5 on the 5: Meineke Car Care 2008 Topps Heritage High Series Presented by Five-Dollar Footlongs at Subway (Eat Fresh)

As much as I have a fondness for year-end/update/traded sets that goes back to my youth, I feel like everything about this set is a scam. The player selection is bad. Topps didn't even throw in a bunch of all-star type filler cards in this edition as they included those things in the first edition (and short-printed them all, of course.) I admit, I was pretty excited when I first heard that this was coming out, and I am a willing participant in the scam as I have bought packs and will continue to buy them. But I feel like I am forced to. I made a decision awhile ago to collect the 2008 Topps Heritage set and this is a continuation of that set. They didn't go the Updates & Highlights route of starting over at card #1 and including a UH prefix or any of that. It picks up where the last one left off. How satisfied would I be with a "complete" set that stopped at card #500 when I know that cards #501 through #720 are lurking out there somewhere? Not very. And don't get me started on the inclusion of U&H cards in these packs. I want my 2 Heritage cards back. Does Topps think that they are somehow promoting U&H by putting them in these packs? Would any Heritage buyer honestly consider buying a Topps base product solely because of this? Conversely, would a Topps base collector suddenly decide to collect Heritage High Series because they are able to get a pack of 2 cards for 2.99 with 6 Heritage cards as a bonus? The only explanation that makes any sense to me is if this was a way to get around the MLB product limit, where each brand can only have a certain number of sets per year.

Anyway, I have a tendency to buy things in fives for some reason, if I'm not just going to pick up one or two packs. Here are five packs of this stuff that I complained about a lot but will still collect.

Pack 1:
644 - Andy Sonnanstine

503 - Johnny Cueto (RC)
554 - Vicente Padilla
579 - Jose Guillen Black Back
546 - Milwaukee Brewers
696 - Mark Sweeney (SP) (He started his career for the Cardinals, but I have no recollection of him. He also played for the Padres four separate times. This card has dayf's favorite cartoon two-fingered salute on the back.)
UH127 - Michael Young / Derek Jeter Classic Combos
UH204 - Franquelis Osoria

Pack 2:
576 - Mike Lamb
527 - Rob Quinlan
516 - Salomon Torres
614 - Russell Branyan (Are there any Cardinals cards of Russell Branyan? I guess I need to find this out. He made a couple of starts and a bunch of pinch-hit appearances for the doomed 2007 team.)
665 - Texas Rangers

C239 - Chase Headley Chrome 0420/1959
UH70 - George Sherrill (Among the many blunders Bill Bavasi made with Seattle was letting this guy get away.)
UH57 - Ramon Castro

Pack 3:
663 - Mark Ellis
577 - Ben Zobrist
509 - Marcus Thames

595 - Clayton Kershaw Black Back
531 - Ryan Doumit Black Back

RP1 - Clayton Kershaw Rookie Performers (Does this look familiar? Kershaw looks a bit like Orel Hershiser here.)
UH307 - Greg Norton
UH264 - David Ortiz All-Star

Pack 4:

558 - Adam Kennedy (We're stuck with Kennedy this year and Kennedy is stuck with us. He was neither traded nor is a rookie, but is just cruddy enough to be in this set instead of the first edition.)
646 - Marco Scutaro
533 - Jonny Gomes (The "cartoon" on the back says that Gomes is a heart attack survivor. Yikes!)
666 - Jason Michaels
622 - John Baker

FB3 - Jon Lester Flashbacks
UH115 - Mike Lamb
UH228 - Joe Blanton

Pack 5:
684 - Jo-Jo Reyes
568 - Damion Easley
521 - Angel Pagan
617 - Gregorio Petit (RC)
563 - Doug Mientkiewicz Black Back
641 - Omar Infante
UH235 - Eddie Guardado

UH240 - Clayton Kershaw (RC) (Yup. Still looks like Hershiser.)

I didn't even bother with the gum. I've been warned.