Buzz Break: 2020 Topps 206 Series 5 MLB cards

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2020 Topps 206 Series 5 baseball cards
First Buzz Preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

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

Cards per pack: 10
Base set completion: 
8 of 50 (16 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards – Anthony Rizzo, Lucas Giolito, Dennis Eckersley, Andres Galarraga, Mookie Betts, Eddie Murray, Will Smith

Rookie cards (1) – Bo Bichette

Insert/short-print cards: 2 (all cards in gallery below)
Piedmont back (2) – Kirby Puckett, Greg Maddux

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: With this year's first of 10 waves up for grabs out there now (I have one pack incoming soon), I figured I'd revisit one of the waves of last year's Topps 206 that I skipped. It paid off with the one Rookie Card I would have wanted to find -- and that got this one an A-grade from me. Just 29,341 packs of this final wave for this release were made with the final 50 2020 T206 cards in the mix. (They're not numbered ... just like the originals so the checklist at the link above is a key.) Others of note who might have been in this pack? Derek Jeter, Luis Robert, Ernie Banks, Lou Gehrig, Tom Seaver, Jim Thome, Ronald Acuña Jr., Juan Soto and Willie Mays for starters ... a pretty good lineup. I think my lone break of Series 1 left me kind of hanging wanting something more here and scared me off to some degree from looking into the others ... but the simplicity is key. That makes better pulls more important, too. Plus if you do the math on the packs, base cards per pack, base cards in the checklist ... there aren't as many copies per card here as you might think. (There should be under 4,700 copies per card -- rarer than a lot of stuff out there these days.) The parallels are part of the chase here -- along with that small checklist and only eight base cards per pack it's still a challenge -- and there is ink possible, too. With a lot of retail campers nixing the idea for blasters for me (and for many of you) for current releases, I think some of these single-pack offerings from the last few years might be worth the look for a collector, though there may not be as big of high-end potential here vs. other brands. You'll see more simple breaks here in the coming weeks (or maybe months) until production volumes perhaps get closer to normal. I prefer small breaks but with guaranteed hits on the bargain side of things but as people keep ripping many of those options are drying up. Stuff like this will, too, so if you've been interested in them this may be the time to grab some.

Product Grade: B
Box Grade: A- (two Hall of Famer parallels and one RC I wanted)
Fun Grade: B

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