely don't know, but these are two recent big pulls that come to mind. If it was all a setup these type of cards would only be seen on Fanatics by their own breakers. Maybe they were, someone would have to confirm this yay or nay.

I doesn't have to be either/or.

They can mess up a lot AND still be able to steer the huge 1/1 hits to preferred breakers.

Every box/case has a UPC.....it would not be hard to keep track of those 3-5 boxes with the biggest hits in any given product and steer them to desired recipients.

[dunquixote1]

I work as a quality consultant in manufacturing. I can tell you that nearly every item manufactured in large scale carries traceability information. The 3rd party Topps uses to manufacture cards has a decent idea of what's in what box based on box codes, pack codes, etc. The tricky part would be the logistics of directing specific product to specific consumers. But it can be done if they have tight systems in place. It just depends how intimate "certain people" are with the logistics side of it.

I also don't know if directing specific product would be a legal problem. If the claim is that pack opening is all "chance" - then it's gambling and should be regulated. Fanatics doesn't want that.

Maybe by directing product certain places they're reducing the "chance" side of things and it's an argument against the fact that it's gambling....if this came up in a regulatory review.

Maybe, just maybe, from a legal perspective Fanatics doesn't care if people know they're directing certain items. In fact....they may welcome it.

[RainCityShecks]

Originally Posted by dunquixote1

I work as a quality consultant in manufacturing. I can tell you that nearly every item manufactured in large scale carries traceability information. The 3rd party Topps uses to manufacture cards has a decent idea of what's in what box based on box codes, pack codes, etc. The tricky part would be the logistics of directing specific product to specific consumers. But it can be done if they have tight systems in place. It just depends how intimate "certain people" are with the logistics side of it.

I also don't know if directing specific product would be a legal problem. If the claim is that pack opening is all "chance" - then it's gambling and should be regulated. Fanatics doesn't want that.

Maybe by directing product certain places they're reducing the "chance" side of things and it's an argument against the fact that it's gambling....if this came up in a regulatory review.

Maybe, just maybe, from a legal perspective Fanatics doesn't care if people know they're directing certain items. In fact....they may welcome it.

I always assumed Topps product hits were all traceable to the box level. How else would they be able to complete the missing hit claims with accuracy and filter out the false claims? Has anyone ever filed a missing hit claim who DID get a hit and receive another from Topps? I doubt it.

[evileddie]

I am looking for Cade Horton, Moises Ballesteros, Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Julio Rodriguez if anybody has anything interesting. I don't need base.

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by evileddie

I am looking for Cade Horton, Moises Ballesteros, Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Julio Rodriguez if anybody has anything interesting. I don't need base.

Hit a starfractor of Cade and a nucleus refractor of Seiya. I think an insert of PCA and JRod too.

Feel free to reach out if interested in any.

[PeteD]

Originally Posted by anusinha

You have to be completely naive to think stuff like this isnt going on

Just read Card Sharks. heh


TOO THE ROOF!

[NHRonin]

Originally Posted by mfw13

I doesn't have to be either/or.

They can mess up a lot AND still be able to steer the huge 1/1 hits to preferred breakers.

Every box/case has a UPC.....it would not be hard to keep track of those 3-5 boxes with the biggest hits in any given product and steer them to desired recipients.

So why hasn’t anyone filed a complaints with DOJ? This is akin to a casino fixing the games and defrauding consumers. Fanatics publishes the odds and if Joe consumer, who isn’t a mega breaker, doesn’t have a chance at the big cards listed - thats fraud. At a multi-million dollar scale.

[livfreely]

Just like they say probstein wasn’t bidding on his own auctions lol


It’s rigged, and all for the “almighty dollar”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by mfw13

I doesn't have to be either/or.

They can mess up a lot AND still be able to steer the huge 1/1 hits to preferred breakers.

Every box/case has a UPC.....it would not be hard to keep track of those 3-5 boxes with the biggest hits in any given product and steer them to desired recipients.

EXACTLY.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by dunquixote1

I work as a quality consultant in manufacturing. I can tell you that nearly every item manufactured in large scale carries traceability information. The 3rd party Topps uses to manufacture cards has a decent idea of what's in what box based on box codes, pack codes, etc. The tricky part would be the logistics of directing specific product to specific consumers. But it can be done if they have tight systems in place. It just depends how intimate "certain people" are with the logistics side of it.

