2018 Topps Heritage Minors Preview

The checklist is out. We are one week away from the release of Topps Heritage Minors. This has been my favorite product since 2015, and even bought three cases last year. This year: I'm not even buying a single box.

Last year I was able to preorder a case for $450. That price inflated to $750-800 per case for this year's product. If I shopped around I could have probably found a better deal. Fortunately, I didn't try too hard after reviewing the awful checklist that was released.

Good news first: there are seven Cubs cards in the base set, and none of them are short prints. I was expecting four or five Cubs, so I like that and I'll be buying up singles.

Chicago Cubs Checklist

15 - Aramis Ademan (Myrtle Beach Pelicans)

16 - Brendon Little (South Bend Cubs)

45 - Alex Lange (Myrtle Beach Pelicans)

47 - Jose Albertos (South Bend Cubs)

64 - Nelson Velazquez (AZL Cubs)

79 - Adbert Alzolay (Iowa Cubs)

199 - Dakota Mekkes (league leaders)

1969 Topps Deckle Edge Insert

13 - Jose Albertos 

19 - Adbert Alzolay 

Clubhouse Collection Relics

Adbert Alzolay 

The bad: the rest of the checklist doesn't have any hot players like last year's with Ronald Acuna. Sure, this is a prospect product so that can and likely will change as players get hot. Tim Tebow is here, but he's injured and he was also in last year's release. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is in here again as well as Hunter Greene.

But the autograph checklist? Brutal. Hunter Greene, Keibert Ruiz, and Royce Lewis are among the top names. Also, this product doesn't sell well. Most of the autographs can be had for less than $5, and each box contains just one Auto and one relic. So, when your per box price point goes from $37-40 to $60-65 and that's what you get out of the product, no thank you.

Now, you can't blame Topps for this one. It's the distributors that set these prices. They are still buying cases from Topps at the same cost as 2017, but have heavily inflated the price to consumers. 

Unfortunately, after three great years buying up Topps Heritage Minors it's a big thumbs down from me in 2018.