Buzz 12 in 12: Busting 2001 Topps Heritage baseball (Hour 1)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour all day long ... this is Hour 1.

The box: 2001 Topps Heritage baseball cards (blaster)
The cost: Will vary depending on if/where you can find

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Packs per box: 7
Cards per pack: 8
Cards in this box: 57
Base set completion: 
47 of 310 (15 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, Jay Buhner, Roberto Alomar, Paul Konerko, Manny Ramirez, Sandy Alomar, Edgar Martinez, Juan Gonzalez, Larry Walker, Harold Baines, Tino Martinez

Inserts/short-prints: 10 (all in gallery below with some base)
Black-back variations (3) – Barry Bonds, Mike Lamb, Rafael Furcal
High-number short-prints (Nos. 311-407) (5) – Scott Rolen, Glendon Rusch, Mike Benjamin, Ruben Rivera, Sidney Ponson
Then and Now (1) – Duke Snider & Sammy Sosa
New-age Performers (1) – Vladimir Guerrero

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: When a box of this iconic brand presented itself on the cheap -- about $20 less than the norm. One thing people may not realize? The odds divide between retail and hobby isn't that vast for this release and hobby boxes will cost you plenty and they're available more often despite those similar odds. Because you may not land a whole lot of premium cardboard in a box -- of either format -- I was more comfortable busting a blaster. My first pack delivered a Ken Griffey Jr., while my second offered up a Jim Thome but it was overall a relatively modest box. The Barry Bonds variation was also a better find along with a Scott Rolen among the high-numbers but a lot of these cards aren't all that pricey because a lot of it was ripped. The concept of Heritage -- a set of new players using old designs -- has lasted every year since then and we'll get the start of the 1970s next year and it helped spawn so many throwback releases across the collecting spectrum (even non-sports has done it). Its importance and influence is right up there and the popularity of the brand has to be right there among the hobby as a whole. This one was the first but a lot has changed since 2001 when this one was among a few product lines thrown out to help commemorate the company's 50 years of cardboard. It's a landmark release and it's got some really crazy inclusions -- how about 1952 Topps Willie Mays autographed cards as super-rare hobby box-toppers? -- and some great finds. They're just not easily pulled. Without this one, there would be a lot of collectors who would have missed out on a lot of cardboard since.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: B+
Fun Grade: B+

What's next? Be back in an hour ...

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