Buzz 8 in 8: Busting 1979-80 Topps basketball cards (Hour 3)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 8 in 8 -- a series of a eight breaks of wax boxes and wax packs in as many hours today. We'll post one every hour ... this is Hour 3.

The pack: 1979-80 Topps basketball cards (wax pack)
The cost: $15 (will vary when you find -- click here for newer NBA)

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

Cards per pack: 12
Base set completion: 
12 of 132 (9 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – George Gervin, Wes Unseld, Robert Parish, Bob McAdoo, Darryl Dawkins, Mitch Kupchak (see all in gallery below)

Inserts: None

Autographs/Memorabilia: Not for a few years.

What's Buzz-worthy: Have you, for whatever reason, really wanted to find one particular common player's card in top grade but just can't fend off the realities of decades of abuse on the loose prevent that for singles, that even out of brand new packs cards yield cards that are nowhere close to 10s and the reality that a top grade on some years simply may not be possible? This is one of those steps for me. This set isn't a particularly tough one to find and it's really only got one important Rookie Card -- Hall of Famer Alex English, who's cheap -- but it's that condition stuff that, wow, is even a shocker here. I've picked off some bulk lots of my particular wanted common -- we'll see how things work out at some point later this year and I'll tell the story then -- but didn't find anything that I felt was unquestioned PSA 10 or a super-high BVG card if I were to slab it myself. I figured I'd try a pack ... and nada. I got four Hall of Famers out of this pack -- a pretty good number as there aren't even 30 HOFers in the set -- but two of them were damaged by the gum or the wax holding the pack shut. The centering and the cutting, particularly the bottom border, are an issue across the board for this release and not helping things is the fact that 1970s NBA stuff, while not expensive, can be tougher to find than you might think. There's just a sliver of this stuff out there compared to baseball and football from the era -- and I won't even mention 1979-80 hockey. (You should know why.) While everybody throws their money at 1980s NBA stuff from Fleer and Star -- and one memorably funky set with two Hall of Famers' RCs in one -- I'd argue that 1970s NBA is as untapped and undervalued as it gets with not that much left to go around. The set is small enough that finding your particular one player is roughly one in 11 packs if the collation was perfect, though you'd need more because of gum and wax stains. The only risk, beyond condition, is the potential for searched packs from this timeframe so be cautious on that front. I had to try it ... but for this price and return I'll hunt my top-condition common out in the wild.

Product Grade: A- (it's not flashy but it's still affordable, which is a plus to me)
Pack Grade: B+ (condition hurt this time)
Fun Grade: B

What's next? Be back in an hour ...

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