Buzz Break: 2020 Topps 206 Series 1 MLB cards (two boxes)

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The box: 2020 Topps 206 Series 1 baseball cards (two boxes)
First Buzz Preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (when available)

Keep reading to see a full breakdown of what was in this one as well as a gallery.

Cards per pack: 10
Cards in this lot: 20
Base set completion: 
15 of 50 (30 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Johnny Bench, Roberto Clemente, Mike Schmidt, Carl Yastrzemski, Gleyber Torres, Gerrit Cole, Andrew Benintendi, Blake Snell, David Dahl, Freddie Freeman, Scott Kingery, Patrick Corbin, Amed Rosario

Rookie cards (2) – Justin Dunn, Zack Collins

Insert/short-print cards: 5 (all cards in gallery below)
Piedmont back (4) – Tyler Glasnow, Corey Seager, Carlos Correa, Charlie Morton
Sweet Caporal back (1) – Bobby Bradley (RC)

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: Just 74,997 packs of this one were ordered as part of this online release that includes autographs and plenty of parallel cards in the mix -- and every box will include at least two Piedmont back parallels. This pairing of boxes included a Sweet Caporal back (one in three packs) that offered a little variety but still not enough oomph for me. I landed a couple of RCs and the rarest card here is a RC parallel, too, but the best names in this small first series (Mike Trout, Babe Ruth) though I did land a good volume of Hall of Famers for a 50-card set. There are six other mini types to chase here -- some as rare as just one copy -- but they are one in six boxes or higher, which seems a little steep for boxes with a $14.99 initial price tag. I'm generally a pretty big fan of tobacco card releases -- and I like these as minis only -- but this one wasn't meaty enough for me to do more. (The small size of the series makes a basic set more do-able so that's perhaps an incentive to buy a few boxes.) I'll probably just pick off singles that stand out to me going forward based on how the Series 2 checklist looks right now. (They are available for another six days or so.) Had I landed a Trout or Ruth -- or something a little more scarce -- I might have a little better reaction but I also think people buying this one probably have a decent idea of what they are getting. It's not flashy, it's just small and solid -- and if somebody opts to build master sets of all five series, they will have a serious winner on their hands. I'd also expect that the sales for later waves to be a little lower here, which also will make that challenge even harder. Over the longer term, traditional-looking cards like this one without a traditional pack format or boxes readily available at shops or retail could be a serious, serious sleeper with cash potential for the diehards who try those master sets. Later series' checklists will be worth close looks when they arrive.

Product Grade: B
Box Grade: B (not flashy this time ... but also nothing deficient)
Fun Grade: B

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