I am a huge fan of on card content in any product, especially one that isnt going to cost more than the normal box. 2012 Tier One has extensive and great looking on card autos, coupled with some extremely valuable chase cards. The issue becomes, when someone pays 100 bucks for a box of this, is there any value to what they might find?

Here are some of the big hits posted so far:

Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Reprint Autograph /25

Mike Stanton 2 color patch Auto /99

Reggie Jackson On Card Silver Ink Autograph

Evan Longoria 2 Color Patch Autograph /99

Sandy Koufax On Card Auto Redemption /25

Normally, I am not one to dive into the value of breaking wax, if not only because more often than not, the ROI is pretty much a crap shoot. Bottom line, I just dont feel like someone should ever break wax to make money, unless they are doing huge volumes of stuff. However, with the checklist present so far in 2012 Tier One, can these huge chase cards entice enough people to try out a box or two?

I really like the ideas of including bat barrels and the acetate reprint rookie autographs into a product like this, as Ultimate Collection had huge success that way. However, I dont know if the overwhelming and horribly unwelcome presence of jersey cards that have no value, and scrub on card autographs are worth anyone’s time to bust onesie twosie on a product like this. Ultimate was the same way, however, the brand loyalty of the first ever super high end product drove more interest to existing fans. Times have changed a bit, and though I still see the value of an on card auto’s beauty, the checklist of these products needs to improve.

Tier one’s design is quite nice, and the simplicity plays well into what it is trying to deliver on a per pack basis. As a casual baseball collector, a product like this would interest me if the scrub potential per pack was a lot less. Museum Collection delivered a hit per pack at 50-75 MSRP, and if there was a way to bring this to market at that price, we would have a winner. At 100 bucks, its a little pricey with what it delivers.

I dont know, maybe I am in the minority here, as I know Baseball is a completely different sport from others. However, this is not a rookie focused set, and there isnt a strong enough veteran crop of autographs that can get your box price back when it costs that much.

Then again, there are a lot of reasons to chase the big ones, and like Ultimate Collection used to be, they are VERY big ones.