Happy Birthday To Me.

      So Friday was my 47th birthday, a most nondescript age to turn to say the least.  I took the day off to have myself a nice four-day weekend. Of course, as much as having 96 hours to do nothing would be ideal, one has to use at least some downtime for the errands one must attend to.  Being a grown up is lame. But I decided while I was going to be out and about to at least also attend to some of my childish amusement which means baseball cards, of course. 

Having recently finished my 1975 Topps set, I've taken on the challenge of the 1972 set next.  I know this one will take years (it took me years to build it the first time). I've gathered all the stars I have and bought myself a nice starter set at a decent price. But while I now have a good 80% of the first 653 cards, after that - the dreaded high numbers - I only had 4 of them. So I know it is a long term task ahead of me. 

 

 

Ah, but this is where some serendipity comes in, even more than my '75 set had.  I was around a comic store I know has card supplies and some boxes of random sports card stuff. I have spoken of this place before. It is always a fun visit to a joint that has been good to me before but I doubt it will ever be better than this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to start my '72 set officially two weeks ago and aside from my initial gathering hadn't done anything more. Heck, I haven't even put together a want list yet. (UPDATE: Yes, I have, in my brands and sets wantlist tab) But as I dove into the dark vintage old school cardboard section of that quarter box, it was like some kind of wild daydream. It was loaded with 1972 Topps. And not just any kind of 1972 Topps, I immediately recognized these cards as high numbers. And there was not just three or four of them, there was dozens of them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously, it is clear that a comic shop might not be well versed in what they had in this vein of cards and I didn't feel it was my place to tell them. I mean, it's not like there was the Nolan Ryan or Frank Robinson traded card in here. But the Rick Wise traded card was in there. And about 60 other high numbers. I asked and made sure the unsleeved vintage was a quarter and I was told yes so I just went with it. All in all, I nabbed 90 or so total that I needed for my new set. And I got those high numbers for a quarter a piece; I couldn't have done that the first time I built this set in the late 90s. I should feel guilty but I don't. I also got a huge lot of series 5 original Star Wars cards too at the same price, but that is a different post (and they should have known better about those). There was also a bunch of other vintage stuff in there, some 1968 commons that I couldn't resist and some '70s team cards. Along with a shiny new binder and a big monster box, it was quite the trip and turned out to be a glorious, unexpected birthday present for me. I'll have a new list up soon for the '72 set soon and I even have a few high number doubles to trade. Try not to take horrible advantage of me.

Love In The Time of Corona.

       Last Monday morning, I went to Costco and Target and it was a very quiet, uneventful trip.  Little did I know that in the next few days, going to the store would become something like a cross between old Woody Woodpecker cartoons where the women kill each other, bridal day at Filene's Basement, and the Road Warrior.  Lucky for me, I am a slight hoarder at all times and don't need soap, sanitizer, or toilet paper any time soon.  Also, I did stop in the card aisle in Target and grabbed some Heritage packs (they had no blasters) and impulsively grabbed a blaster of Star Wars Skywalker Saga cards while looking in vain for Heritage blasters.  This would prove very fortunate and unfortunate but not in the way I thought.  Kind of like how most of our weeks went.

I rarely buy single retail packs of baseball cards because I find all you ever get are base cards and maybe an odd parallel but very rarely do you ever get something of substance.  I figured since all I wanted was some examples of the Heritage, I would just grab 6 packs and go about my business.  These might have been the luckiest six packs of retail cards I ever bought.

One thing I collect in totality is Topps rookie all stars.  I love me some fancy trophies on my baseball cards and I got five of them in these six packs, including two short prints.  The two short prints I got were Pete Alonso and Vlad Guerrero Jr., the two cards I figured I'd have to pay through the nose for on eBay if I ever wanted them, and here I got them in back to back retail packs.

I even got one of the two Alonso league leader cards and three of the postseason cards.  And we are just getting started.

I got five inserts.  That's practically one per pack but it didn't quite come out that way because I got two Tom Seaver Flashbacks stuck together in one pack.  I also got another Flashbacks insert, Rod Carew, and two Then and Now cards - one of them also with Tom Seaver.  Look him up, kids, he was pretty good.  I did get one other base double in the five packs - it was Michael Conforto, a Mets player.  This never happens.  I always get doubles of San Diego Padres or Milwaukee Brewers.

There was one other Met and one other league leader card.  Not too shabby. 

