2009 Topps Heritage Blaster #4

First, with credit to Ballcard Mania, the seven (yes, seven) 2009 Topps Heritage short print variations have been discovered.

2009 Topps Heritage Short Print Variations (super rare)
58: Conor Jackson: Rays logo
70: Glavine: “Thom” Glavine
102: Adrian Gonzalez: Rangers logo
346: Fred Lewis: picture is Randy Winn (bat on shoulder)
407: Randy Winn: picture is Fred Lewis (bat just above last name)
445: John Smoltz: Red Sox uniform
488: Hanley Ramirez: Red Sox uniform

Did I manage to pull any of these super short prints or anything else worth noting from my fourth Wal*Mart blaster? In a word, no - unless you like Card Crawford!

Here's what I got...

A bunch of base cards, including Dusty "HAVOC" Baker:

I was a bit disappointed that 30 of my base cards were already duplicates.

3 short prints:
452: Placido Polanco
457: Chicago Cubs Coaches
470: Washington Nationals Coaches

Boy, could you get a larger chasm between team coaches? The Cubs are the popular pick to win their division while the Nationals are the popular pick to finish near or at the bottom of the entire National League. Which team would you rather be a coach for? (My answer: the Nationals - or as I prefer to call them, Cincinnati East since they have so many ex-Reds).

Baseball Flashbacks:
BF3: Juan Marichal

News Flashbacks:
NF10: Polaris Missile

Chrome:
C23: Carl Crawford

For the record, I really like the chrome version of these cards - I'm seriously considering trying to complete the chrome set this year like I did in 2007.

And finally, my only relic of the four boxes:
Clubhouse Collection
CC-CC Carl Crawford

If nothing else, you have to appreciate that card number, four Cs in a row, nice. This one is available for trade.

A recap of blaster 1, blaster 2, and blaster 3, along with this one. This ought to give you a decent idea of what to expect from a Wal*Mart blaster. Next up, some Target blasters that I recently found...

Recap - 4 Wal*Mart blasters opened:

Base set: 183 / 425 (43%)
Base duplicates: 42
Base triplicates: 5
Short prints: 11 / 75 (14.67%)
Chrome: 4
Chrome Refractor: 1
Baseball Flashback: 3
News Flashback: 3
New Age Performer: 1
Then & Now: 1
Clubhouse Collection Relic: 1

Overall, it's fairly obvious you shouldn't buy 2009 Topps Heritage blasters if you are trying to make money. I pulled a single relic card - and even that one would be lucky to sell for more than a buck or two on eBay I'd guess. In addition, blasters are not a good way to try to complete the insert sets, after 4 blasters, I'm not even close to any of the insert sets. Finally, one chrome card per box (on average) means it'll take 100 blasters with perfect luck to complete the set - again, not an efficient way to collect the chrome parallels.

All of that negativity aside, the cards themselves are really nice...which is good, because that's what Topps Heritage is built on. Now that I'm about halfway done with the set, I have no desire to stop buying the cards...despite it not being financially savvy...which is really the best type of compliment I can give a baseball card product!