Saturday, March 10, 2018

REVIEW:2018 Topps Heritage Baseball

Hot off the presses, the latest fan favorite Topps Heritage hit the market and it is, hot, hot, hot. It's been a great last couple of years in the baseball card market.

Heritage is always a fun bust for me looking at classic throwback designs with new players is always a draw-in.

This year we get to see the 1969 design. So let's take a gander shall we?

Every box of 2018 Topps Heritage baseball comes with 24 packs of 9 cards each. Boxes have one autograph or one relic per and boxes currently run $110 each.
Each box also comes with a box topper. Mine was a three-ad panel.

Here is the front of the card,

And here is the back.

The base set is 500 cards. Yes, 500.


There is also 100 short prints in that mix as well, These make up cards 401-500 in the base set.
 

Players who were moved in the offseason are shown in their new uniforms as well and that was one reason I really wanted to bust some so I could get this card right here ↓↓↓↓


Can't wait to see this guy batting in pinstripes. 

The base set also features many of the fun subsets from the 1969 Topps like, 
League Leaders


Topps News All-Stars (this was my favorite design)

****this is the backs of the Topps News All Stars and are put together to make a puzzle. One of Bellinger, the other of Judge****




Rookie Stars,
 

and World Series Highlights 

And of course Heritage wouldn't be Heritage without some Sp's and photo variations. I pulled an Action Photo variation, the easiest to find in Heritage at 1:35 packs, of Yankees slugger Clint Frazier.
 

Once again the easiest way to spot these without getting frustrated is using the codes on the back of the card,


Here are the codes to spot,
Base ends in 65
Error ends in 98
Traded ends in 99
Throwback ends in 00
Action Image ends in 01
Team Name Color Swap ends in 02
Rookie Cup Error ends in 03
Nickname ends in 04

Heritage has base card parallels which I didn't pull any of in my box. Not sure if I have ever pulled one. Black Border,  Flip Stock and 100th Anniversary MLB Logo can be found.

As always, Heritage gets chromed! Only 100 of the cards in the set are chromed. Parallels include Refractors /569, Black /69, Gold /5 and Superfractors 1/1


Inserts include,

News Flashbacks that fall 1:20


Baseball Flashbacks that fall 1:20


Then & Now that falls 1:20


New Age Performers that falls 1:12 packs


And 1969 Topps Deckle Edge that falls 1:10 packs. I think these are the best inserts in the product.


And now onto the hit.

It was my usual find in a box of Heritage, a relic. Oy.
 

Other hits to find not in my box include,
  • 1969 Baseball Cut Signatures
  • 1969 Celebrity Cut Signatures
  • Baseball Flashbacks Autograph Relics
  • Clubhouse Collection Autograph Relics
  • Clubhouse Collection Dual Autograph Relics
  • Real One Autographs
  • Real One Dual Autographs
  • Real One Triple Autographs
  • Reggie Jackson Rookie Buyback Autographs
  • Seattle Pilots Autographs
  • 1969 Mint Relics Nickel
  • 1969 US Postal Stamp Relics
  • Clubhouse Collection Dual Relics
  • Clubhouse Collection Triple Relics
  • Clubhouse Collection Quad Relics
OVERALL: Well, if you're looking at this as a fun standpoint, it was fun and a lot of it. If you're looking at this as a value standpoint, you may cry. I highly doubt for a $100+ box a Jon Gray relic is going to help cover losses. This is one problem I have with a product like this. One hit, costs a lot and 9 out of 10 times you are getting a relic. I would like to see at least one auto and one memorabilia per box.

When I buy Heritage, I always go retail knowing you can find the autograph and relic hits there as well. It also is only at most $20 so it's not a huge gamble as a hobby box is.

As for the overall Heritage appeal, the design is classic, the cards look nice and I have heard from many collectors it's a very tempting to build a set kind of product. I feel the same way. I think the challenge of chasing the 100 Sp's to finish the final 100 cards would be a fun one.

YOU CAN FIND THE COMPLETE 2018 TOPPS HERITAGE CHECKLIST, HERE.

Please take a minute out to thank Topps for providing the box to review. Some of the cards you see above will be included in the Fantasy Baseball contest! Follow Topps on all social media sites and check out their website HERE for cards and more!

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