Obligatory Heritage Post

It's like some Blogger 'Law', right? You buy some packs of the new release and post them. Or your Blogger Licence is revoked.

So here is mine. I bought one jumbo pack with 35 cards in it. Odds should be that I'd get one Oriole. Nope. I NEVER get any Orioles in these new releases. I like Heritage. I almost always like Heritage. The retro design, sturdy cardstock, all good. The pics aren't all that great but what are you gonna do?

I'm not going to post any of the base cards, and I'm too lazy to check if I have any variations. I'll hang on to my cards because I'll likely need a few for my fantasy baseball binder in a few weeks.

I got two cards of interest (at least to me). One is the shiny chrome Matt Harvey you see above. The other is the Dodgers rookie card below. I only post it because I noticed that Frankie Montas doesn't have a facsimile autograph on his pic. Is that a 'no-sig variation'?

EDIT....Tony pointed out in comments that a sig is visible on that card. I can't redo the post because I'm at my optometrist appointment. ;-)

OK, I've posted about Heritage 2016. Please renew my licence.

Why I'm a Big Dope

Here we go with Exhibit A in my trial. I'm charged with 'Being a Sucker for Anything'.

The 1964 Bill Pierce Topps card is a pretty good one. I tend to favor cards/sets where the colors accent the uniform colors of the player/team pictured. That's certainly the case with the Giants' players in the '64 Topps set. Add to that the fact that the pose is not a common one and the fact that it's Billy Pierce and it all adds up to it being, in my eyes at least, a great card.

Granted I prefer his White Sox cards (not that I'm a fan of either team exactly) because that's how I first saw him...with my Dad, as a White Sox pitcher in Yankee Stadium.

And that leads me to this 'rainbow' of sorts of '64 and '64-'style' Pierces. It's because I don't follow modern cards that I have a hard time figuring out what all the different 'heritage' cards are that I have listed on my Pierce checklist. I have others listed as 'wants' but I'm halfway convinced that they are just different ways people describe these same cards. I tried sorting it all out one night and it gave me a massive migraine.

I've ended up with these six cards. I don't know it they are all separate 'official' Topps releases or just different ways that people have had him sign the heritage card. For what it's worth, this is what I have pictured:

Top Row:
left) actual '64 Topps regular
right) Venezuelan '64 Topps

Middle row:
left) 2001 Heritage 'blue sig'
right) 2013(?) red sig numbered to 64

Bottom Row:
left) just a plain ol' 2001 Heritage
right) 2001(?) blue sig Heritage with '7X All Star' inscription

Outside of the top two cards, that actual vintage versions I have no idea what to make of these cards. Of the Heritage only the red signed one cost more than a couple of bucks. But the fact that I bought them at all sort of dismays me.

The Venezuelan version was $12 if I recall correctly.  The 'best' one is still the original '64 Topps Billy Pierce.

Dazed and Confused

As my 'mainstream' Billy Pierce collecting grinds to a halt (I'm down to some very expensive/elusive white whales) I've concentrated on adding some of the reprint/Heritage/Lineage cards that Topps has cranked out in recent years. Those plus some TCMA's that I posted last week. 

The problem is I don't really know what I'm chasing after. All the 'letter-numbered' (ROA-BP???) autographed Black Diamond Canary chrome foolishness is too much for me to decipher. My original Pierce checklist had two Heritage cards on it but that has expanded as I find listing for others. But the question for me remains "Are these the same cards just being listed differently?". With some like the various '52 reprint variations Topps has done it's hard to tell. 

But these two were easier to define. The numbered Heritage up top is a re-issue of one of my favorite Pierce regular cards, his '64 Topps. For that reason I didn't mind spending a bit of cash on it. The card came from COMC and I had first spotted it months ago with a price tag that I thought was too high. At least it was higher than I was willing to pay. The card didn't sell and eventually the cost came down.

I love the front design of the '64s. the backs not so much. That orange can be pretty hard to read.

The '62 reprint/re-issue below is at the opposite end of the spectrum. It's a mundane photo of a capless Pierce on the '62 design. Although the '62 set has grown on me through the years it's remains one of my least favorite Topps designs of the 50s/60s. But a Pierce is a Pierce and the price was right so here it is. 

