The Elusive Heritage

A bunch of Topps Heritage short prints from @scottcrawford.org including a couple for the Cardinals boxes. 

 

As anyone who attempts to build Topps Heritage sets year in and year out can attest, picking up those last 100 or so cards can be quite a shore. They look and feel like the regular base cards, for the most part, but they're a bit of a tougher pull at one in every 3 packs. If you crunch the numbers, I think you'll find that Heritage short prints are not nearly as scarce as their reputation holds. I blame Beckett for, at one point, pricing even the most fringe players who appear at the short end of the checklist at a starting rate of $5 a card, causing a whole generation of collectors to hoard these cards.

In any case, there was plenty of reason to get excited about adding a few dozen more SPs to my collection from Scott of I Need New Hobbies. This was easily the biggest number of these elusive cards to arrive in the mail in a single day for several years now.

Two of these cards will end up bypassing my set builds and head straight to the fancy Cardinals boxes. (Because they are scarce, you see!) This means that I'll need to track down a second 2013 Yadi Molina card, which makes me question why I insist on collecting this way.

For my 2010 set build is this pair of pitchers. These are the only cards in the lot that are easily distinguishable from their printed-in-regular-quantities counterparts without looking at the actual card numbers. The 2010 set has the short printed cards printed on bright white stock instead of the usual cardboard stock. (This was a reversal of the 2009 set, where the regular cards were on white and the SPs used a darker cardboard.)

Here's a four-pack from the 2011 set. I like this set a lot, even though I feel that it was the beginning of the seemingly unending string of boring head shots on Heritage cards throughout the 2010s. (I suppose you can't fault Topps for trying to be true to those original sets here.)

It's a pair of Joshes from the 2012 set. How many Joshes do you know? Is Joshes the right way to pluralize the name Josh? I seem to know a lot of Joshes.

It took me awhile to appreciate the 2013 Topps Heritage set because they were printed on a light stock and felt exactly like the Allen & Ginter cards they had been printing for years at this point. I know that the original 1964 set had lightly colored card backs, but it still seems like the black sheep of the 2010s Heritage sets to me.

Thanks to Scott, I added five cards to my 2014 set build, including another Yadi. It's unfortunate that he has to share with Ryan Braun here, but I already scanned this stuff and it's too late now.

A whopping nine cards received were from the 2015 Heritage set. A couple of these guys are actually still in the game. Off the top of my head, I know that Rodon (a rookie here) is in the Yankees rotation this season and Chris Sale is trying to make another go of it with Atlanta.

Here are three more from the 2016 set, including 2019 World Series champ (ugh) Michael A. Taylor.

Just a single card from the 2018 set made an appearance (and none from 2017) as I am pretty sure Scott was starting to tire of Topps and their shenanigans by this point.

Last up is a pair of grey-bordered cards from the 2019 Heritage set. I believe Yonder Alonso does work with the MLB Network these days.

Thanks again to Scott. And don't forget -- make sure you sign up for the not-actually-gambling-because-it's-free thing soon before Thursday's games tip off.

Three PWEs and a Song

Some folks like @dvdgao stuck a stamp on an envelope and sent cards my way. 

It's a Monday night and I just watched live sports I have a rooting interest in for the first time in four months. (Portland Timbers, and yes, if it was up to me there wouldn't be any of this sports stuff happening for the rest of 2020.) Let's check out some plain white envelopes.

First up is Ryan from "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog, who sent over some set fillers from the most recent Allen & Ginter set. I haven't seen (or don't remember?) what the 2020 design looks like, so I'm hoping that it was cancelled. Considering the current state of baseball cards right now, it's probably coming out next week and all boxes will sell out after 20 seconds. Things are nuts right now.

We're about to head into year 15 of the Allen & Ginter line. Topps continues to design really excellent cards here. This doesn't really track with what they do with some of their other brands, but it's nice to see that they know how to do something right.

Cardinals fan David sent along some more non-Cardinals stuff, hitting a few needs from some earlier Topps Heritage sets.

Mookie Betts cards, let alone insert cards, don't exactly grow on trees. I was happy to add this New Age Performers card from the 2018 set to my collection.

Lastly from David, it's a couple of New York team cards from the 2016 set.

Our third featured player is gcrl from cards as i see them. Someone remembered that I like the Cardinals, sending some cards of star players and obscurities like Anthony Garcia. Generally speaking, I like both equally.

Fleer Legacy was a short lived set (maybe one and done), but there are some interesting cards in it.

I know there were a lot of Topps Bunt (non-digital edition) defenders out there, but I was absolutely not a fan. Blue tint filter? Great. Still, the team collection needs what it needs.

In addition to the needed Cardinals cards was a healthy stack of 2003 Topps set needs. I picked just two of those cards to scan today -- both Mariners! -- including Garciaparra the lesser.