I am pretty sure the 1971 set is in my top five all time designs and the Topps people really nailed the look of it.  The colors, the lower case ee cummings style names, and the random action photos - which were new in '71 - are all here.  Even the random rookie cards and odd position designations are here.  I didn't scan the backs but the backs all look right with the head photos and esoteric write ups. They even have SSPs of the OPC backs, which are some of my favorite OPC variations.  Alas, I did not get one of those.

I also love poses where the hitters are swinging and pointing the bat at your face, I got three of them in three different styles.  I saw that the Alvarez/Aquino rookie card is hot.  I am not one for hot rookies, so if anyone wants to trade for this thing, let me know.

This is the page I ended up piecing together from the five packs, I think it looks great.

I went with just about all posed shots but got a variety and the one action shot is decidedly inactive (I picked a Luke Voit action shot for the vertical example, that's on the back, the back I didn't scan).  I chose a few teams that didn't exist in 1971 just for a little timely juxtaposition.  I was thrilled with my choice to lower myself to retail packs.  I know it will never turn out this good again.  If anyone is putting the set together and has a wantlist, drop me a line and I'll see what I can fill before these go to ebay or Listia.

On the other hand, the Star Wars cards were...underwhelming.  The blaster had 10 packs and 60 cards but no indication on the outside what they looked like; this seems to be on purpose.  The design is very staid.  I prefer a little color and whimsy in my Star Wars cards and all I got here is some stars from a NASA chart or something off of a Battlestar Galactica poster. 

The photos and subjects seem to cover all eight movies, I assume this set was leading into the ninth.  All the cards are vertical and none of the captions are puns or anything.  I am falling asleep just looking at them.

I scanned a second group to continue the monotony.  Not even Natalie Portman can make these more exciting.

Though I gotta say, I do love that middle card, it is a great shot from the climax of the Force Awakens.  Lightsabers and snow, more of that please.  One out of 60 is a very bad ratio.

Each pack had a parallel base card where, oooo pinch me, they changed the color of the thrilling border to a rusty orange or a royal blue.  I suppose the blue is a slight improvement but I got two of those and eight of the rusty orange.

Seriously, the write ups on the front and backs of these cards is more boring than my write up here.

Each pack also had an insert.  These were at least a little more interesting, if slightly repetitive.

Five of them were from the Path of the Jedi set, which were almost exactly the same as the style and substance of the base cards.  I do like that Han Solo card because the highlight of the seventh movie to me was the fact that Harrison Ford didn't mail in his performance as he has in a few of the other movies he's done in his old age (I'm looking at you, Indiana Jones 4 and Blade Runner 2049). So that's 2 out of 60.

The blaster's special insert was a manu-patch and I got A Princess Leia.  I actually have a use for that card so it is staying in my collection.  I might cobble a page of these together but it will hardly find a place of honor in my Star Wars book. 

That was the other Path of the Jedi card, which looks like the other one on the other page.  The best looking card in the whole blaster was the advertisement card with that borderless shot from the first movie.  If anyone wants to use that 10% off code, be my guest.  It really had been an odd week indeed.

Heritage '14 (or is it '65?).

       I think I have bought at least a little Topps Heritage just about every year since it first came out in 2001.  Back then, it was a sensation due to the ascension of faux-vintage and some would go so far to say it was the absolute pinnacle of that trend.  After all, Topps has the deepest history of design and tradition, so it seemed right that if anyone was going to mine this properly, it would be them.  I built that first 2001 set with a lot of boxes and patience and some help from that new-fangled internet thing eBay.  I have since sold off that first set but you never really forget your first.  I think pound for pound, the most fun I have ripping boxes and packs for set building purposes has been Heritage, at least since it came out.

       But like all things, eventually the excitement died.  For me, it was around the time they stopped putting gum in the Heritage packs, which was half of the joy.  I mean, gum? With baseball cards?  What an innovation! (sarcasm alert)  In 2010 and 2011, now that I think of it, I don't think I bought any Heritage at all, since I recall those 1961 and 1962 sets being on my want list for page completion for a while.  I dabbled a little with retail purchases the last couple of years and then this year, as I covered the other day, I dove head first back into a hobby box.  I did this out of excitement and boredom.  I did this because I love the 1965 Topps set.  I did this because I am an impulsive pain in the ass.

So let's take a look at what came out of the first hobby box of Heritage I have bought since 2008 (the also beloved by me 1959 set). 

