In the last few editions of Bowman and Topps products, they have included a wrapper redemption aimed at rewarding people who open packs and send in the packaging for special cards. As I have said on numerous occasions, giveaways are awesome, and we should be pretty happy that they continue to be included in products despite the cost of producing them. Of course, that is never the case, but I think that the positives of Blue Wave redemption packs far outweigh the negatives.

Here are the most memorable ones over the last few years:

2012 Bowman Chrome Blue Wave Oscar Taveras Auto RC

2012 Bowman Chrome Red Wave Bryce Harper

2012 Topps Chrome Blue Wave Alfred Morris Auto RC

2012 Topps Chrome Blue Wave Andrew Luck Chuckstrong Variation

The main positive of this whole program, which has been done in both baseball and football, is that the entire thing is a toss in – save the small shipping costs of sending the wrappers to Topps. No return shipping or cost to do so, and you will get your cards in the mail. Additionally, the cards’ pattern is exclusive and very cool, which makes the results incredibly valuable, a bigger added bonus in tow. Lastly, Topps has included rare parallels and autographs in every wrapper redemption they have done, including on card autos in some cases. Cant beat that.

There are some MAJOR negatives, especially on the football side, but many of them should have been considered with the way the cards are done. Time spent waiting for the cards is the biggest issue that has been experienced, as we see months go by without updates or information on the status of the packs. Similarly, the packs all come with clear cellophane packaging, which means they cant be re-sold due to searching. Lastly, there have been complaints on collation, as autographs, big names, and parallels seem to be clumped together. Not really sure if anything can be done when the program is thrown together so quickly to mitigate complaints on time, but its worth looking into.

I was lucky enough to get a blue wave pack with one of my football redemptions, and I absolutely love the way the cards turned out. These examples are some of the best giveaways that are done across the hobby, but its all about how much patience and understanding that people possess in the results they receive. Witj small amounts of patience, and no understanding of the process, its likely that this isnt for you. That’s not saying that Topps should get better at putting this together now that its been done so many times, but it is a test of one’s resolve in a lot of cases. The worst part is, not everyone is privy to that mentality, thus causing a lot of frustration.

Although we have already gotten word that the program is in play for 2013 Bowman, being released next week, we still do not have confirmation if its being revisited for Topps Chrome later this year as well.