I also don't know if directing specific product would be a legal problem. If the claim is that pack opening is all "chance" - then it's gambling and should be regulated. Fanatics doesn't want that.

Maybe by directing product certain places they're reducing the "chance" side of things and it's an argument against the fact that it's gambling....if this came up in a regulatory review.

Maybe, just maybe, from a legal perspective Fanatics doesn't care if people know they're directing certain items. In fact....they may welcome it.

As an end-user of unopened Topps product, you're not guaranteed a chance at any specific card -- only certain kinds of cards based on overall odds. If Fanatics wants to direct certain hits or loaded cases to certain customers, they have plenty of wiggle room to do so.

Fanatics has plenty of incentive to make sure big hits and loaded cases are pulled by their most high-profile breakers on release day -- it offers them valuable marketing. Even if it invites plenty of negative reactions and conspiracy theories from skeptics and those in the know.

[anusinha]

Anyone notice that Topps chrome basketball has the individual packs stamped on the inside with tracking and time info?

[hermanotarjeta]

Someone on eBay pulled a 2025 topps gilded collection Cade Horton/199 out of a cosmic pack.

No information about this product has surfaced yet.

It’s good to know a card already has!

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by NHRonin

So why hasn’t anyone filed a complaints with DOJ? This is akin to a casino fixing the games and defrauding consumers. Fanatics publishes the odds and if Joe consumer, who isn’t a mega breaker, doesn’t have a chance at the big cards listed - thats fraud. At a multi-million dollar scale.

Because nobody thinks the DOJ would do anything about it.

The current administration is currently focused on pardoning fraudsters, not prosecuting them!

[TBTC Baseball]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

Someone on eBay pulled a 2025 topps gilded collection Cade Horton/199 out of a cosmic pack.

No information about this product has surfaced yet.

It’s good to know a card already has!

The “quality” keeps on coming. Gilded now becomes random inserts?
https://ebay.us/m/JvnNv5

[hermanotarjeta]

Originally Posted by TBTC Baseball

The “quality” keeps on coming. Gilded now becomes random inserts?
https://ebay.us/m/JvnNv5

It is interesting that the card is numbered CG-3 on the back.

In previous years, the cast in gold subset was numbered as part of the regular set.

I’m not sure what Topps is planning to do here.

[Archimedes]

Originally Posted by TBTC Baseball

The “quality” keeps on coming. Gilded now becomes random inserts?
https://ebay.us/m/JvnNv5

Now that’s an eBay 1/1!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bruin7]

It’s true the companies know what’s in what. I know for fact that Cryptozoic knew which case numbers (hand numbered on the case) had the red 1/1 & blue /5 inscription autographs. The printing company has a lot to do with this as they give this info to the company. No way Topps doesn’t know since they print it themselves.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by Bruin7

It’s true the companies know what’s in what. I know for fact that Cryptozoic knew which case numbers (hand numbered on the case) had the red 1/1 & blue /5 inscription autographs. The printing company has a lot to do with this as they give this info to the company. No way Topps doesn’t know since they print it themselves.

After my painting show was cancelled on PBS, I briefly worked corporate in a fortune 500 company producing hundreds of different products in the millions each. If there was a consumer complaint on a single item, we were able to track down to the second each step of the entire production process of that single item on manufacturing lines and any potential errors, mistakes, sensor misses, etc.

There is no doubt that Fanatics/Panini know where their numbered hits are. I've said it for years seeing how precise manufacturing is first hand. If they don't, they're doing a very very very bad job.

Originally Posted by dunquixote1

I work as a quality consultant in manufacturing. I can tell you that nearly every item manufactured in large scale carries traceability information. The 3rd party Topps uses to manufacture cards has a decent idea of what's in what box based on box codes, pack codes, etc.

This is similar to what I did and is exactly right.

[netmasters]

The first Otani Constellation is ending. These seem to be hot but are they really that SP?

2025 Topps Cosmic Chrome Constellation Variation #56 Shohei Ohtani SP

[anusinha]

Originally Posted by netmasters

The first Otani Constellation is ending. These seem to be hot but are they really that SP?

2025 Topps Cosmic Chrome Constellation Variation #56 Shohei Ohtani SP

They are cool looking