Are We Ready for 2019 Topps Heritage?

Are you? Am I? 

I picked up this well-loved, but still cool card of the late Red on Listia the other day, and it dawned on me that this is what the next Heritage set is going to look like. I think I addressed my uncertainty towards my Topps Heritage collecting future in a recent post. We've hit 1970, after all. This set is older than me, but not so old that everyone considers it old. I feel like we've officially crossed a threshold. I'm a huge sucker for anything even slightly "retro", though, so I am not overly optimistic that I will be able to quit this thing cold turkey. I even bought a bunch of packs of Topps Archives last year, even though that set is far less interesting to me than what Topps continues to do well with their Heritage line. It's really one of their only enduring products that I can't find a lot to gripe about.

For a fun exercise, at least for me, I thought I'd stare some cold hard facts in the face and look at how many cards I still need to complete from prior Topps Heritage sets. I am only going to count base cards (no variations!) here. That also means short prints. I'll start with 2008, the first year of Cards on Cards, even though I have the entire 2007 base set (it was a bargain bin staple for awhile.)

• 2008: missing 4 cards
• 2009: missing 2 cards
• 2010: complete
• 2011: complete
• 2012: complete
• 2013: complete
• 2014: complete
• 2015: missing 44 cards
• 2016: missing 47 cards
• 2017: missing 17 cards
• 2018: missing 18 cards

Now, keep in mind that 2008 was particularly weird (short prints were skip-numbered and there were a ton of black back parallels that seemed almost more common than their "normal" counterparts) and there are six sets that included a separate "high series". I also made a decision not to collect the box set only "high series" sets from 2012 to 2014. Those just weren't as fun, although I really consider the Cardinals cards a priority for my team collection. Still, it's no great surprise that all of my incomplete base sets are from the same years that there were both regular and "high series" full-sized sets.

In any case, this wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I am kind of surprised that I am still missing so many cards from 2015 and 2016, but I feel like I purchased more packs/blasters in the past two years than I did in previous years, when I probably acquired more cards via trade in previous years. I don't think that I necessarily trade less than I used to, but I do feel like I've prioritized my team collection over these sets. I definitely don't feature the cards on the blog as much as I used to.

Speaking of which, if anyone has any extra Heritage cards lying around, let me point you to a list of Heritage want list links. I do need tons and tons of cards from the first six years of sets as well, because I didn't even think about cards back then. Life was so much simpler then.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1970 Topps #277

Trying not to stare at the sun.

Who is he? Paul Doyle was a lefty reliever who played in parts of three seasons with three franchises. It turns out that there are several notable Paul Doyles out there in the world, and he's one of them.

How did he get here? Doyle was a career minor league starter who had been through several organizations since the Tigers first signed him in 1959, but it would be with Atlanta 10 years later that he'd finally make his big league debut -- out of the bullpen. The Angels purchased him after his first season with the Braves.

Repeat offender? No

Other versions of this card: None

Airbrushed Score: 7

Comments: There wasn't much to airbrush here, so they just went with a little black patch on the cap.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1970 Topps #40

I actually had another card hand-selected and scanned for today's post, but then I started prepping for another post that will hopefully show up sometime this weekend if not later today and found this little gem. As with most catastrophes, the picture is going to say more than anything I could possibly add, so I'll keep it brief.

Dick Allen was a seven-time All-Star corner infielder who was the 1972 A.L. MVP. He spent the majority of his career with the Phillies and spent one season with St. Louis, the team he is supposedly pictured with. Allen is definitely a Hall of Very Good candidate and just a quick glance at his Wikipedia entry reveals that he was involved in a whole mess of interesting history including his inclusion in the trade to St. Louis which involved Curt Flood and led to the advent of free agency.

Why did Topps airbrush Dick's photo? Allen was involved in a very well-publicized trade after being run out of Philly initially, and Topps decided to designate him a Cardinal in the 1970 set. I don't recall off the top of my head if Topps was still issuing their sets in multiple series at this time, but nevertheless his card is a fairly low number, so either way it was issued early in the year before he ever took the field with the Redbirds.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? This is an airbrush job that is analogous to what Upper Deck has done to not infringe on the Topps exclusivity deal with MLB. He is clearly wearing a Phillies jersey, pinstripes and all, with even a little bit of the logo jersey. Someone looked at the "P" on his cap and decided to use... something... (crayon? lipstick? blood?) to rub over the logo and try to make the cap look like some nondescript red cap that any team with a red cap could conceivably wear. Er, I hate to say it, but it didn't work so well.

(Thanks to Phungo for providing this card. If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here - but not this one - please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness.)