Something showed up

 

I don't have very much time for cards today, nor tomorrow.

But a Very Important Package arrived at my home last night and it's got to be addressed in some sort of fashion here.

 

Yes, this is the start of approximately 158 posts about 2024 Heritage on this blog this year. You're welcome!

 

I went ahead and pre-ordered a box of Heritage over the weekend. I chose Dave & Adam's for one very strategic reason: I live less than four hours away from the place and I knew I'd get it fast. I did not expect it to show up the day before release date. For the first time in my life, I had my hands on release date (which is today, FYI).

 

That's appropriate since I have been waiting for this set since I knew what Heritage was, which was around 2006. So, 18 years I've been waiting for Topps to fully invest in the 1975 set and design.

 

Now, in those 18 years a lot has happened. Heritage used to faithfully create each set based on the year it was featuring. It looked like that set, it had all the various traits of that set, Heritage even matched up some of the card numbers with players who had some sort of connection to players of the past. Sluggers with sluggers, pitchers with pitchers, etc.

 

But in the 18 years since, a lot of that has gone by the wayside. Heritage features all kinds of stuff that didn't exist in the vintage sets -- short-prints in 1975 Topps, for example. DIDN'T HAPPEN. But there's a lot of other stuff, extra foo-foo stuff. I'm quite sure there are far more rookies in 2024 Heritage than in the first Heritage set I completed, 2008 Heritage (1959 design). I should compare those two.

 

Also, Topps has replicated the '75 design a ton in the last 15 years, so that Heritage excitement of seeing the old design for the first time in a long time is no longer there.

 

However ... I am determined to enjoy this set. I will definitely point out the differences -- that is part of the enjoyment, don't think I'm not enjoying it. It's got the 1975 design all over it, of course I'm enjoying it!!!

 

 

Here's what the box looked like when I opened it last night after a super-late work night (that's about 2 a.m. right there).

 

The buyback card was right on top loose. I have the Sparky Lyle in buyback form already -- the odds of me not having the buyback in a single hobby box are probably long.  (P.S.: this is another benefit of 2024 Heritage, finding buybacks that I ain't got yet. Nobody hoard them on me!)

Sadly I don't have time to do a full box opening here. All there's time for is opening one pack, so let's do that.

 

Here is the first pack. Gerrit Cole is the cover boy on the box so this is Cole in '75 wrapper style. I don't recall the original '75 wrapper specifically citing a player though I thought as a kid it was Jim Palmer. Here are the wrappers side-by-side.

 

Kind of a general tribute there but not really the same.

One thing I noticed on the wrappers are the odds of various pulls are not shown there anymore, instead the wrapper directs you to Topps' website. I know the odds were on last year's wrappers, I wonder if the reason is there are two many wacky parallels now?

Anyway, let's start the grand opening of Pack 1.

432 - Allan Winans, Braves

(Corresponding '75 card number: Ken Berry, Brewers)

Oof, first card is someone I don't know, who has like 14 cards to his name. Yeah, Heritage ain't the same. But look at that green-yellow border!

We're going to have to obsessively compare, just to pop the balloon some more.

The team names aren't quite the same, as far as the font. Close, but not the same. The team color is different, too, though the Perez card may have faded over the years. The position names are not as bold as the '75s. The player names look close although Winans' name might be smaller?

You probably notice the ragged edge on the bottom of the Winans card. That showed up on a few of the cards in the first pack, L thought I was opening a Heritage-OPC tribute! Hoping this doesn't appear through the whole box.

 

Let's look at the card back.

 

A back-lit image online doesn't show how unreadable this is but it's definitely tough to make out. '75 backs were never the most readable but it's no 1976 Topps back. I know the legalese forces everything to be scrunched but maybe there's some sort of issue with the cardboard being used? Here's a comparison with the Sparky Lyle buyback.

Lyle is a lot more readable and only some of that is because the type is not scrunched. I know I had 9-year-old eyes in 1975 but don't make me believe I've lost that much eyesight.

 

286 - Julio Rodriguez, Mariners

('75 corresponding card number: Mike Jorgensen, Expos)

I'll get off the ragged borders after this but look at that. I like the all green for the Mariners card, speaking of which, I need to check off the color combos! This is a big deal!

Brown-orange

Green-yellow

Pink-yellow

Tan-light blue

Yellow-green

Yellow-red

Red-yellow

Orange-yellow

Brown-tan

Red-blue

Red-orange

Green-light green

Purple-pink

Light blue-green

Blue-orange

Green-purple

Yellow-light blue

Orange-brown

I expect to see all 18 combos used in Heritage. So far, green-yellow and green-light green has been used, I'll cross those off.

