Buzz Break: 2021 Topps Heritage baseball cards (hobby box)

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The box: 2021 Topps Heritage baseball cards (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby)
First Buzz preview, SPs & checklist: Click here

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 9
Cards in this box: 217
Base set completion: 
197 of 400 (49 percent)
Duplicates: 2

Notables on base cards – Mike Trout, Bo Bichette, Shane Bieber, Freddie Freeman, Max Fried, Yu Darvish, Anthony Rizzo, Jesus Luzardo, Michael Conforto, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Joey Votto, Clayton Kershaw, Albert Pujols, Rhys Hoskins, Miguel Cabrera, Nick Solak, Gleyber Torres, Aaron Judge, Josh Donaldson, Juan Soto, Christian Yelich, Fernando Tatis Jr., Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Nico Hoerner, Ronald Acuña Jr., Keston Hiura, Luis Robert, Bryce Harper, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Cody Bellinger, Jose Abreu, Brett Phillips, Randy Arozarena

Rookie Cards (24) – Joey Bart, Dalton Varsho, Ryan Jeffers, Brady Singer, Nick Heath, Sixto Sanchez, Jesus Sanchez, Jo Adell, Deivi Garcia, Ian Anderson, Cristian Javier, Kris Bubic, Triston McKenzie, Luis Garcia, Cristian Pache, Ryan Mountcastle, Bobby Dalbec, Nate Pearson, Tom Hatch, Tanner Houck, Sam Huff, Ryan Castellani, Ashton Goudeau, Anderson Tejada, Leody Taveras, Estevan Florial, Clarke Schmidt, Jorge Mateo, Edward Olivares, Kodi Whitley, Roel Ramirez, Ali Sanchez, Franklyn Kilome, Dylan Carlson, Alec Bohm, Spencer Howard

Insert/short-print cards: 17 (all in gallery below with some base)
Short-prints (Nos. 401-500) (8) – Robinson Cano, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Kwan-Hyun Kim, Jake Arrieta, Colten Brewer, Jorge Polanco, Lance McCullers Jr., Zack Britton
Jumbo box-topper (1) – Starling Marte
New-age Performers (1) – Alec Bohm
Baseball Flashbacks (1) – Milt Pappas
News Flashbacks (1) – Bobby Fischer
Then & Now (1) – Jim Palmer & Gerrit Cole
The Great One (2) – Roberto Clemente
Chrome Refractor (1) – Sonny Gray (/572)
Color-swap variation (1) – Mike Trout

Autographs/Memorabilia: 1
Real One Autographs (1) – Ian Anderson

What's Buzz-worthy: First pack here? The Ian Anderson auto. Not long after that? A one-in-312 color-swap variation of Mike Trout. The first card would have made this an A+ box but add the big fish and tack on a one-in-161 Chrome Refractor and this box was just plain nutty ... and that's without including all of the RCs and stars found here. The insert lineup is clearly optimized for this format -- blasters are too lean -- but they are comfortable here (though not super-plentiful). Throw in all those In Action stars and rookies atop their standard cards and this one is a super-saturated break that, well, I might be back in on hard to some degree after previously wondering whether I was going to dig into the 1970s years of Heritage like I have in the last decade. (I'm year to year but this one has warmed on me.) This one is lean on the star power in the SPs (a good thing to me, perhaps not to sellers) and then full of quirks and chase if you buy in bulk and this box shows why more packs is a good thing -- yet all three of those rare cards technically wouldn't be found in the same box. I'll take it. The frames are colorful and quirky -- a little overwhelming on the shared RCs -- but this one is cleaner and crisper than the original and the high volume of rookies and stars makes the first series here very strong unlike the last couple years. Also, check the gallery ... there's one card of a notable young player who was mistakenly left out here who will appear in the High Number release later this year. All in all, this was a great box for a strong annual brand. Hobby can definitely be worth the rip on this one.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: A+ (Anderson ink, Trout variation and sooooo many RCs and stars)
Fun Grade: A (hobby is by far your best format to rip this one)

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