If you haven't checked out the YouTube series Dorktown on the history of the Seattle Mariners, you're missing out. It's fascinating. I've been watching it during my work-from-home lunches. I don't think Shin-Soo Choo (or Michael Garciaparra for that matter) ever get a mention, but there's a lot of interesting nuggets that are discussed.



This is the brand new music video from one of my favorite bands out there. It even features a notorious clown. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Bru Destroys the Want Lists

Set needs and more from @marcbrubaker make the want lists more manageable. 

As soon as I make the piles of cards on my desk start to disappear, even more piles seem to appear. Such was the case with this huge stack of cards I got back in May from Marc Brubaker (FKA Remember the Astrodome). I haven't given my set building a ton of attention here of late, but I managed to snap a photo of most of the cards that head towards the sets (instead of the team binders).

Proof!

Along with the full-sized Ginter and Heritage needs that you'd expect, I pulled out a bunch of minis to scan. Look at all of these minis! This array manages to be mostly made of humans, with just one landmark and zero other animals. I feel like there are more animal-based inserts sets lately.

Of course, there were also a few Cardinals cards for the Cardinals collection, including a couple of current closer Carlos Martinez. The way Blogger likes to format images here makes this mini look much larger than the fifteen other minis that I scanned. I should probably migrate to my own domain name (and Wordpress) like Marc did, but that would take me a lot of time and I assume some money as well. It would be nice to get away from Google eventually, but will any of us truly ever get completely away from Google?

Finally, here's a Goldy from this year's Big League set. I still need three base cards from this set as well as countless numbers of parallels if anyone has any extras. Check out the (team) wants here as usual.

Set Needs, Cardinals and More!

Cards! 

Last time, we featured a 2018 Topps Heritage card from the NL Cy Young Award winner and tonight we are showing off a card from the same set of the runner-up. It's hard to find a better pitcher in baseball than Max Scherzer right now, who struck out 300 (!) batters this season. That just shows you how good deGrom was. This card and more were sent my way by Jason of Hoarding Cardboard, as a totally cool "thank you" for the stuff I gave away over the summer.

It's always nice to get cards from older Heritage sets. Rookie Performers (from High Series) have become rather challenging to track down once the unopened stuff disappears from shelves, so it feels satisfying whenever I get one. Incidentally, I recently snagged a David Price Rookie Performers card from 2009 off of Listia, and was unable to find any copies on COMC or recently completed auctions on eBay. I doubt the Price card is worth all that much, but it was super cool to find it.

Aroo!

Jason sent some Cardinals along, too, because he probably heard that I like the Cardinals. Imagine that! It actually seems super crazy to me that all three players on this 2018 Bowman Talent Pipeline insert actually had significant playing time. In fact, it was the Single-A guy (Hicks) who had the most prominent role of the three.

Confusingly, I only just learned the gold parallels from 2007 Fleer Ultra Retail are numbered while the hobby versions are not. I assume the hobby versions are actually more rare, but who knows what that print run was? I remember having just started exploring the hobby again for the first time around when this set came out and learning that Fleer Ultra hobby packs were selling for around $20 a pop, which seemed insane. I'm sure they're not that expensive anymore. Anyway, this super cool Yadi is of the gold retail variety, which means it is numbered.

Jason noticed that I liked the Ducks as well, which is why he sent this Demtrius Williams card from a set called Aspire that I'm sure I'd never heard of. He sent along some Eagles, too, but they are crummy right now and don't deserve my time. (Sadly, at 4-6 and with the injury to Alex Smith, they could still easily win the division at this point, because it's just that terrible this year.)

Thanks again to Jason!

Answering the Call

Cards in a time of need. 

Bru from Remember the Astrodome was the latest to answer the distress call to get me closer to my goal of completing an Allen & Ginter set sometime while we're all still on this planet. In addition to the sweet Private Stock Alan Benes parallel, I received a nice stack of needs from the most recent A&G offering.

Before we get to the Ginter stuff, here's one more card down from my 2016 Topps Heritage want list. Cardinals have stopped showing up on league leader cards in recent years, which is too bad if you ask me.

Have you ever scanned a card before realizing that you meant to scan an entirely different card? That's what happened with Mr. Glazer here. I have no idea what to say about him, but I was going to say something complimentary about Didi Gregorius until I realized I scanned the wrong thing. Monday nights are not my sharpest.

Three World's Fair inserts were crossed off, including this Statue of Liberty card. I want to say something about the state of this country at the moment, but it's getting late... so I'd better go.

All Over the Place

Some idle thoughts about some random cards. 

I'm all over the place tonight. Sometimes, that is the best frame of mind to be in when writing about cards. We'll see how that goes. Here are a few thoughts about a few cards sent to me by Night Owl Cards.

