Card Curiosity

Ran 2 case breaks of heritage….. 24/24 on relics, not a single auto to be found…. @Topps @CardPurchaser

HERITAGE PYT #4! What a Case!

2026 Topps Heritage Analysis & Deep Dive Topps Heritage, a popular set among set collectors, offers the perfect blend of nostalgia and .......***RECORD SCRAAAATCH***........ Yeah, no. That's not how we do it around here. That's not why you Watch the Squatch. If you want pretty little polished write-ups wrapped in a bow, there are a lot of places you can go for that. Around here we keep it real. If a product is great, I'll gladly let you know. If it sucks, I won't sugarcoat it. If you like your deep dives spicy, factual, and loaded with way too many numbers...you're in the right place. Welcome to 2026 Topps Heritage. First off, it doesn't matter how badly the odds sheet guy butchers the thing, I assure you I will sift through the madness and make sense of it, no matter how long it takes. But let’s not pretend... this odds sheet is a mess. And not the “oops we made a typo” kind. The “let’s chum the water so much maybe the sharks will miss the mark” kind. I'm not sure exactly what they're trying to hide because, by and large, 2026 Heritage is a near mirror image of 2025 Heritage. Oh yeah, except for one major thing. So I guess I do know what they're trying to hide. And yeah, we'll get there... If you enjoy content like this, please consider joining me on Substack, where I keep my entire archive of 100+ product deep dives in a much more navigable catalog. @slabsquatch" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">substack.com/@slabsquatch Part 1: Odds Sheet Autopsy Total cards in product: 2026 Heritage- 82,164,240 2025 Heritage- 85,588,580 YOY: -4% (Yes, minus. So now we know it's possible.) Also relevant, 2025 Heritage High production: 14,221,090 total cards. It's a different animal, the High Number checklist and all. This is the one where Topps experimented with releasing Hobby boxes only, resulting in 1/6th the production of a typical Heritage release. I'll come back to this. Total base production: 2026 Heritage- 70,914,620 2025 Heritage- 73,258,150 YOY: -3.2% Base card print run: 2026 Heritage- 236,382 copies ea 2025 Heritage- 183,145 copies ea Though production remains essentially stagnant, base cards per player rose considerably thanks to 100 less subjects on the base checklist. Total production by format: Hobby- 116,064 boxes (9,672 cases) +9.9% YOY Megas- 164,620 boxes (8,231 cases) +6.8% YOY Value- 332,640 boxes (8,316 cases) +12% YOY Hangers- 300,160 boxes (4,690 cases) -24.3% YOY Fat Packs- 470,556 packs (4,357 cases) +3.6% YOY Notice anything? Most formats are up… even though total card production is slightly down. This is made possible by stuffing less packs into boxes. Hobby: 24 packs ➤ 20 Value Boxes: 9 packs ➤ 8 Same price. Less product. More boxes. AKA revenue engineering. Hangers kept the same card count, so naturally that's the SKU that gets chopped significantly. Shocker. It's fine though, these Hangers are struggling anyway. They're certainly not bangers. And at this point, I can only presume Fat Packs still have 20 cards as I have not seen any details. If they come out blazing with 36 cards like Stadium Club did, I'll adjust accordingly. Part 2: What's Actually in the Box? Hobby: Autos- 1 per 8 boxes (Or 1.5 Autos/case) Relics- 0.85/box (~85% of boxes should contain a relic) Parallels- 28.6/box Inserts- 3.4/box Numbered cards- 0.6 (60% of boxes should contain a # card, not counting autos or relics) Mega: Autos- 1 per 17 boxes (1.2/case) Relics- 1 per 7 boxes (2.9/case) Parallels- 14.2/box Inserts- 1/box Numbered cards- 1 per 3.9 boxes Value Boxes: Autos- 1 per 72.5 boxes (1 per 1.8 cases) Relics- 1 per 7.9 boxes Parallels- 8.1/box Inserts- 1/box Numbered cards- 1 per 8.5 boxes Hangers: Autos- 1 per 185 boxes (1 per 2.9 cases) Relics- 1 per 28.3 boxes (2.3 per case) Parallels- 3/box Inserts- 1 per 2.3 boxes Numbered cards- 1 per 15.5 boxes Fat Packs: Autos- 1 per 454 packs (1 per 4.2 cases) Relics- 1 per 65.8 packs (1.6 per case) Parallels- 2/pack Inserts- 1 per 4 packs Numbered cards- 1 per 28.6 packs If you're paying attention, you can already spot the biggest change from 2025 to 2026. Autos are SPARSE. Poor Heritage has been pillaged. Now, we're not talking a Stadium Club level degloving, but disrespected, nonetheless. 