I recently put out a Twitter poll asking what topics you were interested in hearing more about in the coming months. You responded.
Read More7 Awesome Mookie Betts Cards (for less than $5)
For the first several years of his career, Mookie Betts may have been one of the most overlooked superstars in the game when it came to the popularity and prices of his trading cards.
Read More2019 Topps Opening Day Review and Box Break
The Topps Opening Day brand debuted as a retail exclusive set for the 1998 season, and it returns again for 2019 in both hobby and retail outlets. The kid centric release contains 200 base cards and a slew of inserts that focus on the “lighter side” of the game.
Read More2019 Topps Release Calendar
Here is the complete 2019 Topps Hobby release calendar plus I’ve included an easy to share, easy to reference guide!
Read More2019 Donruss Set Review and Box Break
Collectors seem to fall under two camps when it comes to Panini products, especially Donruss. One group loves the “retro” feel and the lower price point. The other group can’t get past cards without MLB logos.
Read More2019 Topps Heritage Set Review
I’ve become a sucker for Heritage. I love it.
It’s a perfect set builders product, it still has hits to chase, and the inclusion of errors, box toppers, and other variations provide some variety that many other products don’t have.
The 2019 version brings us into the 70’s with the grey bordered 1970 set being the focus. Some early reviews have proclaimed this to be their least favorite design so far, but I like it!
Base and Parallels
Once again, the base set is 500 cards with cards 401-500 being short printed. This year, the majority of the stars will be in the short print run which has singles sellers rejoicing and set collectors reeling. Instead of the $2-3 short prints sold for last year, they are going for 3-$10 pretty regularly on eBay.
It seems some early eBay pre-sellers haven’t fully picked up on this fact and have kept their set prices similar to last year, instead of raising the price to reflect the star power of the short print checklist.
Black Border and Flip Stock parallels will be included in hobby boxes and will be limited to print runs of 50 and 5 respectively. French Back parallels are new this year and it appears they will be found in both hobby and retail packs. Chrome cards are back with a 100 card checklist and include a variety of colors and print runs ranging from unnumbered Hot Box refractors to the 1/1 Superfractors.
A 100 card Silver Metal parallel is new this year, and it appears to be similar to the retail “foil” cards of years past. There is some overlap between the Silver and Chrome checklists, but they are not identical. These will be numbered to /70. Last but not least, the mini-parallels will be found for 132 subjects and will be numbered to /100.
Inserts
Several insert sets are spread across the hobby and retail offerings. Candy Lids are a Target Exclusive, Cloth Stickers will be found at Wal-Mart, and Player Story Booklets are another retail exclusive. A 24 card Scratch-Off insert set will fall one per hobby box which makes it tough for those master set builders. Baseball and News Flashbacks, New Age Performers, and Then and Now sets are back again and fall anywhere from 1 in 12 packs to 1 in 20.
The Box Toppers will be a bit different this year with the inclusion of a 15 card Supers set, a 30 card Posters set /70, a 18 card “Teammates” set, and the traditional stamped buyback card. Once I opened one of these Supers I became a big fan. They aren’t quite as thick as the originals, but they sure look sweet. They seem to be holding their value pretty well too! Check out this link to see some of them for sale on eBay!
On Card autographs and a variety of game used relic cards can be found at a rate of one per hobby box with a typical case yielding 2-3 Autographs and 10-11 relic cards. Both Autos and Relics can be found in retail as well, but they are much harder to come by.
Break Review
Some large breakers have directed the pack odds and similar to the story with 2019 Series 1, master sets will be harder to build and serial numbered content will be more watered down across the larger print runs. After opening my whole case, I ended up four inserts and 12 short prints short of a master set. Needless to say I’ll be picking up those last few cards to finish it off!
Check out one of my hobby boxes below and while you’re at it, I’d appreciate if you subscribed to my YouTube channel!
