Crackin' More Heritage

A recent #CrackinWaxMailDay from @CrackinWax with another look at Topps Heritage. 

 

While I'm not thrilled about this year's Heritage set, especially when compared to previous years, I'm still going to end up collecting as much of it as time (and money) allows. I also have a team set to put together, and I made a serious dent in that effort with some Crackin' Wax breaks. Along with a pile of Cardinals came a road uniform swatch from former Cardinal Kolten Wong. Wong was with the team for seven seasons, starting most of the games at second base. Rarely has their ever been such stability at the keystone position in the team's franchise history. As luck would have it, Wong was there to lead off against the Cards for the home opener at Busch and understandably got a huge ovation. (Well, that's to say as huge of an ovation as a crowd of 10,000 or so can provide.)

As always, there's a ton of short prints in the set. I did land this short printed card of Harrison Bader, who began the season on the injured list. Unlike previous years, I feel that a good chunk of the 100 card short printed portion of the set is dedicated to regular everyday guys like Bader instead of stars and rookies. That's often been a complaint in the past. There's also been grumblings about certain starts being held out of the checklist this time, most likely for inclusion in the High Numbers set. At least from Topps' perspective, that strategy makes sense. The High Numbers checklist is usually full of relievers, players who changed teams in the offseason and were DFA'd by May, and maybe one or two top rookies.

Speaking of top rookies, I ended up with a pair of Dylan Carlson cards. The prices for his cards have been kind of all over the place, with collectors investors not entirely sure whether to give him the star rookie treatment or not.

Dylan Carlson played a lot last year even though he still enjoys his rookie status. That means his "In Action" card is pretty legit.

One of the boxes must have been a hot one, as I also ended up with this purple Chrome Jack Flaherty card.

Kodi Whitley was on the taxi squad last year and it looks like that will be his role this year, at least until minor league action is underway. People close to the ballclub seem to be excited about him. Roel Ramirez, on the other hand, is more of a "minor league depth" guy who was entirely out of his element last season when the Cards were down a ton of players due to a certain coronavirus as he made one appearance, allowing 6 runs while recording only 2 outs. Rough stuff.

If this is Yadi's last season, he seems determined to go out on top. He's been one of the team's best hitters coming out of the gate.

We'll end with a quad pack of Cards cards from photo day at Roger Dean Stadium.

Should we do some spring cleaning soon? Does anyone still like cards?