Are you ready for some 2011 Topps Heritage?

That time of year is almost here, the time when spring training is in full gear and our collecting taste buds are watering for a new topps baseball release. Base brand topps now seems like a distant memory. It is now time for that big one we expect at the end of February.....well, now March.

This time last year we already had topps heritage in our hands, it was a fun year and we were giddy trying to find, and pull, any and all of the super short prints. I was also hard at work trying to pull ink from my boxes, something that has been harder to do in recent years. The above card will be not only #1 on my list but the big pull for anyone busting packs and boxes of this product.

Sandy Koufax will make his first topps debut in a week. He has never signed cards for topps which seems kinda odd given topps history. There will be no doubt that the Koufax card might break sales records on heritage autograph cards. I myself have even thought of cutting down on the boxes I open, just so I can afford a Koufax autograph. I could think of no better card to add to my heritage autograph collection than that of Koufax, who has had few autograph appearances in recent times. Heritage has actually promised quite a few HOF'ers in the 2011 edition. Guys scheduled to sign include, Hank Aaron, who has only appeared on 2 heritage autograph cards, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Stan Musial, Al Kaline, Bob Gibson and Ernie Banks. Of course true heritage collectors know that they won't believe that list until they see the live cards coming out of packs. Topps has been known to shift the checklist prior to release and in 2009 made quite a bit of cuts to the list. We are hoping that topps makes good and gets all those guys into the product.

There will also be some coin cards, a card that topps has experimented with in the past. It will remain to be seen weather or not these will be popular with heritage faithful. The stamp cards from last year did get hot. Heritage tends to avoid innovation. collectors collect ceratin sets every year and don't need gimmicks. These coin cards, which include a half dollar, are supposed to be case hits.

If its a peek at the past, or that new rookie that you want, topps heritage has something for everyone. Of course the best part of topps heritage is once again making all those trades with long time collectors. There are some guys I have been trading with since 2001 now. I know what they collect and they know what I collect.

My search for a real one Koufax starts soon. Who are you after?