Buzz Break: 2014 Topps Heritage baseball cards (gravity box)

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The box: 2014 Topps Heritage baseball cards (gravity feed retail box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading for a full breakdown and a gallery for this throwback break.

Packs per box: 36
Cards per pack: 9
Cards in this box: 324
Base set completion: 
291 of 425 (68 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Roy Halladay, Ryne Sandberg, Terry Francona, Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, David Price, CC Sabathia, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Buster Posey, Josh Donaldson, Andrew McCutchen, Christian Yelich, Giancarlo Stanton, Prince Fielder, Lance Berkman, Jason Heyward, Kirk Gibson, Clayton Kershaw, Don Mattingly, Matt Kemp, Robin Ventura, Adam Dunn, Yu Darvish, Max Scherzer, Chris Sale

Rookie Cards (20 cards, 40 rookies) – Notables include Xander Bogaerts, Jonathan Schoop, Yordano Ventura, Jimmy Nelson, Billy Hamilton, Nick Castellanos, Taijuan Walker, James Paxton (high-number boxed set is loaded)

Insert/short-print cards: 33 (all in gallery below with some base)
Chrome Refractors (1) – Jurickson Profar (/565)
Chrome (1) – Jordan Zimmerman (/999)
Short-prints (Nos. 426-500) (12) – Anthony Rizzo, Stephen Strasburg, Joey Votto, Curtis Granderson, Pedro Alvarez, Andrelton Simmons, Mark Trumbo, Pablo Sandoval, Matt Moore, Ryan Zimmerman, Adrian Gonzalez, Greg Holland
Then and Now (4) – Sandy Koufax & Yu Darvish, Willie McCovey & Joey Votto, Roberto Clemente & Miguel Cabrera, Maury Wills & Jacoby Ellsbury
New-age Performers (6) – Stephen Strasburg, Carlos Gonzalez, Carlos Gomez, Chris Davis, Pedro Alvarez
First Draft (3) – Nolan Ryan, Johnny Bench, Graig Nettles
Baseball Flashbacks (3) – Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Ernie Banks
News Flashbacks (3) – Joe Namath, The Sound of Music, The Rolling Stones

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: This is by far one of my all-time favorite years for vintage cardboard (1965 Topps) and Topps Heritage in its 20-year run. This box, while not on the cheap side, offers a lot more volume of packs (36) compared to a hobby box (24) but at a fraction of the price these days -- the cheapest hobby box on eBay is $250 right now with the only typical difference being a likely Relic and an action variation, though rarer SPs and ink might be found there. There are autos and Relics found here -- as well as a number of the SPs -- though at longer odds. Autos start at one in 265 while Relics start at one in 69, so roughly every other box. This one delivered the exact correct number of SPs and it actually over-delivered as the Chrome Refractors are one in 49 packs. Most of the variations -- click here for a rundown as this one arrived pre-Buzz -- key upon the team logo in the pennant but there are others. I didn't land any of those this time but they can be in there. (I actually pulled a lot of inserts from these boxes back in the day -- they delivered way better than the odds indicated -- and that's also what got me to bite here.) These are general retail gravity boxes -- I'm not sure how many were made for that but it seems that all versions are really scarce. The Walmart and Target versions have Blue and Red parallel cards that can deliver well and flow often ... also something to consider with older boxes and pack lots. Ultimately the results here were closer to average but the release is not -- and it's bargain-priced right now. If you didn't dabble back when these arrived, you might consider it now -- there's huge upside here if you beat the odds with rare stuff ... and some of those variations might be in really, really big demand now since master set collectors might not have seen them in a long time. It's not the safest rip, but it's also not that dangerous, either, considering the volume of stuff you get here and the prices for a lot of boxes out there these days -- and who knows when you might see these again once they are gone?

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: B (good volume but nothing truly big this time)
Fun Grade: B

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