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.

Édition Limitée

Canadian Cardinals and a few Topps Heritage cards. 

 

Angus of Dawg Day Cards, who you probably know as a Canadian Cleveland Browns collector, sent over a few fun things around the end of winter. Because my forays into the pro football card world are pretty scarce, it's rare that I have many things to send to Angus. Because of this, I'm always extra-appreciative whenever I get something from him.

It took me awhile to decide which side of this Ozzie Smith card from a Canadian 1993 Post set was the front and which was the reverse. I settled on this being the backside, because it has a card number on it. That's not always a hard and fast rule. There's also a pull tab on the card, which makes me curious as to what's inside. (I didn't pull it.)

Even though this goes down in the official databases as a White Sox card, this 1983 O-Pee-Chee Steve Mura has a home in my Cardinals binders because he's still rocking the red and baby blue.

I don't think 1994 Upper Deck Fun Pack was a Canadian release, but it's one I am pretty sure I've never opened a pack of. I know I opened some of the previous year's Fun Pack set before I stopped collecting back in the '90s. I recall it trying a little harder to be "fun" for the kids than, say, Topps Big League.

Angus also sent over a few set filling needs from the 2018 Topps Heritage set. Alex Reyes looks a bit glum on this one, one of those pesky short prints. I'm hoping he can get his career back on track someday, but it's starting to look like his future with the Cardinals is a little bit murky.

Here's another short print from the same set. I don't have any recollection of Christian Arroyo's days with the Rays, but apparently he spent parts of two seasons there before moving on to Boston.

Rookie Performers are always a key highlight of the High Numbers version of the Heritage set, and they can get a bit tough to track down once the set's been out awhile. I was happy to add this one to my collection.

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!

Thumbs Up to Cards

A PWE from @dvdgao hits up some set needs and team needs. 

Fellow Cardinals fan David recently sent me a nice envelope full of cards that hit up several of my want lists. I've been trying to significantly boost the number of envelopes I typically send, so it's always nice when I get one back -- especially from a Cards fan.

Here's a great opportunity for my semi-regular plug for The Junior Junkie. This continues to be my favorite* blog out there, which is surprising considering I've never been a big time Griffey fan. There's certainly more effort put into his weekly posts that I've cumulatively put into my entire year's worth of content, and they're always an entertaining read if you collect cards.

Any time I get a chance to knock off a Heritage insert, it's a big win.

I guess Adalberto really didn't want to be called Raul Mondesi Jr. I'm still missing a bunch of 2019 Heritage, of course.

Cardinals fans always tend to send the best Cardinals cards. It's probably because we always have the most dupes, right? I missed out on a recent Bowman's Best box break, but I opted to pick up some of the base cards instead (much cheaper.) This Goldschmidt refractor is a really nice addition to that small group.

High Tek Yadi! That's... all I've got.

*I mean, besides your blog, of course.

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!

More Cards From Bru!

A little big closer to Heritage goals thanks to @marcbrubaker and another envelope. 

It seemed like I was getting hit right and left with envelopes full of cards from Remember The Astrodome for awhile there. Here's some stuff I received back in September.

I was able to cross off a number of 2018 Topps Heritage needs, including this newly crowned Cy Young Award winner. Erin is still lamenting the loss of his luxurious locks, though.

Cardinals were included, because we love the Cardinals here (did you know?!) I'm not sure if the 2018 Donruss design will ever grow on me (and now it's here in basketball), but I am always a sucked for chrome'd up and shiny cards, both of which this Carlos Martinez card fits the bill.

Here's another Donruss Optic Prizm parallel. We haven't yet truly seen Tyler O'Neill's prodigious power be sustained in the majors, but some consistent playing time would help. It's nice to see the Rated Rookie logo live on for another day.

This is just a straight up base card from the same set, using the confusing Diamond Kings design. These aren't the Diamond Kings that I know. Waino is back for 2019. Have I mentioned that? Probably.

Thanks again to Bru! I have a feeling we'll be seeing more from him soon.