I'm not going to pretend I like Topps BUNT all of a sudden, but I do want to express my appreciation for serial numbered cards. I am always a sucker for them. I really don't know what Topps was going for with these weird, washed out color parallels in this set, though.

The 2015 World Series seems like a long time ago right now! If you had asked me yesterday what the World Series cards looked like in the 2016 Heritage set (or the 1967 set it's based on), I probably would have shrugged. I do like the designs that look like old TV sets, though, which probably explains why I'm a sucker for that one old Bowman set.

I'm not wild about the non-baseball subjects that have crept into Allen & Ginter in recent years. I suppose it's a sign of running out of ideas, or a desire to cover as much ground as possible. Truthfully, I went ahead and scanned this card because the other two set filling needs I received from the 2015 set were both PED users. I think people's attitudes are starting to gently shift towards not caring so much about this anymore, but I can always find all sorts of excuses not to scan cards for the blog.

Ted Simmons was recently announced as a member of this year's Modern Era Hall of Fame ballot. I hope he gets in. I don't have any specific memories of Simmons as a player, but I know that he was one of the top catchers in the game in the '70s. I did see him play a bit in his waning years on WTBS, so I am obviously and perfectly qualified to cast a ballot.

Envelopes upon Envelopes

Many Heritage cards stuffed in multiple envelopes. 

Not content to just send a few cards in one PWE when I was looking for extra Topps Heritage cards to fill my collection needs, reader Jeff stuffed several envelopes full of bunches of Heritage cards. His blog has been dormant for awhile, but I am linking it here anyway just in case it pops back to life one of these days.

Moncada is being featured at the Futures Game (currently in progress), while Fulmer has struggled at the AAA level so far. It seems like Moncada should get the big call-up any day now.

Jeff also sent a ton of 2016's. Sano has pulled his weight of this young Twins tandem, but Buxton has failed to do anything but be incredibly fast. I guess his ceiling is Billy Hamilton, maybe?

At one point last season, this card was the equivalent of the Aaron Judge/Tyler Austin card from this year's set. Judge has blasted past that level and, along with Cody Bellinger, seems to be completely shifting the market for low and mid level baseball cards in 2017. Meanwhile, this Schwarber card can be had for 54 cents on COMC.

Here's one for the Cardinals collection. Matt Adams heads into the All-Star break with 14 HR after riding the bench for the first six weeks of the season. It's hard to see him as the one that got away, though, as there are a ton of guys with power who have limited defensive versatility in this league. I'm rooting for him just the same, as I always hoped he'd develop into an every day player in St. Louis like he has the chance to be in Atlanta (... even though their franchise player plays the same position. Hmm.)

The Low-End Theory

Also, it's Mike Zunino Appreciation Night.

Some blogs have a theme and some just slap some Cardinals up there and call it good. While I'd like to be the former, what I do here never really comes close to the things that long-time blogger Nick (aka Dime Box Nick) and his blog (long name: Dime Boxes -- The Low-End Baseball Card Collector's Journey) contributes on a regular basis.

While I'm still putting together a pool of cards to send back his way, Nick sent over a healthy stack of set needs as well as Cardinals-based goodies. While I'm always scouting out the former, it's the latter that I am most excited about writing about here, so the Cardinals get weighted a bit more heavily here.

Here are two guys I've never heard of in my life. It will be fun to look back on this in a few years when they are both superstars. Maybe?

Although I've watched a fair amount of HBO so-called prestige dramas, I've never seen half a minute of a Sopranos episode. I've heard it was good, except for the ending.

On to the juicy stuff here. Aledmys Diaz is having the kind of down season that would escape the notice of most TV announcers, while Matt Carpenter and Dexter Fowler have gotten a lot of attention for underperforming despite each carrying an OPS well above average.

Let's pour one out for Jhonny, who was recently released. He was really good for a time, until he, you know... wasn't anymore.

This from 2016 Stadium Club is kind of a strange photo of the Wizard, likely before an All-Star or playoff game. I'd like to figure it out if I had more time.

The inserts from the Heritage High Number sets are usually some of the trickiest for me to track down for whatever reason, but at least I won't have to find this Piscotty card for my St. Louis collection.

I've given Topps a lot of flack lately for lazily paying tribute to cool things from their past like this "stand-up" card that is just a card and couldn't stand up on anything without a lot of help. They impressed me with their coins in this year's Archives set, but this and the Walmart "buttons" are still incredibly stupid to me. Still, I am very glad to knock this off my list.

Not quite a "zero-year" guy as Nick likes, Tejada logged a grand total of 40 ABs with the Cards early last season as an emergency signee when Peralta went down in the spring. Fortunately, Aledmys Diaz stepped up and seized control of the everyday SS job.

Did they end up making Spring Fever cards this year? Hobby exclusives are always so out of reach to me. This is a nice addition to my Waino collection.