2014 Topps Update Baseball jumbo box

Sport:  Baseball
Product:  2014 Topps Update Jumbo
Break Date:  June 13, 2014
Hit Breakdown:   One Autograph, One Jersey, One Relic
Summary:  This was the first year that I planned on putting the ENTIRE Topps baseball set together, from series 1 through the Update set. When I started seeing box breaks of the Update jumbo boxes, I figured it was time to pull the trigger on one, and I had a bit of cash from my birthday in hand. So, I headed on down to the LCS and picked up a box, and two boxes of 14/15 Hoops basketball.

While I did indeed finish the set from my one box, this was one of the most ridiculous breaks ever for a few reasons.

#1) Quality control on the pack-out:  Topps put all of the Future Is Now inserts as the back card of the jumbo packs. So, that meant that each and every one of them seemed to have a conditional problem, from ink wear to bad corners. The rest of the inserts were in the middle of the stack, but this set was at the back. Bad idea.

#2) Condition on the autographed card:   This card had one of the worst corners I've ever seen straight out of pack. The bottom left corner was worn, and there was so much white showing it's ridiculous. Frankly, if it was a better player or a nicer card I'd be sending it back for a replacement, but because in this case it's not worth the hassle.

and lastly (and dumbest of all):

#3) The redemption:  Seriously, Topps? A redemption on a manufactured relic? Is that a joke? It's a MANUFACTURED RELIC...how in the world do they not have that ready for pack-out? It's not like you're waiting for an autograph, or waiting to cut up a jersey. IT'S A MANUFACTURED RELIC. They knew - in advance - that they were making these cards. Just make the stupid relic. To make matters worse, I swear I saw a few of these on eBay, so it seems SOME people got theirs in the box. So, so, so lame.

Outside of that, I pulled a few short prints (although no one worth getting excited about), there were a few lower-numbered parallels (but again, no one worth mentioning).

The ONLY thing that redeemed the box was the jersey card, which was actually really sweet - a World Series Heroes Mariano Rivera, and it's numbered 99/99.

Of all the boxes I've ever opened, this one was pretty bad. If I wasn't trying to put the set together I'd probably be pretty unhappy, although no one in their right mind is opening Topps baseball update chasing hits.

Grade for the product:  B-

Grade for the break:  D+

Trajectory Autographs:  Roenis Elias
World Series Heroes Relics /99:  Mariano Rivera
World Series Ring Silver Relic:  Rickey Henderson (Redemption)
Short Print Photo Variation:  Shin-Soo Choo
Short Print Sabermetric Variation:  Huston Street
Black /63:  Mike Olt
Camo /99:  Brendan Ryan
Gold /2014:  Miguel Cabrera, Robbie Ross Jr., Rougned Odor (RC), Kurt Suzuki, Jonathan Diaz (RC), Adam Wainwright, Dee Gordon, Vidal Nuno, Jon Singleton (RC), Kyle Seager,
Red Hot Foil:  Rajai Davis, Tyler Skaggs, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Tyson Ross, Ryan Kalish, Vance Worley, Stephen Vogt, Jordan Schafer, David Ross, Drew Stubbs
Power Players:  Miguel Cabrera, Paul Goldschmidt, Jose Abreu, Clayton Kershaw, Masahiro Tanaka, Jacoby Ellsbury, Anthony Rizzo, Felix Hernandez, Yordano Ventura, Adam Wainwright
Stamped Buybacks:  Del Unser (1973), Vic Correll (1978)
Fond Farewell:  John Smoltz, Mark McGwire, Cal Ripken Jr, Paul Konerko, Al Kaline
1989 Die Cut Mini:  Jose Abreu, Mel Stottlemyre, Ryan Braun, Hiroki Kuroda, David Ortiz
World Series Heroes:  Bruce Sutter, Bret Saberhagen, Tim Lincecum, Livan Hernandez, Duke Snider
The Future Is Now:  Michael Wacha (MW1), Michael Wacha (MW2), Oscar Taveras, Jon Singleton, Gregory Polanco (GP2), Gregory Polanco (GP3), Yordano Ventura, Christian Yelich (CY1), Christian Yelich (CY2), Mookie Betts