Even More 2019 Panini Prizm; Hobby Box Round 2

A busy blog post schedule has kept me from writing this recap post until today, but I actually purchased a 2nd hobby box of 2019 Panini Prizm last Saturday at my LCS. 

After purchasing both a hobby box at the Mansfield show and a mega box at Target over the last few weeks, I set out on an insane and (slightly) unrealistic project regarding the 2019 Panini Prizm set. 

The project is something I foresee myself gradually building over the course of many years as well as something that I can take a quick break from collecting from time to time. 

Granted, it's almost impossible to acquire over 20 different parallels from each of the 300 cards in the 2019 Panini Prizm base set, but I thoroughly enjoy opening Prizm packs in addition to all the unusual parallel cards.

To me, if Panini Prizm had the MLB license, it would be head and shoulders above sets like Topps Chrome. I've grown used to the logoless caps and jerseys so long as Panini makes up for it with a colorful and/or interesting card.

Clearly, Panini accomplishes this with the 2019 Panini Prizm product, and that's why I've been raving so much about these cards. Ultimately, this drove my decision to pick up 1 more Prizm hobby box. 

After which, I'll turn to COMC, Sportlots, and card shows for the thousands of cards remaining in this crazy project of mine.

Even though the hobby box break delivered far more doubles than I would've liked, I still pulled cards that I needed for all different aspects of this project, including the standard base cards. 

Given all the fabulous parallels and colorful cards within this product, I believe that the regular base cards are underappreciated. This year, Panini did an excellent job with the silver chrome stock cards, especially considering that they cannot use the MLB logos.

With a product like Panin Prizm, it is imperative that the base set is a perfect blank canvas for the surplus of bold and colorful parallels. The Prizm base cards accomplish that, and they allow the 25+ refractors to stand out the way they do.

As much as I appreciate the base cards, the main reason why I purchased another hobby box of 2019 Panini Prizm was the parallels. If I'm going to undertake this insane project, I need to acquire as many refractors as possible, so I was absolutely thrilled when I discovered that my 2nd hobby box was also a hyper blue Prizm hot box. 

While the plethora of hyper blue Prizms led to me pulling a reasonable number of parallel doubles, the hot box format also guaranteed 5 parallels per pack, including the 2 hyper blues. 

With 60 refractors across the entire 12-pack box, the 2nd Panini Prizm hobby box did not disappoint as far as Prizm parallels are concerned.

One of the main draws to the Prizm hobby boxes, whether it's a hot box or not, is the 3 silver parallels that you pull on average. It's challenging to differentiate the silvers from the base cards when scanned, but one of the 3 that I pulled was of Jackie Bradley Jr.

Throughout my Panini Prizm breaks thus far, I've struggled to pull virtually any Red Sox cards with the exception of Rafael Devers. I know for a fact that Andrew Benintendi, Mookie Betts, and J.D. Martinez are all in this product, so I'm surprised that I haven't landed any of their cards yet, not even base.

Hopefully, this Bradley Jr silver will jumpstart my luck and allow me to find many more Boston Red Sox Prizm parallels, even if I don't purchase any more packs of Prizm. 

At this point in the hobby box recap post, it's time to introduce the abundance of serial numbered Prizm parallels that I pulled. You may recognize many of the refractors from my initial box break, but all of the players are different 2nd time around. 

Starting with the most common of all the serial numbered Prizms, the beautiful blue mojos, serial numbered out of 399. Neither one of my hobby boxes hesitated to deliver quite a few of these refractors, but the players who I pulled were truly sensational in the 2nd box.

Rafael Devers is an excellent pull given how he's been playing so far in 2019, and Nolan Arenado is always a guy who you want to get. However, Mariano Rivera is definitely the greatest in this group. Cards like that make me appreciate the fact that a reasonable portion of the 2019 Panini Prizm checklist is dedicated to retired players.

The red mojo refractors, serial numbered out of 299, are the 2nd most common Prizm parallels within this product, and my box was generous, once again, when it came to these beautiful cards. Although the print run of these mojo cards may be high, the concept is so unique and unusual that I couldn't care less about how many are out there.