Unlike the '64 set I like the back of the '62s more than the front.

I think even these reprints have some variations, different color ink used in the signatures. I don't intend to give a damn anytime soon. I have a nice white whale that arrived recently and it'll go up soon. Prepare to be jealous Jedi Jeff! ;-)

I missed at Target, but Night Owl saved me

I was in Target last week and decided to pick up a pack of Heritage. I see hundreds of posts on these things and I like the '65 design so I went ahead and sprung for one. My first and only purchase of 2014 cards. The ones I own are ones that generous bloggers have sent me. I figured I'd get at least one Orioles out of twenty cards. Maybe I'd get lucky and get two.

Nope. I got nothing. A Strasburg, a Don Mattingly, a bunch of other guys I don't care about. I did get one card that wasn't bad:

Jose Altuve may be very small (from the stands he looks like the batboy) but he's a real player. I wish the O's had him. And the orange and gray color scheme is the same as the Orioles '65 Topps cards so it's a pretty good card.

Bottom line: No Orioles, waste of three or four bucks or whatever it was. But luckily when I got the mail delivery I found an envelope from Night Owl and he more than made up for the crappy pack of cards.

First card is ORBIT! He's been the best thing going at Astros games up until the recent glimmer of non-crappiness. The 'Stros are giving away Orbit Antenna next Sunday. That may be just enough reason to go.

Mascots usually just piss me off. Orbit makes me laugh.

Chromey Bowman Adam Jones. Neat card, I like the Earl Weaver patch. I have one of those but I can't figure out what to do with it.

Oh, look it's Cal Jr.!!

A Donruss Ripken. Until you notice the black number and letters on the back of Cal's shirt you don't really figure this to be an 'outside the lines' card set.

Green Chromey Bowman Wei-Yin Chen. He's already matched his win total from last season (7) and may just better his 2012 total (12).

And then..Bingo, one of the very cards I'd hoped to get in the Heritage pack! A Heritage AJ!  He doesn't look too happy to be posing. I think that's the same look he has when Buck Showalter tells him to 'work the count'. 

BTW... here are what the Orbit Antenna look like. The fact that I found this picture proves that if you drill down far enough into Google, you can change the world.

Thanks, Night Owl. You made me forget about that wasted cash.

PWE from a Feathered Friend, and questions for the group

A week or two ago I got an envelope from Night Owl, one of the more prolific and enjoyable hobby bloggers out there. (This was before he trashed my main man Dennis Martinez but I'm going to let that little hiccup slide.)

Anyway, back to the envelope. Inside was a nice stack of modern Oriole cards including several 2013 Topps. He also sent along a Heritage or two and a Bowman. All of which I didn't have save one. Now while I don't go out and buy many current cards I do like having some and they are especially welcome when they are 1) Orioles and 2) guys I need for my fantasy baseball team binder.

Everyone has seen all the 2013s they need to see but I will post two cards that I got from NO.

First is a Heritage Jason Hammels.

I still enjoy the idea of Heritage cards, probably because I'm not inundated with them. And the '64 design is still pretty nice. Plus, like the next guy, I had him on my team last year. I also like the throw back Rookie Trophy they used on this Nolan Reimold. I remember seeing 1958 Topps cards, getting a few packs of 59's as a gift, actually buying quite a few 60s but the 1961 set is the first one that I actively tried to complete. So this design brings back memories.

Here is one 2013 that everyone has seen but I'm posting because it may be my favorite in the set (at least among those I've seen). I may not love the Orioles' 'softball' tops but in this picture it really looks great. btw... there is no actual evidence but this Machado strikes me as a 'night' card.

Now to my questions. Does anyone try to collect a complete Topps set these days. And if so, what the hell IS a complete set? I see all kinds of variations in border color and finishes. There are chrome versions, correct? And is Opening Day a part of the same set? Some of them use the same photos, right? How is it even possible to know what cards come in what colors?



Stop reading Night Owl. Thanks a bunch for the cards, I really do appreciate them. But flip back over to Blue Heaven or dodgerbobble or something. Everyone else, scroll down.

El Presidente!!!