[DrMitchJ]

That is very unlikely. Back in the early 90s, everyone paid attention to cards, as everyone thought they would be worth big money one day. The Elite and Upper Deck autograph cards were extremely difficult hits, the odds were harder than 1 per case, and more like 1 per 5-10 cases. A lot of that had to do with the fact that the card companies made so many boxes back then.
As much as I would love to pull one from a box myself, I have a feeling that unless you got super lucky you would end up spending more buying the boxes now (even though they are cheap and can be had for around $5-10 each) then simply shelling out for the card you want.

Correct on both counts, IMO.

1) Maybe in the early 60's-early 70's many cards suffered an untimely death by spokes, due to kids that had little value attached to cards that were originally a promotion to sell gum. I always put my most hated players of my most hated team 'to the spoke' as almost a ritualistic cleansing / purging. Many were saved by astute classmates with a quick hostage exchange prior to execution. In the 90's EVERYONE knew that baseball cards were going to be worth millions of dollars and put their kids and grandkids through college and allow for their early retirement.

2) Statistically and personally speaking, its always cheaper to just buy the card you want. Rarely do I get what I'm chasing and in hindsight, it usually is much cheaper just buying the card outright.
At $10 a box, you might have to buy 40 boxes to find 1 auto ... and it might not be the one you want. For $400 you could probably find most of the autos slabbed, graded & authenticated.