Like the blue mojos, the lineup of red mojo parallels that I pulled is very respectable. We have a player who's been swinging a hot bat in 2019 (Meadows), a reliable veteran (Freeman), and a Hall of Famer as well (Gwynn).

Plus, the combination of Corey Dickerson's gold and black uniform with the red mojo parallel is a daring yet sensational combination.

Out of all the different parallels that I landed in my original hobby box break, I most looked forward to seeing the lime green and neon orange donut circles cards in the 2nd box. Numbered out of 199 and 150 respectively, everything about these cards, from the design to the actual name, is incredibly special.

I didn't wind up with All-Stars and Hall of Famers like I did with the red and blue mojo cards, but I still ended up with 3 of each parallel. Plus, I need to acquire cards of superstars just as much as rookies in order to complete this project, so I have no problem pulling cards of players like Michael Perez or DJ Stewart. 

The donut circles parallels, regardless of the player, are exceptional. I can easily envision that one of my favorite parts of this project will be tracking down as many of these refractors as I can.

While the donut circles parallels are my favorites from the entire product, the zebra stripes Prizms will certainly go down as the most unique refractors in this entire product. I've seen these parallels in a couple of different Basketball products, and I was pleased to discover them in Panini Prizm Baseball as well.

My initial box break yielded 3 of the zebra stripes Prizms, but none of the players were of the caliber of Robinson Cano and Kirby Puckett. When you take into account how low of a print run these cards have (#/99), it's pretty incredible that I landed 5 in just 2 hobby boxes.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased that I landed this card of Cano, for he's one of the greatest active hitters in Baseball in terms of career stats. However, it's almost impossible to beat the combination of Kirby Puckett, the powder blue Minnesota Twins uniform, and the zebra stripes along the sides of the card.

Not only are these parallels incredibly interesting overall, but I'm also intrigued by the number of each Prizm refractor that I pull in each box. For example, the first hobby box delivered 2 of the blue wave parallels (Matt Chapman and Framber Valdez). 2nd time around, however, I pulled 1, but it was also an MVP caliber player (Jose Altuve).

Although the blue wave Prizms don't appear very blue neither in person nor when scanned, I appreciate the fact that Panini included them in the product. As crazy as all the different parallels are, it's nice to have something a little simpler than bright donut circles or zebra stripes.

They may not be very blue, but Panini, nonetheless, did an excellent job with the wave parallels.

In the first hobby box break, the lowest numbered cards that I pulled were the "blue" wave parallels (2 base cards plus 1 autograph, numbered out of 60 copies). However, I lucked out a lot more with my 2nd hobby box break with not 1, but 2 navy blue kaleidoscope parallels, serial numbered out of only 35 copies.

Honestly, the scan doesn't do these cards enough justice. They look far more beautiful in person, and they're definitely some of the most gorgeous cards in the entire set. Plus, it doesn't hurt that I landed 2 perennial All-Star players.

Manny Machado being on the Orioles isn't a result of Panini not having enough time to show him on the Padres. Instead, Machado, like Albert Pujols, has 2 different base cards in the set; he has 1 with the San Diego Padres and another with the Baltimore Orioles.

However, the combination of the navy blue parallel with Charlie Blackmon's Colorado Rockies uniform gives his card the slight edge, though both of the Prizms are absolutely stunning.

Even taking the navy blue kaleidoscope Prizm pulls (#/35) into account, I still pulled 1 last parallel with a lower print run; a burgundy shimmer refractor of Kevin Pillar, serial numbered out of 25 copies.

It's just a personal preference, but I actually prefer the kaleidoscope Prizms to the burgundy shimmer. Nonetheless, this low-numbered parallel is undeniably a beautiful card, and one of my favorites from the entire box. 

Like the Machado and Blackmon, this is my first look at the burgundy shimmer parallels, and I must say that I'm a fan. Kevin Pillar is a respectable veteran and one of the greatest defensive players in the league. 

He wouldn't have been my first choice for such a low-numbered Prizm, but he's also far from my last choice as well.

Truth be told, I don't even feel the need to showcase the autographs; I didn't pull anything spectacular and they're not that important to me. My love for 2019 Panini Prizm is primarily due to the extensive variety of parallels, and that's what I feel obligated to showcase in this post.