Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2016 Donruss Optic Baseball
2016 Donruss Optic Baseball features a 175-card base set. The design is a chrome version of their Donruss release. Think Topps Chrome vs Topps. Optic was new to baseball in 2016.
Included in the base set are 45 rookie cards. There are a handful of decent names including Aaron Nola, Kyle Schwarber, Corey Seager, Trevor Story and Trea Turner. There are, of course, a bunch of parallels as well. Holo is Optic’s version of the Refractor. In addition to these, there are 11 other color parallels to chase down, many of them being serial numbered.
Each boxn averages two autograph cards. Players range from prospects to Hall of Fame legends like Ken Griffey Jr.
2016 Donruss Optic Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 4
Packs per box: 20
Price paid: $65
With only four cards per pack, I will show every card in this box.
Shop for 2016 Donruss Optic Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1:
Giancarlo Stanton, Orlando Arcia The Prospects, Zack Greinke DK & Tyler Duffey Autograph
With two autographs per box (on average), a Tyler Duffey autograph in the first pack does take some wind out of the sails.
Pack 2:
Alcides Escobar, Adam Jones, Henry Owens RC & Jeremy Hazelbaker RC Holo
Pack 3:
Kris Bryant, Buster Posey DK, Miguel Cabrera Holo & Cal Ripken, Jr. Masters of the Game Blue (112/149)
Pack 4:
Dallas Keuchel, Evan Longoria, Tom Murphy RC & Trea Turner RC Holo
Turner finished second in the 2016 NL Rookie of the Year voting. Corey Seager won the award.
Pack 5:
Jacob deGrom, Brandon Drury RC, Aaron Nola RC Holo & David Price Illusion
Pack 6:
Steven Matz, Matt Carpenter, Jonathan Lucroy DK & Jake Arrieta Back to the Future
Pack 7:
Nelson Cruz, Alex Rodriguez, Tyler Duffey RC & Michael Brantley DK Holo
Cruz ranks in the top 40 all-time with 464 career home runs.
Pack 8:
Eddie Rosario, Albert Pujols DK, Matt Holliday Holo & Jerad Eickhoff RC Aqua (289/299)
Pack 9:
Buster Posey, Noah Syndergaard, Greg Bird RC & Josh Donaldson DK Holo
Pack 10:
Salvador Perez, Odubel Herrera DK, Socrates Brito RC Holo & Brian Johnson Optic Autograph
Just halfway through the box and I expected not to pull another autograph. I was wrong.
Pack 11:
Chris Sale, Miguel Cabrera DK, Jason Heyward DK Holo & Kaleb Cowart Studio Autograph
Pack 12:
Evan Gattis, San Diego Chicken, Trevor Story RC & Stephen Piscotty The Rookies
Pack 13:
Cole Hamels, Brandon Phillips DK, Xander Bogaerts Holo & Corey Seager Studio Autograph Blue (25/50)
Clearly the best card in the box! Seager was a big pull back in 2016, and he is still a stud shortstop today.
Pack 14:
Andrelton Simmons, Aledmys Diaz RC, Jerad Eickoff RC Holo & Orlando Arcia Studio Autograph
Pack 15:
Mookie Betts, David Price, Alex Rodriguez DK & Clayton Kershaw Holo
Pack 16:
Maikel Franco, Charlie Blackmon, Aaron Nola RC & Mariano Rivera Masters of the Game
Very aptly named insert set, as Mariano has the most saves (652) in baseball history.
Pack 17:
Adrian Beltre, David Ortiz, Tyler Naquin RC & Nick Markakis DK Holo
Pack 18:
Billy Burns, Troy Tulowitzki, Jacob deGrom DK & Andrew McCutchen Holo
Pack 19:
Trea Turner RC, Prince Fielder, Evan Longoria DK Holo & Ichiro Suzuki Carolina Blue (49/50)
As if there wasn’t enough in this box already, an Ichiro parallel limited to just 50 copies is icing on the cake.
Pack 20:
Albert Pujols, Ryan Braun, David Price DK & Eric Hosmer Holo
Lastly, the Pujols card back. I would certainly take full career stat lines over that short story on the bottom, but that’s just me.
Obviously, this box was much better than average. It might even be considered a hot box. No, they weren’t all stars, but five autographs in a box that’s only supposed to have two is a win.
Shop for 2016 Donruss Optic Baseball cards on:
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
