Heritage Favorites 9/9/09 Edition

Here we are on the 9th day of the 9th month of the 9th year of the new century, well actually it is the 10th year of the new century, but topps heritage is in its 9th year. That made me think of the number 9 and what it means to heritage. I immediately thought of all the famous baseball players who wore the #9. Of course Ted Williams comes to every ones mind. He has appeared in several heritage releases, from then and now cards in 06 and 07 to a cut in 2006 which to my knowledge has never been pulled, to one of the more famous cards in the heritage run, the Korean War time capsule card in 01, which featured a piece of military uniform (not from Williams). I always thought of Teddy Ballgame as the best hitter who ever lived, you have to wonder what his stats would of been had he not gone to war twice!

Yankee fans will think of Roger Maris who has only appeared as a cut autograph back in 2007. If heritage makes it to 2012 (1963 issue), they will most likely have to put Maris in the set somehow. You can't ignore the magic of that season, Maris versus Mantle versus Ruth. Hopefully the Upper Deck exclusives will be long gone by then.

Two other famous 9's have also appeared quite a bit in topps heritage. Enos Slaughter was one of the original guys appearing in the first 01 autograph set. Bill Mazeroski would also have plenty of jersey cards and autograph cards in various sets starting with 2006. Pirate fans had something to shout about back then!

However, none of these guys have appeared in more heritage products than the #9 heritage champ, Minnie Minoso. Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso Arrieta, or Minnie as he was called, was a fountain of youth. He is only the 2nd player ever to play in 7 different decades, a feat that will stand for ever. Starting in the negro league, Minoso would go on to play for the Indians, Cards, Senators and on and off with the White Sox where he was called Mr. White Sox.

Minoso was also featured in the first 2001 heritage set. He had an autograph, a jersey card and a dual jersey card with Frank Thomas. He would sign again in 2002 and have an insert card in 2003. After a short break he would again be featured prominently in 2008. In 2009 he would appear with Chipper on a then and now card. If topps continues in the next decade and feature the players of the 60's and then 70's, Minoso should be right there!!

Have a happy 9/9/09!

Heritage Favorites Part II

In our second installment of heritage favorites I visit another active player. Alex Rodriguez's heritage rein has spanned three teams. He was a featured autograph back in 2001 heritage with the Seattle Mariners. The next year he would be traded to the Texas Rangers and then again to the Yankees. Arod has of course been a heritage staple appearing in the autograph set both in 2001 and 2002. He also has appeared heavily in the insert sets being paired with HOF'ers from Mantle to Jackie Robinson to Yogi Berra. In 2009 a surprise double GU card of Mantle and Arod was on every ones wish list. Arod has also appeared in every chrome set except 2007 including the very popular black refractors. Rodriguez has been a very good signer with topps over the years but it looks like those days are gone, he doesn't sign nearly as much as he once did.

The card you see above was pulled at a target, an amazing feat for the highly searchable 2001 packs, what would be even more amazing is that I would pull the 2002 heritage Arod auto the very next year at the same target! They are still two of my more favorite heritage cards.

Heritage Favorites

In the next couple of posts I will be revisiting the most popular heritage players over the years. These players year after year provide heritage with the bang that has us coming back for more every year.

The first of those players is 10 year vet Chipper Jones, now I know he has played longer than 10 years, but he has appeared in every heritage release since 2001. He has several autographs in the 2001 release including a rare classic renditions autograph. He is also on a bat card with Eddie Mathews twice, once in 01 and once in 03. These cards are the crown jewel of Chipper collections. Chipper has been a mainstay in the chrome set for every year except 2007. Topps tried to go cross-branding with the chrome set in 2007 hoping that collectors would buy lesser products in order to chase the heritage chromes (it did not work).

If you are a Chipper collector you can count on great looking cards every year. Sadly Chipper doesn't sign a lot of cards today, but the old ones are beautiful, my favorite is this black chrome from 2008, the colors are amazing. Anyone out there with an 01 autograph? I would love to post it here.

