Heroes of Sport: A Belated Review [Updated 4/12 with BVG Grades]

Heroes of Sport is a re-pack product that made a splash in the hobby over the last few months.  Their product contains just 4 cards (and in most boxes it's 3 cards and a raffle ticket) and cost between $400 and $500.

It's been said that the product was even created for group breakers.  With spots around $125-150 each, it's been a "high roller" favorite since its introduction.

Now I have to admit that I've gotten caught up in the HoS hype and bought into a few boxes.  Too many, honestly.   Here's a rundown of everything I've got in HoS:

• 2011 Bowman Stephen Strasburg BGS 9.5 - this card is worth $1 ungraded and though it was labled "ROOKIE" by HoS, it is not. These have sold for about $5 on eBay.
• 1956 Topps Eddie Mathews (ungraded) - I submitted this card to Beckett and it was graded a BVG 4, making it worth $25
• 1957 Topps Ted Williams (ungraded) - This card would've had to come back a 7 to be worth the $600 that HoS claimed on their sticker. It didn't. It came back a BVG 3 -- which makes it worth $100
• Cal Ripken Jr. autographed pro jersey (PSA/DNA) - approximate value $350
• Reggie Jackson autographed OML Reggie Jackson Day baseball (PSA/DNA) - approximate value $100
• 1960 Fleer Wilbert Robinson PSA 8 - this card is worth $4 ungraded. 
• 1990 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr. BGS 9.5 - this card is worth 75 cents ungraded.  These have sold for about $4 on eBay.
• 2003 Leaf Certified Materials Fabric of the Game Don Mattingly game jersey /50 (ungraded) - book value $30
• Al Kaline autographed 8x10 PSA/DNA graded 10 - approximate value $75

Additionally I got 5500 "Heroic Points".  I sold 2000 for $40, and have 3500 unsold right now.  Assuming I can get the same 2 cents per point, that's a total of $110.

That brings the total value a bit over $800, with 9 spots at varying prices costing me nearly $1200.

That's a loss of nearly $400, not including the fees to get the two vintage cards graded.  And that's assuming I could sell everything at full value.  It's definitely hobby money that I could've spent more wisely; like buying single cards off my wantlist or getting some memorabilia I've wanted to pick up.

Now, I've seen people pull some really nice stuff out of these boxes.  Ty Cobbs, Babe Ruths, Nolan Ryan autographed game-used jersey cards, a Kirby Puckett game-used bat.  I like the idea, I really do; it's just been poorly executed in my admittedly small sample size.

But 1990 Fleer belongs nowhere near this product.  Don't over-inflate "value" by quoting Beckett prices for cards in better condition than the actual card someone's pulled, and don't label cards rookies when they're not.  I don't think those are unreasonable demands. 

Now I'm prepared to cut Heroes of Sport some slack, as this is their first product -- and there has been value delivered in their products.  It's just that when a product is this high-end, it's hard to have value distributed evenly -- and that's going to lead to some customer dissatisfaction.  The key for Heroes is that they have to learn from this product and make the necessary changes to ensure that dissatisfaction remains at a minimum and they have a healthy customer base for their next product.