Married, but not dead

Yes, I am still married to the idea of not collecting the entire 2009 Topps Heritage set. But I'm not dead to picking up a blaster of the stuff.

I stopped by Target last night to buy a birthday card for my daughter along with a few birthday doo-dads, but made a sharp left toward the card aisle first. What I saw is what I had been waiting for since Feb. 25 when I first heard that someone had '09 Heritage in their hands. In front of me were two columns of Heritage blasters stacked to the edge of the shelf. There were also two separate boxes of Heritage packs filled to the top. I must have arrived right after they stocked the aisle. It was glorious. Three-plus weeks of Heritage-less agony melted away before my eyes.

I grabbed a blaster and waited until today to break it open. It's everything I expected. A great look on the front. Meh backs. I've seen a lot of these cards on the blogs, but I'm not sick of them yet. I hope you aren't either. Here is a look at the first '09 Heritage blaster from Northern New York to be opened on the interwebs. It's about bleepin' time:

PACK ONE

1. #46 - Brandon Backe, Astros. First Heritage card of the year. And it will be going to Cliff at Capewood. Mr. Backe needs to take a calm-down pill. Maybe a few of them.

2. #13 - Garret Anderson, Angels
3. #38 - Justin Duchscherer, Athletics

4. #BF9 - Mickey Mantle Flashback. Wee. If Heritage is alive in 2019, when Topps copies the 1970 style, what Mantle cards are they going to feature? Mantle was retired in 1970. Are they going to show Mantle golfing? Buying bread at the grocery store? Because they just can't seem to be able to let the Mantle cards go.

5. #203 - Chris Iannetta, Rockies

6. #119 - Wilkin Castillo, Rookie Star. He's a star, but I don't know who he is.

7. #151 - Giants team (bleh!)

8. #197 - Orlando Hudson, Diamondbacks. First Dodger! But he's wearing that nasty snake uniform.

PACK TWO

1. #410 - Matt Cain, Giants

2. #72 - Tigers team

3. #253 - Alex Cintron, Orioles

4. #487 - Derek Jeter, Yankees, All-Star. First short-print. Short-prints have the gray backs. You know 'em, you've seen 'em.

5. #347 - Jack Cust, Athletics

6. #423 - Brian Buscher, Twins

7. #239 - A.J. Burnett, Yankees. Photoshopped into his Yankee uniform. Not a great job either. The "York" part of New York is too small. And you can't see the "New" part at all, which doesn't seem realistic.

8. #294 - Mark DeRosa, Indians, also photoshopped.

PACK THREE

1. #261 - Scott Kazmir, Rays. Some of the close-up shots are a tad creepy.

2. #223 - Lou Piniella, Cubs, manager. I like the manager cards very much. The backs most likely will be the best backs of any cards issued in 2009.

A card back filled with cartoons. Topps needs to do that on a modern set.

3. #260 - Power Plus, Ramirez and Ethier. Yay! Love this card, even if it is totally photoshopped. The people who say Ethier wouldn't have hit all that much if Ramirez wasn't protecting him in the lineup annoy me. Baseball's a team game. It's not about how much you can do all by yourself. If you want to see players like that, watch basketball. If you want to see players rely upon each other, watch baseball.

4. #217 - Joe Girardi, Yankees manager.

5. #124 - Jason Motte, Cardinals, Rookie Star

6. #68 - Edwin Jackson, Tigers

7. #382 - Chone Figgins, Angels

8. #409 - Kurt Suzuki, Athletics

PACK FOUR

1. #187 - Bronson Arroyo, Reds

2. #283 - Jeff Clement, Mariners

3. #317 - Joey Votto, Reds, All-Star Rookie

4. #408 - Carlos Lee, Astros. It wouldn't be a Night Owl blaster without a card of Lee.

5. #74 - Marlon Byrd, Rangers

6. #346 - Fred Lewis, Giants. This is the Fred Lewis card that actually is Fred Lewis. No Randy Winn here.

7. #331 - Troy Glaus, Cardinals

8. #358 - Yuniesky Betancourt, Mariners

PACK FIVE

1. #228 - Jeff Suppan, Mariners

2. #49 - Doug Davis, Diamondbacks

3. #500 - Billy Wagner, Mets, All-Star. Short-print

4. #398 - Rich Harden, Cubs. Harden's making an odd face. Could be a Worst Card of 2009 candidate.

5. #420 - Chipper Jones, Braves

6. #350 - Javier Vazquez, Braves. The back says Vazquez is 58th all-time in career strikeouts. I never would have guessed he was that high.

7. #326 - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners

8. #209 - Randy Wolf, Astros. Photoshopped into his Astros cap. Joke's on you, Topps. Wolfe's a Dodger now. Now that Kuroda has been named the Dodgers' Opening Day starter, Wolf is either L.A.'s #2 or #3 starter, depending on how healthy Billingsley is entering Opening Day.

PACK SIX

1. #190 - Luke Scott, Orioles

2. #73 - David Price, Rays. Everyone's trendy rookie pick.

3. #8 - Gil Meche, Royals

4. #23 - Andy Sonnanstine, Rays

5. #178 - Jhonny Peralta, Indians

6. #44 - Dana Eveland, Athletics

7. #415 - Jayson Werth, Phillies

8. Pirates team card. That was a pretty dull pack, so I'll show the team card. Three team cards in this blaster and no fences. I'm hoping there aren't any fences obsuring the teams this year. I can't recall if I've seen any.

PACK SEVEN

1. #319 - Mike Aviles, Royals, rookie all-star

2. #218 - Ozzie Guillen, White Sox, manager

3. #94 - Yovani Gallardo, Brewers

4. #C17 - Dexter Fowler, Rockies. Chrome card. I'm joining those who say they can scrap shiny cards in the Heritage set. They're out of place. I wouldn't miss them if they left. Fowler's supposed to be awesome, though.

5. #366 - Ervin Santana, Angels

6. #136 - Matt Tuiasosopo, Mariners, Rookie Star

7. #99 - Lastings Milledge, Nationals

8. #352 - Cincy Clouters (Votto, Encarnacion, Bruce). It appears Topps used three separate photos to make this card.

PACK EIGHT

1. #159 - Shin-Soo Choo, Indians

2. #200 - Ken Griffey Jr., White Sox. Griffey smiles about 400 times a day, and this is all you could get?

3. #399 - Young Hill Stars (Kazmir, Price and Shields). I've seen this card about 25 times already, so I'm not showing it. Shields wasn't anywhere near the two other guys when this photo was taken.

4. #379 - Michael Young, Rangers

5. #475 - Derek Lowe, Dodgers. Yes! It's a short-print. It is such a relief to get a short-print of a player on your favorite team (even though he's a Brave now). No endless chasing.

6. #302 - Phillies team. World Champeens.

7. #266 - Ricky Nolasco, Marlins

8. #84 - Yadier Molina, Cardinals

That's it. Two Dodgers and two other players that are now Dodgers. OK, I guess. Like I said, I do like the cards. But the set is way too difficult to complete. I'll be buying packs here and there and probably another blaster. But most of these cards will be up for trade.