Topps Chrome 2023 was released in September. The set has received good reviews for its quality control (we won’t dwell on the debacle from last year) as well as its impressive rookie class.
But what most collectors of Topps Chrome probably didn’t realize is that this would mark the introduction of “Tacofractors”. Yes, Tacofractors, taco baseball cards.
Details of the TacoFractor have finally been revealed by Topps. It’s a TacoBell promotion that will award “TacoBell For Life” to the TacoFractor cardholders who hold the card of the player who steals the 1st base during the World Series. More details are below.
So what do we know about this non-mysterious parallel and perhaps more importantly… why?
Check for prices of 2023 Topps Chrome Rangers and Diamondbacks Tacofractors on eBay
Ketel Marte stole the first base during the World Series, meaning that if you are one of the lucky collectors holding a Katel Marte 2023 Topps Chrome Tacofractor card, you will win Taco Bell for Life per the terms of the “Steal Taco Bell for Life” promo which combined the rare cards with a real-world outcome.
Marte stole the base during the top of the third inning of the Rangers/Diamondbacks game on Friday night becoming the promotion’s “Taco Hero” and giving a few fans Taco Bell for Life.
Any collector holding the card will have 10 days from now to redeem the card for lifetime tacos, which is actually being capped at $15,000 in Taco Bell gift cards. Speculation has swirled on the actual owners of the card on forums such as reddit/baseball.
At the time of the writing, Ketel Marte 2023 Topps Chrome Tacofractor cards 1/5 and 3/5 each have sold on eBay, in fact — multiple times.
As Marte and the Diamondbacks progressed in the MLB playoffs, the value of the card skyrocketed. Initial sales in August were in the $300-$400 range, whereas by the time a Marte Tacofractor sold in October 25th, it was snagged for $1,000.
Check out previous sales of Ketel Marte 2023 Topps Chrome Tacofractors on eBay.
With the World Series match-up between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers set, only collectors with one of these cards have a chance at scoring lifetime tacos if the player of the card they hold, steals the first base during the World Series.
Who is left?
Search for Arizona Diamondbacks Tacofractors
Search for Texas Rangers Tacofractors on eBay
The new Tacofractors are similar to other Topps refractor cards in that they are parallel to a base card.
However, unlike most parallels which may be orange, blue or purple, these have… tacos on them.
The cards are each numbered to five and can be found at a rate of 1 in every 8,000 packs. With a total of 200 cards in the set, there are only 1,000 of these cards in existence.
Very rare indeed, plus they have tacos on them, so there is that,
Check for prices of 2023 Topps Chrome Tacofractors on eBay
On October 5th, Topps announced that the Tacofractors would be part of the “Steal Taco Bell for Life” promotion which will run during the upcoming World Series later this month.
How it works is actually fairly simple: If you hold a Tacofractor of the player who steals the first base of the World Series, you will win TacoBell for Life.
More accurately, “TacoBell for Life” is a TacoBell digital gift card of $15,000 to be used on TacoBell purchases for the rest of their life (God help you if that isn’t enough to cover you for life).
In addition, collectors will also receive a check for $5,250 that will cover winners to “defray tax liability.”
There are five Tacofractors of each of the 200 base cards in the 2023 Topps Chrome set or 99 base cards or 5 Wild Cards in 2023 Topps Cosmic Chrome Baseball.
Collectors will have until December 31st to redeem their Tacofractor card for the “TacoBell for Life” promo.
To view the promo video of the TacoBell for Life promotion, go to Topps.com.
Included within the 2023 Topps Chrome Tacofractors are 5 Tacofractor Wildcard, which is included in Topps Cosmic.
At the time of this writing, there have been two of the five cards pulled, with one selling for an incredible $11,000 on eBay.
A second Wild Card was also recently hit by a New York collector during a break with Real Breaks Wisconsin. It was subsequently sold privately using the eBay sale as a comp.
If you are a collector holding a TacoFractor Wild Card, you may also win TacoBell for Life. If the player who steals the 1st base is not in the 2023 Topps Chrome set, those holding a Tacofractor Wild Card will be eligible for the prize instead
On the back of Tacofractor cards, collectors are directed to Topps.com/tacofractor to find more information about the card. Shortly after TacoFractors began turning up, a webpage went live but only featured limited information.
The page instructions informed collectors to “Please Hold onto your Tacofractor card” and to “Follow @Topps on social media to learn when we will have an exciting announcement.” Collectors are also encouraged to follow Topps on Instagram and Twitter for updates on the cards.
Now that the TacoFractor promo details have been released, there is much more information for collectors on how and why TacoFractors exist.
Obviously, tacos and baseball are not necessarily synonymous with each other so collectors are left pondering why Topps would put tacos on a card.
Fanatics is doing its best to shake up the sports card industry but adding taco parallel cards would seemingly be fairly far down on the list.
The natural conclusion to make was that Topps entered into a partnership with a company as a unique way to promote its brand.
The initial landing page didn’t tell us who that mysterious company was but America’s biggest fast-food taco restaurant would be a good guess given the purple checkered branding on both taco fractors and on the Topps tacofractor landing page.
Of course, we are talking about Taco Bell, a brand that does have some extensive history partnering with Major League Baseball including the famous “Steal a base. Steal a taco” campaign.
READ: Topps partners with Lids on Topps Chrome release
Now we know that this promotion is similar in theme, only with fewer winners and potentially a few “BIG” winners (or they will be big after taking full advantage of their winnings).
Check prices of 2023 Topps Chrome Tacofractors on eBay
As of September 26th, Topps was still teasing the TacoFractor with promos like these:
With only five cards of each in existence and mystery surrounding its utility, it’s no surprise that prices for 2023 Topps Tacofractors are doing quite well.
The cards that have sold on eBay thus far have fetched at least $250 with a 2023 Topps Chrome Masataka Yoshida rookie card Tacofractor selling for $995 in September.
Here are some September sales of Taco fractors on eBay. Tacofractors of players now not in the playoffs will undoubtedly sink as a result of the Tacofractors utility.
Now collectors with cards of Rangers and Diamondbacks Tacofractors saw a premium in the days leading up to the World Series.
Search for Arizona Diamondbacks Tacofractors on eBay
Search for Texas Rangers Tacofractors on eBay
The Tacofractor campaign appears to be working because the collecting community is talking about Tacofractors and the cards are selling for impressive figures.
Initially, there was much we didn’t know about the promo and the potential extra perks that could come with them. Now that we know the extra benefit of Tacofractors, TacoBell fans may start to crunch the numbers and figure out what players are most likely to steal that first base.
Maybe current prices are too low and now is a good time to snag a tacofractor of a player that is fast and is more likely to be World Series bound.
But with the cards as rare as they are (5 per card) there is a good chance that even if the taco element of the promo falls flat, collectors will still have a card that is both rare and collectible.
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