Topps Heritage...Breaking Up is REALLY Hard To Do

 

Topps Heritage and I are breaking up again.

            We do this a lot.

            We’re the Sam and Diane of card collecting.

            The Ross and Rachel if you’re a little younger.

            …I don’t honestly know what the modern TV couple equivalent is.

            But we’re done…again.

            At least for now.

            Heritage didn’t do anything wrong this year. Topps does the same thing it does every year with the product. It puts today’s players on a past design, poses them in a way that is reminiscent of the era (in this year’s case, a lot of pitching in-action shots from behind home plate), throws in a few bells and whistles, short-prints, and calls it a day. And it’s not the 1973 design. I happen to really like the 1973 Topps baseball card design. It’s not my favorite design of the decade (1976 wins that prize), but it’s not the worst.

            1970 is if I’m being real.

            1975 is if I’m being “controversial.”

            It’s just…It’s just I’m fucking tired of Topps Heritage. I’m tired of the players faking poses that were standard on older baseball cards. I’m tired of the inserts: Then and Now. Flashback. New Age Performers. All dull to me.

            I’m so tired of the goddamned short print cards.

            I came across a SABR blog post by Jeff Katz, the author of the wonderful book, Split Season, about the 1981 strike shortened baseball season. Jeff’s blog post was all about the lack of nostalgia inherent in Topps Heritage cards. The blog post, entitled “Uninspired and Uninspiring” is in reference to the 2019 Topps Heritage (the 1970 design), but the argument holds pretty well for all of Topps Heritage. I quote Mr. Katz as such: “It’s not because of the look – muted gray, standard era photos. The magic is in what they were and who I was when I was buying those packs. That cannot be claimed for Heritage, not this year or any year.”

            Pretty on point there, Mr. Katz.

            Here's a link to Jeff Katz's SABR blog post...LINK

            For me, my issue with Topps Heritage (at least until the product reaches the 1980 design in…2029…provided Topps/Fanatics is still making them) is different. Jeff Katz was 7 when 1970 Topps came out. I didn’t show up on this planet until four years later. There’s no nostalgia attached to the cards from the 1970s for me. At least not from a purchasing and ripping open packs stand point. What there is however, is reverence, for those 1970s, and 1960s and 1950s etc, cards. When I was a kid in the 1980s, all I wanted to was to be able to buy and trade for card from the 1970s and before.

            I went looking for that feeling of reverence, not nostalgia, when I started buying Topps Heritage in 2019.

            It’s a different feeling that what Jeff Katz was feeling.

            But the outcome is ultimately the same.

            I bought packs of Topps Heritage. I bought blasters. I bought hangers. I bought or received a hobby box of Heritage every year from 2019-2021. I collect the cards. I put sets together…none of which I’ve completed. And I’m talking about the base cards here. Never mind those goddamned short prints that kind of suck the air out of the whole project in general.

            And I felt…kind of stupid.

            I feel like I’m stuck with three incomplete sets that I’m never going to finish.

            I certainly didn’t feel that sense of reverence. I still get that from real cards from the 1970s. Right now, I’m convincing myself to buy a relatively cheap Henry Aaron 1970 Topps card and a relatively cheap Roberto Clemente 1970 Topps card. Plus, some Al Oliver cards, including his 1973 Topps card. I’m calling it my birthday present, or look-what-I-bought-instead-of-a-hobby-box-of-2022-Heritage. I have actual reverence and a sense of wow when I look at those cards.

            I dig this and I'm excited for this kid to make his mark. And I can't wait for his Topps base.

            But I don’t feel the same way about Oneil's Heritage cards as I do about this.

            Most likely Topps Heritage will stick around to get into the 1980s sets. I was once excited about it. Excited about the idea of my reverence turning into nostalgia. Now I know that it won’t. I also know that this blog post is a little bit hypocritical. Why is it okay to come at Topps Heritage, but continue to profess my love for Topps Archives and inserts the put old/new players on other Topps designs?

            Well…I guess the answer is in the total package. With inserts/Archives, I don’t believe Topps tries to recreate the entire feel of the cards/era the way that they do with Heritage. Archives simply seems…more fun? I know it has its detractors. But, to me, there is an inherent difference between the products.

            Here’s the kicker though. The stuff that blows my whole blog post apart. Next year, should there be a Topps Heritage design, it’s going to be in the design on 1974 Topps Baseball Cards. My birth year. I keep telling and telling myself that I’m not going to buy them. But I know me. Chances are good I’m going to buy more 2023 Topps Heritage cards than the previous year combined.

            Because I’m an idiot.

            And I could probably just collect/buy the actual 1974 Topps baseball card set.

            But stupid is as stupid does.

            Also…if you love Topps Heritage, I’m not slagging you off.

            I’m a big advocate of collecting the way that you want to.

            That said, I did buy some 2022 Topps Heritage cards when they showed up on SportLots. I bought some of the players I collect, as well as the Pirates team set.

            Just not the Pirates short-prints.

            I love the Buccos but there’s no world in which I’m paying $3 for a Wilmer Difo card.

            Here is a look at what I did buy.

            First the Pirates Team sans short prints...and apparently the above Oneil Cruz cards.

            So here he is again.

            I did think it was a nice touch for Topps to give The Great One a card in the set.

            Can’t forget my White Sox guys.

            You all know how I feel about Vlady Jr and Yordan.

            Some other youngsters I follow and sort-of collect.

            My NYC guys…although I’m on the outs with Aaron Judge because he’s a fool who won’t get vaccinated.

            Have some D.C. love as well…especially for a former Pirate who SHOULD STILL BE A PIRATE.

            Some Shohei action.

            And…Michael Taylor for some reason.

            Actually, I’d ordered two Hoy Park cards but this guy came as the second Park instead. So, if anyone is working on 2022 Topps Heritage and needs Michael Taylor to complete the set, I’m your man.

            Oh, and I’m not paying $20 or whatever people are charging for Wander Franco’s card.

            As for the 1970 Aaron and Clemente…I’m a procrastinator with online purchases.

            I’m afraid to go on ComC and see if they’re already gone.

 Thanks for Reading! Happy Collecting!

Joe Posnanski, author of the amazing Baseball 100 (among other things), has an interesting post on nostalgia, which you can find right HERE

NEXT FRIDAY: Russell Streur is back with an excellent piece of writing on The Queen of the Diamond, none other than HOFer herself, Effa Manley....and her Newark Eagles!