The 2024 Topps Sapphire set brought its signature design to the entire 700-card Topps flagship set, imbuing the issues with a blue gem pattern. But it wasn’t that base blue that got fans hunting. Sapphire parallels upped the ante, with collectors mining the product for RC rarities of exciting young talents such as Elly De La Cruz. Of the six Sapphire parallels, two feature a 1/1 print run – Superfractors and Padparadscha Sapphires such as the De La Cruz on offer here. However, Padparadschas were seeded an average of 1:418 packs, making them harder to pull than Supers found 1:314 packs.
De La Cruz is one of the standouts of the 2024 Topps Chrome Sapphire checklist, making this prized Padparadscha parallel one of the biggest hits of the entire product. With Elly leading the league in stolen bases en route to a top-10 finish in MVP voting in his first full season in the bigs, marquee issues such as this could quickly cruise up the ranks of the most important cards of this decade. Bidders will want to make sure they’re moving with Elly-like quickness during Extended Bidding this month, as this Padparadscha gem is likely to garner a deep vein of interest.
The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 11/27/2024.
