Back when I first returned to modern cards, I discovered a brand called Heritage in 2008. It appealed to me instantly and though I've had a love-hate relationship with the brand and its forced short-prints, it's always been one of my favorites.
I didn't need any of the parallels -- the regular set was enough -- but back then there weren't many. There were the chrome parallels and then you could find black-bordered chrome cards as Target exclusives, which were all the rage at the time. I did like those.
Then there were other parallels connected to store-issues -- red borders for Target and blue for Walmart -- that were fun and, again, manageable. Purple chrome hot box parallels, too.
Today, though, I can't even keep track of them all. 2025 Heritage has seen an explosion of parallel cards. While 2024 Heritage had a lot, too, I could ignore them because I love the '75 design so much I don't need a stinkin' parallel. But '25 has even more and I am not immune.
If you're a Heritage maniac like me, you've accumulated a fair amount of parallels just through buying packs and boxes in a bid to complete the set. I have several of most iterations. I'm kind of proud of them. Truthfully, if Heritage was still on store shelves, I would probably buy it just because of the parallels. That'd be a real dumb move on my part since all I need is like 25 short-prints to finish the set, but that hasn't stopped me before. I love border-color parallels more than any other kind of parallel. (See, Topps, this is what you miss by keeping product off shelves -- guillible buyers like me!)
I know there are other Heritage maniacs out there -- I know there are ones far more maniacal than me. One of those on my level, probably more advanced, is Stuart of S.R. '75 Cards. He's been sending out packages lately and I received one that was nothing but 2025 Heritage Dodgers, almost all of them parallels.
Now that's how you know someone has purchased a fair amount of Heritage.
The only card that wasn't a parallel was the Shohei Ohtani insert at the top of the post, and anything with that player is nifty enough.
This is the average chrome variety parallel, which has been part of Heritage since the very start.
These pink-sparkle chromes are about as over-the-top as you can get. I have more of this kind of insert than any other, I think, probably because of the kinds of boxes I purchased. I thought they were crazy -- almost sickly -- when I first pulled them. I've gotten used to them a bit, while also agreeing that they're totally unnecessary.
A nice early Christmas present with a red- and green-bordered Kershaw card. I have the blue-bordered Kershaw card and the pink sparkle. No, I'm not going for the entire rainbow for any of this. I just take whatever people want to send/what speaks to me. I'm much happier that way.
And, finally, a red-bordered version of this great card. I have already said I will take every variety of this card. But I'm not actively trying to land them. There are just too many and I'm already doing dumb things like needing two versions of the regular card -- this is a short-print!
I'm sure Stuart gets it. Everything he sent me I needed and that's tough to do with as much Heritage I've accumulated this year. Tough to do unless you're a fellow Heritage maniac.
And, again, I would have so much more (and many, many more dupes) if store shelves were stocked like they were 10 years ago when my interest in Heritage wasn't nearly as strong.
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