In our newest, Better Than a Box, we will pit the hitter known as “The Polar Bear,” Pete Alonso up against a box of 2022 Finest Flashbacks Baseball cards.
Finest Flashbacks, a Topps.com exclusive, offers just that- current player cards printed using the designs of Topps Finest cards. Its a decent idea if not an original one. You can pull Wander Franco RCs and other cards but nothing too crazy.
Each five card, 18-pack box features one parallel refractor. That’s not much for right around $240, which is what these now sell for online. We will give you four single cards of the Mets superstar slugger you can own for the same cost of opening this box.
Alonso burst onto the scene in 2019, crushing 53 home runs and setting the MLB rookie record for long balls in the process. Not surprisingly, he captured the NL Rookie of the Year award.
The two time NL All-Star is currently leading all of Major League Baseball in homers. Alonso is piecing together the building blocks of a potential Hall of Fame career and stacking dingers with the best of the modern era.
Here are four cards you can use as the cornerstone of an Alonso collection for the same price as the aforementioned box.
The Rookie Card
We are definitely leading off this collection with a deep home run as we have selected a 2019 Topps Five Star Autographs rookie card. A great looking card from a higher end product with an on-card autograph is a wonderful way to start off our collection. With 2023 sales generally sitting between $125 and $175, this will eat up a large chunk of our budget but this beauty is definitely worth every penny. You could make the case of choosing this card alone over what would be found inside of that Finest Flashback box.
The Autograph Card
Even though our rookie card pick offered a bonus autograph, we will still add our usual autograph card to our Alonso collection because at this point, you can still snare a 2018 Bowman paper Prospect Autograph that dates prior to his major league debut for a very attractive price. Yes, it’s a sticker auto, but that’s par for the course on some early player issues He was “Peter” back then, too, which helps date this one to a day when he was little more than a gleam in the eyes of hopeful Mets fans.
The Game Used Card
Our choice for the game used portion of our collection features a 2022 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection game used bat card of the former Florida Gator. For less than five bucks, we add a card that is listed as carrying a chip from a game used bat.
The Serial Numbered Card
The final piece of this Alonso set is our serial numbered card. We chose the very sharp 2022 Topps Allen & Ginter blue refractor which also doubles as a jersey color match to the nice blue of the Mets uniforms. Numbered to a somewhat limited 150 copies, this is limited but definitely very attainable for any collector with most now selling for under $5.. As an added bonus, you get a nice picture of Pete cheesing, with a big bright smile of his face to round out your collection.
We think we’ve offered some very solid Pete Alonso options as some food for thought as you ponder the current cost of wax. The choice, as always, is yours.
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