Heritage Overload

The only thing I regret about coming around to the idea of collecting baseball cards again was that I did it so late in the game, and only because I missed out on some not very affordable sets that I still covet. Precisely, any Topps Heritage prior to 2007, the first two Allen & Ginter (retro) sets and the 2005-06 Turkey Red set will always be just out of reach to me. I rarely see anything from any of those sets in unopened form, and when I do it's usually too cost prohibitive for me to even entertain the idea. Fortunately, Robert from $30 a Week Habit backed a truckload of 2003 and 2004 Heritage cards up to my front door and unloaded a bunch of them on me. Here's just a few images highlighting a mammoth sized package.

Shin-Soo Choo is another case study in my ongoing You Can Make An All-Star Team Out Of Ex-Mariners project.

This is kind of a goofy card. Did anyone know that there was a Jake Mauer? Are his parents proud of him, or do they just say that they are?

When this card came out, Jamie Moyer was already 40.

As Big Papi prepares to possibly move on from Boston, it might seem strange that the former David Arias actually spent 6 seasons in another uniform other than a Red Sox one.

Jimmy! The only bittersweet thing about the Cards winning the World Series this year was that Edmonds almost was part of it all. Of course, who can say what a different player would add to the mix of a championship team that only made the postseason by a hair and was down to their last strike in the World Series multiple times.

They named a street in Seattle after this man. Put him in the Hall! I may not have much respect for the designated hitter "position", but he was the best there was at what he did.

This is a pretty cool "old logo" variation. Unfortunately, there were a lot of variations in the earlier Heritage sets.

Hey, it's the new White Sox manager. Is there some rule that states that every player that plays for more than a couple of franchises must be a Dodger at some point?

Sadly, one can only drool at the idea of a Wainwright/Carpenter/Haren/Garcia rotation, with insert-your-favorite-young-prospect taking the 5th turn.

Thanks again to Robert for the huge haul! If anyone out there knows about any deals on any pre-2007 Heritage cards, please let me know.