5 on the 5: 2005 Topps Heritage

First off, I have to say congratulations to the Saints for beating the boring and overall unlikeable Colts in the latest installment of the Super Big Game. I didn't do a Super Bowl post today because I actually couldn't find a Saints card except for Joe Horn, and I don't think he's on the team anymore. I probably have about 35 Dalton Hilliard Pro Set cards, actually, but I don't think that would have worked either.

I picked up 5 packs for the low, low price of $2 each at the January card show. These packs had sugarless gum in them? 2005 sure must have been a weird time to live in! This month's card show was actually yesterday (that is, the day before the Super Bowl and probably not the day before you are reading this) but I didn't attend this time. I'm planning on making it to next month's deal, however, so hopefully the Retail Guy will have more stuff like this.

Pack 1:

204 - Kyle Farnsworth

98 - Woody Williams

238 - Ryan Drese

144 - Dustan Mohr

201 - Jeff DaVanon

173 - Jeff Weaver (Pictured with the Dodgers... and he's coming back. I bet Dodgers fans are happy.)

THC14 - Vladimir Guerrero Chrome 1550 / 1956 (This isn't bad for a chrome card, considering I could have easily got Jeff DaVanon or something. Any Vlad/Angels fans out there?)

73 - Jeremy Reed

Pack 2:

286 - Hank Blalock (There are lots of variations in this set. This is the more common version of Blalock's card.)

287 - B.J. Upton

115 - Russ Ortiz

283 - Jeremy West (You can't really distinguish between the rookies and non-rookies except for the stats on the back and the fact that you probably haven't heard of the rookies.)

269 - Sidney Ponson

35 - Jay Gibbons

169 - Mark Teixeira

72 - Philadelphia Phillies (The Phillies clearly aren't sitting where they are supposed to appear to be sitting. Wow, look at some of the names on their roster. They've certainly come a long ways from 2005.)

Pack 3:

304 - Rafael Furcal

397 - Ramon Ortiz

256 - Pedro Feliz

165 - Tony Womack (Womack is pictured with the Yankees, coming off the year in which he was picked off the scrap heap to hit .307 as the Cardinals full-time 2B. He eventually came back down to Miguel Cairo levels.)

37 - Billy Wagner

297 - Milton Bradley (There's a joke here, but...)

207 - Austin Kearns

251 - New York Yankees (I spared the Yankees haters and didn't scan this.)

Pack 4:

107 - Adrian Beltre (Beltre is pictured with the Mariners and coming off his 48 HR / 121 RBI season with the Dodgers which he'd never approach again.)

50 - Jim Thome

82 - Torii Hunter (Here's another common version of a card with a variation. The short printed version pictured Hunter wearing Washington gear.)

198 - Jose Vidro

125 - Nomar Garciaparra (Looks like Nomar is retiring. I wonder what would have happened if he had stayed with Boston his entire career.)

7 - Ichiro Suzuki (Yet another Ichiro card for me.)

F-FR - Frank Robinson Flashbacks (This looks nice. It just looks like they used an old newspaper clipping for the photo instead of some colorized junk. These came in at 1:12 odds.)

213 - Detroit Tigers

Pack 5:

267 - Todd Hollandsworth

22 - Brad Ausmus (Ausmus will be 41 this year and is back for another year.)

67 - Erik Bedard (Bedard could end up being a steal for Seattle this season, but I suppose it's more likely that his arm falls off. Still, he can't be worse than Yusmeiro Petit, whom they released to bring Bedard back.)

202 - Paul Byrd

48 - Zach Day

84 - Scott Podsednik

5 - Todd Helton (Here's my only short printed card of the lot. They didn't print odds on the wrappers for short printed cards, so I have no idea if I got shorted or not. This is just a plain old SP and not a variation.)

121 - Pittsburgh Pirates

It's time to update my want list. I think I had maybe 10 cards from this set before this.