2025 Heritage total Autos- 67,915 2026 Heritage total Autos- 31,520 YOY: -53.6% For a lower-end product, Heritage Real One autos have historically held surprising value, especially the hand-numbered Red Ink variety. Topps was kind enough to not print Heritage into oblivion, but we got a rug pull when it comes to autos. Numbered cards are tough in Heritage as well, but that's no surprise. There are a number of desirable Parallels & Variations that have low print runs but remain unnumbered. Part 3: Value Map Prices based on Hobby drop price of $120/box and MSRP on retail SKUs (Mega- $50, Value- $25, Hanger- $15, Fat Pack- $7). $/card: 1) Fat Pack- 35¢ 2) Mega- 37¢ 3) Value- 39¢ $/parallel 1) Value- $3.08 2) Mega- $3.52 3) Fat Pack- $3.78 $/Auto 1) Mega- $847 2) Hobby- $960 3) Value- $1812.25 $/# card 1) Mega- $193.50 2) Fat Pack- $200.20 3) Hobby- $206.90 Part 4: What Would the Squatch Do? I actually like Heritage. I like that you can actually buy some if you want it. I like that it's not sold out before you can add it to your cart. I like that it doesn't double in price, ever. I like that there are big chases. Seriously, there are some massive cards that will be pulled from this release: Ohtani, Judge, Bonds, Trout, Kurtz, Skenes, Roman, Caglianone, Jeter, Pujols- all show up in the auto checklist. If you want to partake in 2026 Heritage, I'm pretty confident in saying Hobby is not the best overall format. It's close, but Mega boxes offer more for the money, and not just junk parallels. Hobby does have access to the really scarce Patch Auto and Relic parallels that aren't found in Megas. So if you’re chasing pure ceiling, Hobby is still the move. But if you want a more reasonable, slightly less degenerate sweat, Megas hit the sweet spot, especially once Hobby settles in at $140-$150/box. For the sealed wax connoisseurs, I truly don't believe this product, left unripped, will increase in value enough to make it worthwhile. But if you really want to know what I would do.... If I'm playing in the Heritage realm, I'm seriously considering revisiting 2025 Heritage High: •6,172 total cases produced compared to 30,000+ •14.2m total cards compared to 82m+ •20,400 autos distributed among far less product (compared to 31,500 buried in a mountain of 2026 wax) •Still sitting around $125/box •Strong Auto checklist with less bloat •Red Ink odds 1:499 packs vs 1:1,575 for 2026 Hobby It's definitely not perfect. The High Number base checklist can seem pretty rough. which kills your chances at strong parallels and variations. And there are no Chrome Autos like in 2026. But I'm an odds guy at heart. And 2025 High Number blows 2026 out of the water in that regard. Part 5: Print Runs Highlights before I get into the numbers: 1) Among retail exclusive parallels, the scarcest are Dark Yellow/Aqua Sparkle from Fat Packs, and Light Purple/Burgundy Sparkle from Hangers. 2) I have two key print run anomalies to address. Odds are consistently long on Red Ink Autos across the board. According to the odds they are tougher even than they should be, resulting in the Print Run of each totaling only 28 copies inserted in the product. I have a hard time believing this since they are hand numbered to /77. The checklist for Real One Autos is reported to be 114 subjects. If, by chance, not all of these are available in Red Ink versions, this would explain the anomaly and all I need to do is correct the checklist size. But, if there are truly 114 subjects on the Red Ink checklist, then there are a serious amount being held back. I will revisit this if I get more clarification. 3) Similarly, Base Chrome Gold /50 Autos are only showing 11 copies each in the product. You can verify this by noticing how much tougher the odds are than the Orange Chrome Autos /25. Just know they're more scarce than 50 copies ea, likely due to some being held back, which is not uncommon. Unnumbered Parallels/Variations: Deckle Edge- 190 copies ea Dark Gray- 1,935 ea Flip Stock- 5 ea Black Border- 50 ea Dark Green- 1,460 ea Dark Yellow- 480 ea Light Purple- 580 ea Red Border- 1,400 ea Base Short Prints- 23,760 ea Base Chrome- 4,330 ea Chrome Refractors- 1,700 ea Chrome Light Blue Sparkle- 1,935 ea Pink Sparkle- 1,460 ea Aqua Sparkle- 480 ea Burgundy Sparkle- 580 ea Silver Sparkle- 1,400 ea Chrome SPs- 4,330 ea Chrome SP Refractors- 1,665 ea All-Star Logo Variations (20 card CL)- 1,740 ea Base Image Variations (50 card CL)- 1,740 ea Alternate Banner Variations (20 card CL)- 1,740 ea Nickname Variations (10 card CL)- 1,740 ea Throwback Jersey Variations (10 card CL)- 35 ea Black & White Image Variations (40 card CL)- 35 ea Inserts: Ready & Action! (25 card CL)- 16,430 ea The Enterprise (30 card CL)- 16,350 ea Raw Power (10 card CL)- 16,820 ea 1977 Topps Originals Buybacks (no checklist size noted)- 55,270 total distributed throughout product Autos: Real One Autos (114 card CL)- 210 ea Expansion Autos (8 card CL)- 200 ea Base Chrome Autos (13 card CL)- 45 ea 1977 Topps Award Winner Buyback Autos (no checklist size noted)- 460 total distributed throughout product Relics: Clubhouse Collection Relics (98 card CL)- 1,550 ea Real One Relics (50 card CL)- 280 ea #thehobby #SlabSquatchAnalytics #2026ToppsHeritage

Bought a couple of GameStop topps series 1 megas, I think a pretty good pull before the season starts @CardPurchaser

Mark DeRosa on not using Mason Miller against Venezuela: "Honoring the Padres. Had we taken the lead, he was coming in, but I wasn't going to bring him in to a tie game." (via @BNightengale)