This was my first box, and after that the next 8 or 9 were pretty weak. I pulled a couple low end autos and nothing else to get very excited about. Then finally in box 11 I pulled the beauty below. I can barely describe my excitement! I’ve wanted a Nolan Ryan Auto for quite a while, but I never really felt drawn to a specific card. The vintage look and feel to this one, combined with the on-card nature of the auto makes this a perfect addition to my collection.
Conclusion
Overall, I’m again pleased with my Heritage experience. From a financial perspective, many flippers and breakers will find it harder than ever to get a good return due to the increases in production, however some new items like the super box toppers have been a surprise value add. From a collector’s perspective, there is a ton to love. The look and feel is great, the variations and short prints create a bit of a challenge when building sets, and the inserts and box toppers provide some variety that we don’t always see in other releases.
Did you open any? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.
If you like the vintage style cards, you may also like reading about the Topps Living Set.
To complete your own set, I’d recommend checking out what is available on both eBay or Sportlots.
The Definitive Guide to Shipping Sports Cards via USPS
Postage costs are a big expense component when selling sports cards and we should do our best to ship in the most efficient and cost effective manner.
Read More7 Awesome Nolan Ryan Cards (For less than $5)
This week we are going to take a look at 7 Nolan Ryan cards from my personal collection that I find interesting. Action shots, uniforms, and even a little blood find their way into the list of cards!
Read More7 Awesome Bo Jackson Baseball Cards (For less than $5)
If you grew up in the 80’s, it was hard to not be a Bo Jackson fan. Bo was everywhere. Bo broke bats. Bo played football. Bo wore Nike’s, and as they taught us, Bo Knows!
Read More1963 Fleer - Small but Mighty
In 1963 Fleer created a set with current players that directly competed with Topps. The single series 67 card set drew the ire of Topps and created an interesting story of cards, cookies, player exclusives, and legal battles that would play out over the next two decades.
Read More2019 Topps Series 1 Set Review
Some say the hobby has never been stronger. Others will say we ready for a massive crash. Based on early reports, 2019 Topps Series 1 could be the product that shows which of these scenarios is closer to reality.
Read MoreTanner Jones: Cardboard Confessions
In Confessions Of A Baseball Card Addict, Tanner Jones tells how he bought, sold, and traded his way into the largest Jose Canseco collection in the world. He shares the lessons he learned about collecting, and more importantly what he learned about himself along the way.
Read More1987 Topps: A Great Set, or the Greatest Set?
This is a set that is hated by some, but loved by many. On the 25th anniversary of their first wood grain bordered set, Topps brought back the lumber for the 1987 release.
Read MoreCOMC Site Review - A Hobby Resource in 2020
If you are looking for a place to search an inventory of millions of cards, see front and back scans of each one, and be able to combine purchases from multiple sellers into one low cost shipment, then COMC is a site you need to check out.
Read More4 Collecting Goals for 2019
I am motivated by goals. Yet, despite being such a big part of my life in many areas, I realized I’ve never really taken the time to create actual collecting goals for myself. That changes in 2019!
Read MoreYear End Update: 2018 Purchase Plan = Profit!
I preordered 16 cases of 2018 Topps products to see if I could make a profit while adding to my own collection. Well, the results are in and at the end of the year I had a ROI of…….
Read MoreWelcome to the Topps 582 Montgomery Club!
In what is becoming a fascinating social experiment inside the card collecting world, I present the Topps 582 Montgomery Club. What is the Montgomery Club you may ask? Good Question. Two months in, many members are still asking themselves that same question.
Read More2018 Bowman Draft: All the Hype!
The 2018 Baseball Card release year closes out with a focus on prospects. Check out my review and box break of 2018 Bowman Draft!
Read More2018 Topps Heritage Minor League: Life on the Farm
It’s time for 2018 Topps Heritage round 3. This time the Minor League Prospects get all the attention. Find out more about this set and what I found inside my two hobby boxes!
Read More2018 Topps Update Set Review and Box Break
Opening boxes of Topps Update while watching playoff baseball has become one of my favorite things to do, and this year is shaping up to be one of the funnest breaks in quite some time.
Read More