 

Brown-orange

Green-yellow

Pink-yellow

Tan-light blue

Yellow-green

Yellow-red

Red-yellow

Orange-yellow

Brown-tan

Red-blue

Red-orange

Green-light green

Purple-pink

Light blue-green

Blue-orange

Green-purple

Yellow-light blue

Orange-brown

 

 

101 - Luis Matos, Giants

('75 corresponding card number: Expos team card)

Three cards, two rookie logos! Good times!

 

 

201 - 1999 MVPs, Ivan Rodriguez/Chipper Jones, MVP insert

('75 corresponding card number: 1963 MVPs - Elston Howard/Sandy Koufax)

 

My first look at the MVP inserts. That gold border looks bananas with the '75 color scheme. If you didn't know (I mentioned it previously), Topps chose random MVP years for this insert set, using some that were in the original '75 set and some that aren't. It's a weird strategy but if you know this is all based on who Topps has contract agreements with, it makes sense ... well, it doesn't make sense sense, but lawyers.

 

 

 402 - Zach Remillard, White Sox

('75 corresponding card number: Bob Tolan, Padres)

Hey now, MOAR ROOOOOKIES. I don't know who this is either. He's got a 2024 Topps flagship card, so I guess that's something, but between the guy and that city connect uniform and really not a great photo, I'm clinging to that border design and begging it to never leave me.

 

331 - Gerrit Cole, Yankees

(Corresponding '75 card number: Indians team)

Oof.

 

This was one of my greatest wishes and greatest fears for Heritage. If Heritage was to do one thing right, I would have liked it to be that the All-Star cards were yellow-and-red borders with blue team names. If Heritage was going to do one thing very wrong it would be to not use the yellow-and-red borders. This card is a big middle finger to that wish. ... Come on, man, LIKE THIS:

(Doesn't anyone at Topps read about the hobby? -- Don't answer that).

For a hopeful minute, I thought I had pulled a variation with the Gerrit Cole card, but I've peaked ahead a few packs and it's not a variation because there's a purple-pink All-Star card a few packs from this one.

I admit that seeing the All-Star logo on a border combo other than yellow-red is a wee bit fascinating. But, to me, this is the biggest indication that Heritage is now just "Archives for Set Collectors". There's no going back, I'll bet Topps doesn't even know why I'm going on about it. Or maybe they just wanted to get a "world-is-ending" reaction out of collectors like me. So, if that's the case, uh, congrats.

 

 

433 - Yusei Kikuchi, Blue Jays

('75 corresponding card number - Larry Demery, Pirates)

I'm usually not too aware of font differences -- just that there's a difference -- but the Blue Jays team name jumped right out at me. It's like they used a whole different lettering system. I know the Blue Jays didn't exist in 1975 but that shouldn't throw you off that much.

 

39 - Alexis Diaz, Reds

('75 corresponding card number: Andre (Andy) Thornton, Cubs)

This card appeared back-side up as it's a short-print. The first 100 cards are short-printed, which is different from previous years, but if I'm gonna complete the set I need to get them all no matter where they are.

 

269 - Kyle Gibson, Cardinals

('75 corresponding card number - Doug Rau, Dodgers)

This is the first card that I've shown that has the same color combo as the player who shares the card number in the '75 set. Doug Rau is also purple-pink.

But the 2024 purple-pink combo does not look nearly as vivid as in the '75 set. In fact the two colors look practically the same. Here's a comparison:

Wow. That's a very obvious difference, and it's not just that Gibson is photoshopped into a Cardinals uniform.

All right, that's the end of the pack and that's a lot to chew on.

For starters, I still do like this set and I still will enjoy opening these. But it's fairly obvious that Topps can not handle a faithful representation of a vintage set anymore. I know the '75 set has a lot more elements than the 1974 set and therefore is more challenging. I got through the 2023 Heritage set with relatively few complaints (except those Angels cards). These, however ...

But enough of that. Heritage is paying tribute to 1975 everyone! Every single card is that wonderful gaudy combination of colors that shouldn't go together!!!! Weeeeeeee!!!!

 

I'm not sure when I'll get to posting the rest of the box on the blog. Friday at the earliest, maybe not until the weekend. But you can bet I'll get blog mileage out of this.

Oh, I've got to update the color combos list again:

Brown-orange

Green-yellow

Pink-yellow

Tan-light blue

Yellow-green

Yellow-red

Red-yellow

Orange-yellow

Brown-tan

Red-blue

Red-orange

Green-light green

Purple-pink

Light blue-green

Blue-orange

Green-purple

Yellow-light blue

Orange-brown

Eight color combos down, 10 more to go.

Don't blow it.