5 on the 5: 2012 Topps Heritage

The latest installment of Topps Heritage has been out for awhile, but it's something I always collect and I figured I should write something about it. Here are the first (and thus far only) packs I've purchased this year. Usually, I will buy five (or more) packs together, but these were purchased on separate occasions. The first and last packs were impulse buys at Rite Aid while the middle three are of the Target variety, with a chance to get exclusive red bordered parallels.

Pack 1:

140 - Max Scherzer (My first Heritage card of the year features a St. Louis area native.)
282 - Jeff Francoeur
236 - Salvador Perez (First Heritage card of a guy I've never heard of!)
314 - Alexi Casilla
398 - Craig Kimbrel

444 - Brandon League (All of the cards above number 425 are short printed, apparently.)

288 - Chicago White Sox (The team card. A classic.)
92 - Austin Romine

391 - Matt Moore (They can airbrush and Photoshop players into new uniforms, but they can't do anything about faces.)

Pack 2:

244 - Jason Motte (My first Cardinal card of the set features the closer.)
241 - Johnny Cueto

197 - Ian Kennedy (Cartoons on the back!)
269 - Justin Morneau
330 - Jorge Posada
35 - Chris Sale

9 - 2011 NL Strikeout Leaders (Floating heads!)
134 - Jim Leyland
243 - Jordan Pacheco

Pack 3:
387 - Ricky Nolasco
61 - Aubrey Huff
337 - Adam Dunn (Is Dunn done being terrible?)

328 - Elvis Andrus (I like the cloudy sky background.)
361 - Alex Rodriguez
12 - Jim Johnson

1 - Miguel Cabrera Stick-Ons (These are 1:8 pulls according to the odds on the wrapper. It doesn't do kind things to Miguel's head. Since these are very thin and count as a card, I wonder if it's easy to tell without opening when packs contain these.)
195 - Desmond Jennings
335 - Bobby Abreu

Pack 4:
293 - Tim Stauffer (Former Portland Beaver!)
179 - Shaun Marcum
175 - Matt Garza

286 - Tom Milone / Addison Reed / Matt Moore / Dellin Betances Rookie Stars (I don't really know what's going on with these Rookie Stars cards. You'll recognize Matt Moore's goofy mug from a full sized card I pulled earlier. I've read elsewhere that certain players appear on multiples versions of these. I wonder if the original 1963 set did anything like this.)
423 - Neftali Feliz

11 - David Price Stick-Ons (Goofy.)

151 - Pittsburgh Pirates (Piratey.)

208 - Brett Pill / Adron Chambers / Thomas Field / Drew Pomeranz Rookie Stars (Adron Chambers has yet to crack the big league roster this season. He was passed over in favor of Rule 5 draft pick Erik Komatsu and the similarly pint-sized Shane Robinson. Komatsu has since been DFA'd and Robinson had a hot start to cement his place on the team as an extra outfielder and top pinch-hitter.)
283 - Brad Lidge

Pack 5:
197 - Ian Kennedy (It's just my 5th pack and I already have a double?)
225 - Aroldis Chapman
349 - Alex Gonzalez (What is it with ACL tears all of a sudden?)
384 - Blake DeWitt (DeWitt was DFA'd today. He's still young, so it will be interesting to see who picks him up.)

22 - Edwin Jackson (I felt like the Rafael Furcal trade was the single biggest thing the Cardinals did to improve the team to get their incredible run started last season, but the Edwin Jackson move really helped stabilize the rotation. I won't really miss seeing Edwin labor on the mound. He truly belongs in the AL East if you ask me.)

BF-EW - Early Wynn Baseball Flashbacks (I haven't been too excited about the Heritage inserts in recent years, but this card is really nice looking. It might have something to do with the colorization - assuming it's a colorized photo, of course.)
294 - Mike Scioscia
317 - Jason Donald
113 - Kerry Wood

And there we have it. I will be collecting this set, but I won't have a want list ready for quite some time. Check back this summer, perhaps.