First and foremost, I have decided to not build the base set.  I don't find it as annoying and daunting as some with all of Topps' short prints and such, I just decided not to.  So the official nine pocket page will be the shining reminder of this box break:

The 1965 is such a great simple design with vivid colors.  Topps got a lot right with this set.  They integrated the new teams like the Marlins and Diamondbacks (or Blue Jays and Rockies as shown above) using the same border colors they used back in the day.  They didn't get cute.  Another nice thing is that since the team name gets smaller at the end within the pennant element, the infuriating copyright/trademark symbols Topps insists on including are deemphasized.  Both of these things go a long way to keeping the set looking very clean and pure to its roots.  I found that one or both of those things were miserable failures of the 1961, 1963, and 1964 Heritage designs.  These look as good as the 2003/1962 set did. 

The '65 backs are also wonderful and Topps also did right by those too:

The font is right, the cartoons are right, and the complete stats are always appreciated.  I also found out there is a great trick to finding out if you have one of the many short print or variations without having to go insane looking them all up.  Amongst all that disclaimer fine print is a little code at the end.  Base cards have a number of 7119, anything else has a different code.  Those specific codes can be found here and thank you for the Cardboard Connection site for teaching me that.  I have no idea if that is a new thing or not, but it is new to me. 

Speaking of short prints, these are the high numbers I got. 

At a ratio of 1:3, I got the proper amount in my 24 packs.  The Chris Davis there is both a high number and an action short print.  The portrait photography in the set is consistent with the original and it is funny how an action shot sticks out.  You certainly don't need a code to figure that short print variation out.

I don't do pack-by-pack breakdowns, so instead we will look at a few of the other base cards.

The league leader cards lead off the set and they look great.  They are also very consistent with how the original set looked, i.e. since the 1965 NL ERA leaders card only had two players on it (and two pretty damn good pitchers at that) the 2014 Heritage set only has two pitchers on it.  This is a shame because it denies me another Matt Harvey card in the set since he came in third in the league last year.  Consistency giveth and taketh away.  The Coco Crisp card is a stark contrast to his card in the flagship set with his afro brushed down instead of out.  It also sadly emphasizes his receding hairline (I feel your pain, Coco).  Carlos Beltran knows how to take care of such things, just shave it all off. The rookie cards are handled properly in this set, which is a relief since they bungled it so badly the last couple years.  They happily don't repeat anyone and they have the design correct.  It is kind of funny to see the word Diamondbacks fade away into such tiny nothingness.  On the other end of the hair spectrum, Bryce Harper's pseudo duck tail look is given full attention, which is odd because I don't know why they would take a hatless photo of him since the odds of  Bryce being traded are about even with the odds of me breaking into the Mets starting rotation.  The last two are nice photos I cannot seem to recall why I highlighted.  Let's just stick with that, they're nice.  Moving on...

One cool thing, as always, is the old school Rookie All Star Trophy...

...and I pulled six of them.  That will definitely help with my want lists.  I also am keeping the only World Series card I got and the great image of poor Ryne Sandberg managing the Phillies.  He put all those year in with the Cubs only to have them screw him over for the likes of Jim Riggleman and Dale Sveum.  That's loyalty.  Lastly is Miguel Gonzalez, the latest major leaguer to share my birthday.  Lucky Gemini.

Let's get to the parallels and inserts.

I got two chrome parallels and a single refractor, which is under-performing the claimed ratio, but since I don't really care about these cards, it's just as well.  Just about all of these cards are destined for eBay unless you see something you must have, in which case you should email me ASAP before I post them.  The New Age Performers and Then and Now are well worn veterans of the Heritage sets and these particular designs are fitting and near perfect.

More inserts:

This is how I feel about the News Flashbacks but the Baseball ones are pretty cool, especially when they are Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente.  I supposed Topps made them vertical this year to mix things up.  One new insert set this time around is the 1st Draft which is appropriate since 1965 was the first year of the draft.  The draft concept is one I hope they make a regular feature as it is always great to pull old stars and getting a babyfaced Nolan Ryan in a Mets uni is greatest of all.  The last card there was my big "hit" (I suppose), a CC Sabathia Mint card with an actual 1965 nickle embedded in it.  Considering I have a 1948 nickle in my pocket as we speak, I will try to contain my elation.  That it is numbered to /15 gives it all its "value" - I can't get this thing on eBay fast enough. 

Alas, in all this pack ripping, I only got four Mets (aside from the aforementioned Nolan Ryan).  Really, it is three and a half Mets since there is a Phillie prospect sullying the card with Wilfredo Tovar on it.

All in all it was not a tremendous box but luckily, also not a terrible one.  It was well collated with not a double to be found.  The set itself is very well designed and executed and it's nice to see that Topps can actually do that when they try.  I guess they figure that since this is the one real big set set-building lovers love, they better not muck it up as much as they have in the past.  I still miss the gum, though.