Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2022 Topps Heritage Minors Baseball
Minor League May continues with a modern minor league product. 2022 Topps Heritage Minors Baseball released last may. I found this one at a card shop in Cooperstown for just $45.
Topps Heritage Minor League Baseball has been an annual release since 2011. It mirrors the major league version as far as throwback design. This release happens to pay homage to the 1973 Topps design. The farm system Heritage also has some (not all) of the same parallels and short prints as the big league release. The big difference? While autographs are tough pulls in the major league product, Heritage Minors guarantees two on-card autographs in every box.
2022 Topps Heritage Minors Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 8
Packs per box: 18
Price paid: $45
Shop for 2022 Topps Heritage Minors Baseball boxes on eBay.
First up, each box has a box topper pack with three 1973 Topps Pin-Ups. This one had Benny Montgomery, Curtis Mead and Yhoswar Garcia
Pack 1 highlights:
Veen/Hassell/Matos, Alvarez/Davis/Cartaya, Masyn Winn, Brayan Bello & Roberto Campos 1973 Topps 1953 Reprints (1 in every 6 packs)
Winn was a second round draft choice out of high school in 2020. He was a consensus top-50 prospect coming into the season.
Pack 2:
Herbert Perez, Kevin Alcantara & Gage Workman 1973 Topps Tarjetas (1:5 packs)
Pack 3:
Coby Mayo, Jordan Groshans High Number SP (1:6 packs) & Luis Rodriguez
Groshans made his major league debut last season, playing in 16 games. He is back in the minors to start 2023 and has started slowly. He hit just .185 in his first 30 AAA games this season.
Pack 4:
Hendry Mendez, Miguel Bleis & Henry Davis 1973 Pack Cover (1:5 packs)
Pack 5:
Rodriguez/Jobe/Bello, Austin Wells, Tyler Soderstrom, Joshua Baez & Lonnie White Jr. Black (22/50) (1:78 packs)
Pack 6:
Mayer/Watson/Lawler, Colton Cowser, Harry Ford & Joey Wiemer
Pack 7:
Ian Lewis, Triston Casas, Freudis Nova 1973 Topps Tarjetas (1:5 packs) & Vladimir Guerrero 1973 Topps 1953 Reprints (1:6 packs)
How good was Vladdy in the minors? He played 118 Double-A games before his major league promotion and hit .360.
Pack 8:
Emerson Hancock, Curtis Mead, Colton Cowser, Brice Turang & Pedro Pineda Real Ones Autograph Blue (71/99) (1:122 packs)
Pack 9:
Jose Ramos, Anthony Volpe, George Valera High Number SP (1:6 packs) & Blaze Jordan 1973 Pack Cover (1:5 packs)
Blaze Jordan has started the year hot, hitting .289 with four HR and 17 RBI in his first 23 games for the High-A Greenville Drive.
Pack 10:
Nick Yorke & Casas/Harris/Manzardo
Pack 11:
Valera/Dominguez/Montgomery, Gonzales/Yorke/Foscue, Brennan Davis, Jorbit Vivas, Dustin Harris & Joe Gray, Jr. 1973 Topps Tarjetas (1:5 packs)
Joe Gray, Jr. has struggled to hit professional pitching. Over five minor league seasons, he is hitting just .211.
Pack 12:
Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Cesar Prieto, Ronny Mauricio, Nick Pratto, Alex Binelas & Mick Abel Black (28/50) (1:78 packs)
Pack 13:
Oswaldo Cabrera, Brayan Rocchio, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Jay Allen, Marco Luciano 1973 Pack Cover (1:5 packs) & Jordan Lawler 1973 Topps 1953 Reprints (1:6 packs)
Rocchio has been tearing the cover off the ball in AAA. He hit .339 in his first 30 games this season.
Pack 14:
Miguel Vargas, Denzer Guzman & Alexander Mojica
Pack 15:
Bobby Witt, Jr., Zac Veen, Jordan Lawler, Noelvi Marte, Austin Martin & Victor Acosta High Number SP (1:6 packs)
Acosta made his professional debut in 2021 at just 17-years old. He played well in Rookie Ball, hitting .285 with five home runs, 31 RBI and 26 SB in 56 games.
Pack 16:
Allan Cerda, Spencer Torkelson, Jonatan Clase & Glenallen Hill, Jr. 1973 Topps Tarjetas (1:5 packs)
Pack 17:
Brayan Buelvas, Mick Abel, Benny Montgomery, Marco Luciano & Jordan Viars Real One Autograph (1:11 packs)
Through his first 20 Single-A games this season, Viars had just a .160 average.
Pack 18:
Tyler McDonough, Jose Tena, Carson Williams, Adley Rutschman & Harry Ford 1973 Pack Cover (1:5 packs)
Lastly, the Tena card back. Interesting note that Tena’s uncle is former big leaguer Juan Uribe.
Two autographs per box for around $50? Count me in. Yes, you may pull players that never make the major leagues. However, it is also possible that you pull a couple of future major league stars. These boxes can be easily found online for $55 or less right now. It is a fun rip, especially when you start researching the players you don’t know much about. There’s plenty of potential here.
Shop for 2022 Topps Heritage Minors Baseball cards on:
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