Time to say goodbye?

All good things must come to an end and it looks like one of the greatest baseball products is coming to an end. Topps just released the presale info for their 2009 Heritage High Number series and it has collectors scratching their heads. The presale material shows "big hits" as they always do, but what we see is a Jay Bruce autographed jersey card and a Dick Burwell real one autograph.

Jay Bruce is a popular player with collectors but he has appeared en masse recently in topps products including 2009 topps heritage. Dick Burwell is, well, I don't
really know. So I went to the baseball reference site and looked him up. Dick Burwell played with the Chicago Cubs for the 60 and 61 season, he pitched a total of 13.2 innings. He had "retired" at the age of 21.

If you collected topps heritage in the past then you have seen this before. The 2009 edition was chalk filled with these 3-inning career guys. Most of the players on the autograph checklist didn't play even a month. Is this what topps new game plan for heritage is?

Let me remind you all who appeared in last years product. Guy like Kaline, Snider, Frank Robinson, Kaat, and Cepeda, with minor stars such as Skowron, Muary Wills, and Tommy Davis. They also added in some of the hottest current players in the majors, guys like Pedroia and Soto.

I have to ask myself why topps is opting to cheapen the heritage brand so much? Do they really think the base set alone can sell this product? The autograph odds already make this product a 2 per case venture, but what fun is pulling a Dick Burwell autograph as your case hit?

Yes all good things must come to an end and this might be the end of topps heritage. In todays economy this lack of effort will not fly, even with your
most loyal collecting base, and I dare say that no other product, save for bowman
chrome, has had a more loyal following. I had hoped after seeing the presale info
that 2009 topps heritage would have some nice surprises in it, well it did, an even more watered down autograph checklist and players missing from the set that were actually pictured on the promo material. Topps also made a "mistake" by putting 80% of the super SP's into a few boxes of retail cards.

I know many heritage collectors like to pre order this stuff, but if last years product is selling for way less a box than it did when it came out, then what is this stuff going to be selling for next year? 35 a box? It might be worth the wait.

7th and Final Heritage Super Short Print Found

The 7th and final super short print in 2009 topps heritage has just shown up. It features Adrian Gonzalez with the the Rangers logo on the front of the card. These super short prints are not numbered but appear to be very very rare. Most of these
commanding 150 to 250 dollars in ebay auctions. I think many of these will be missed by casual pack rippers and many may be found in the commons box. The 7 super short prints are:

#58 Conner Jackson with the Rays Logo on front
#70 Tom Glavine with his first name spelled "Thom"
#102 Adrian Gonzalez with the Rangers Logo on front
#346 Fred Lewis picture on front is Randy Winn
#407 Randy Winn pictured on front is Fred Lewis
#445 John Smoltz pictured in Red Sox uniform
#488 Hanley Ramirez AS pictured in Red Sox uniform

Caution to all, there are people on ebay attempting to pass off the Aramis Ramirez
card as a variation, while his chrome card has his complete name on the front the regular base card only has Aramis. There is NO VARIATION of this card.

Good Luck checking your commons box!

Topps Confirms Heritage Super Short Prints **Updated**

Topps has just told me that there are a total of 7 super short prints in the new
2009 Topps Heritage. 4 of them have already been found by collectors and a 5th
Randy Winn is assumed to match the Fred Lewis variation. I will add more information as it becomes available!

We have gotten conformation from topps that there is a Randy Winn variation and also a Conner Jackson Rays variation, to date we have not seen either of these. The 7th and final variation should show up soon!

Smoltz Variation Take II

I was just informed by my friend Brent that he just pulled another variation. This one of John Smoltz in a Red Sox uniform. It features the lighter back just like the
other ones. He should have it on ebay soon. It appears for now the key to the
super short prints are the light colored backs! Check your cards!