2010 Topps Heritage Preview

2010 Topps Heritage marks the 10th year of this very popular product. I was able to ask Clay Luraschi, who is director of product development at topps, a few questions regarding the future release.

HK: Hi Clay, thanks for your time. I would like to start with a little history. Recently 2001 Topps Heritage was named the set of the decade. Can any one person take credit for the Heritage idea or was it a group effort, and why do you think it has been so popular for all these years?

CL: The concept of the Heritage brand was definitely an idea spawned by the team. I remember it clearly. We were celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Topps baseball cards that year and we thought it would be fitting to recreate the 1952 set. I remember the group having very deep discussions about how the retouching and the small things (black and red backs, short prints, etc) would make this set great. To have the set of the decade is a great honor for Topps and something we are very proud of. The Heritage brand is one of those brands that the group truly loves to work on. It's out history!

HK: One of the driving forces behind the popularity of heritage are the beautiful on card autographs. How far in advance do you have to work to get those into packs as live cards? Will Musial, Yaz, and Gibson be in packs?

CL: On card-autographs in general are tough to coordinate, because there are so many hurdles that can come up in the process. It can sometimes be even more difficult for Topps, because we witness every single autograph session in person. We are the only company that does that. We start way out with Heritage compared to other products, because we track down a ton of retired players. As you know, we do as many autographs as we can of the players who had their last card in that particular year. And some of these guys are hard to track down. But at the end, the player enjoys it (because many times this is the first card deal they've received since that last Topps card) and the collector enjoys it.

HK: 2010 Topps Heritage will be modeled after the 1961 Topps set, that was obviously a huge year in the history of baseball. What kinds of cards will you be putting into the product to commemorate that season?

CL: Well, the big story in 1961 as we all know is when Roger Maris and Mickey chased after Ruth's 60 HR record. There is a major insert playing tribute to all three players in 2010 Topps Heritage.

HK: One of the most exciting parts of ripping into a fresh box of Topps Heritage the past few years has been the prospect of pulling what has been called, super short prints. Should we be keeping our eyes peeled again this year?

CL: With Heritage, you should always keep your eyes peeled! Like I said, we really enjoy putting this product together and we have so much fun doing so. From selecting the photos and matching them up with the original card numbers to to trying to recreate them as close to the original as possible...it's a challenge, but we love what we do. Thanks




2010 Topps Hertiage is shipping to card stores now!