2015 Panini Contenders Baseball Blaster Box

I've been looking forward to this. Contenders is something I've wanted to rip into for a while now but I haven't had the time to make it to the card shop to pick up a few packs. However, during a post-Christmas run to Target for some misc items, I made a quick stop by the card section and there it was, the last box of Contenders left on a shelf that had otherwise been picked clean. We've got seven packs with six cards per pack, let's dig in.

Here are the two guaranteed autographs ... Aristides Aquino and Max Wotell. Aquino played just up the road in Dayton this season for the Reds low-A affiliate there. Wotell looks to be an up and coming Mets prospect. These will go really nice is my box of "good stuff".

These cards are nice but they don't scan good at all. Anyway, these are some really nice young players that I didn't think I would land ... Alex Bregman, Andrew Benintendi (local guy!), and the top overall draft pick, Dansby Swanson. 

The thing I really like about Contenders is that you get older players mixed in with the newer players all in their college uniforms. I think that Ozzie Smith card with the black and white photo is great.

Some of the other cards I got in the box. Frank Howard in the OSU colors is a beautiful card. The collegiate connections inserts are pretty neat too, I like the one that shows Will Clark and Rafael Palmiero.

This was well worth the $20 price for a blaster and I'm definitely going to get more of this. For the price of nearly three packs in the card shop, you get seven here with two guaranteed autographs. I'll have this over Bowman any day of the week.