Guess I'll Collect 2020 Topps Heritage Then...

Typically, I don’t sort current cards until the year is over. For example, I didn’t start sorting any 2019 cards until mid-January of 2020. So far, all of the 2020 cards I’ve bought have been set in a box on a shelf and ignored, unless I’m adding more to them. I don’t even pull out the Twins and Rockies cards (or Expos if there are any) until I go through the entire year’s worth. At the beginning of the next year. I figure it's safe to close the door on acquiring any of the previous year's product until the new stuff is out.

But to say that 2020 isn’t a typical year would be the biggest understatement you could ever make.

So let’s talk about 2020 Topps Heritage. And why it’s an exception to my card sorting rules. 

Due to factors I can’t even begin to explain or understand, baseball cards have been fairly hard to find this year. It started off as the year normally goes. 2020 Topps Series One hits the streets in early February. I buy my Hobby Jumbo box and call it good. Occasionally picking up some retail Value Packs while waiting for other sets to debut. Towards the end of February, 2020 Topps Heritage starts popping up around town. I buy a hobby box, then retail packs because I liked the product.

Then the Covid-19 Pandemic breaks out and cards disappear. Series One Topps quickly vanishes. Topps Series Two barely makes shelves at Targets and Walmarts before it’s gone. 2020 Bowman, Gypsy Queen, Big League and even the unlicensed Panini stuff were all gone from retail as soon as it was stocked. 

But straggling packs of Heritage remained and were slow movers...

Why?

Even as of a few weeks ago, nearby retail was sold out of everything BUT Heritage. 

And even Heritage is all gone now too.

Blasters disappeared first, then the Value Packs went away, now even the single pack gravity feeders are bone dry. It’s really strange to go into the Targets and Walmarts and find zero baseball cards for sale, in the middle of baseball season. The lack of available 2020 baseball cards at the retail level is frustrating. I haven’t bought anywhere near the 2020 cards that I would have in a normal year. I don’t know who is buying everything and what they are doing with all of it, but I’ve pretty much given up on collecting 2020 baseball.

Except for Heritage.

I had been able to pick up quite a bit of that at the retail level, and decided it was time to build the set.

They are nice cards. I love the 1971 Topps design, and it adapts to today very well. As far as a set that I want to look at, it’s far superior to the 2020 Topps flagship set. And while I hadn’t originally planned on trying to complete it, after seeing how much of it I did have, I liked it even more.

I bought a Hobby Box in early March, opened it, then set it on the 2020 Card shelf. Not to be looked at again until January 2021. All the cards stayed in their wrappers, from hits to commons. I liked the product, but it went no further than that. Heritage is a nice predictable product line. You’ll get a pretty decent base set (400 cards plus another 100 short printed “high numbers”), with all the usual subsets and inserts.

Including a wide variety of 2019 Postseason game summaries.

Most importantly, a card commemorating the 2019 World Series Champions.

Finally! A card of a team that I want to see immortalized as champions.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the yellow card back was to signify a rare parallel, with French writing on the back. Likely to represent the Canadian version of Topps, O Pee Chee. Bur I don’t think Topps owns the O Pee Chee trademarks anymore. So it’s called the rather uninspiring “French Back”.

Cool part about getting this card as a “French back”, is the presence of historic Montreal Expos records. Meaning that I will consider this an Expos card, and have a nice unexpected 2020 hit to add to the Expos binder.

Of course, all the standard stuff you come to expect in Heritage is back for 2020!

Including ample representation of League Leaders.

Which look a lot better than the last few years of Heritage League Leaders.

Combo rookie cards, like this AL/NL Rookie Stars example.

Featuring the 2019 AL Rookie of the Year, and a runner up in the NL. 

This one was the only dual team/league Rookie Stars card in the set, but nearly every team got a multi-player Rookie Stars card. Including this fine specimen of the Buffalo Blue Jays...

Dante’s son and Mr. Kay’s son share a card, but...

Bo Bichette also has a short-printed  "Action" variant. That action is just standing there aiming his bat over the shoulder of the photographer. Whatever they call it, to luck into a short print of a hot rookie card is very welcome. Heritage adds a bunch of different variations to chase. My hobby box only had this one “Action” variant, and zero reverse stock, grey letters or whatever else Topps decided to make collectors chase. 

Like the two Washington Nationals cards, showing Max Scherzer and Victor Robles wearing the old powder blue Montreal Expos uniforms, from a game in the Summer of 2019. I’m still looking for those...

Each hobby box comes with either a guaranteed autograph -OR- memorabilia card. My early March hobby box contained a Michael Conforto Clubhouse Collection Relic.

Personally, I would have went with black instead of white in the design for this card...

Conforto’s base card is one of my favorite in the set. The Phillie kicking the ball around makes it.

That photo looks like it belongs in the 1971 Topps set.

The Twins dual Rookie Stars card has one player still with the Twins. Luis Thorpe has played a fairly decent role in their 2020 bullpen, pitching long relief. Graterol is pitching out of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen, and doing well. I’m very happy with what the Twins have gotten from Kenta Maeda so far, and hope this ends up as a trade that helps both teams, instead of one side getting burned.

Mitch Garver gets a nice catcher pose.

Marwin Gonzalez is the first Twin in the dastardly 100 card short printed subset. 

I normally don’t think much of the short print cards. Unlike commons, they are kept in sleeves and filed away with the appropriate team in the Monster Boxes (if they don’t make that year’s album). But since I’m now trying to complete the full 500 card set, I’m beyond annoyed that the last 100 cards fall at a rate of 1 in 3 packs. 

At least my Hobby box contained the most expensive of the 2020 Topps Heritage High Number Short Prints (according to The Becketts) in Mike Trout. And let me take this time to thank Trout for giving his newborn son my name as his middle name. I’m honored!

Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon also resides in the High Number Short Prints series. I’d make an altitude joke for Colorado, but there’s a better High Number and Colorado joke I’d rather make in a few minutes.

Blackmon continues to be one of my favorite interviews in all of baseball. He doesn’t spout the cliche’s and seems like he’s being caught off guard by questions, before replying with something that only he would say. I also liked how the Coors Field scoreboard lists the game attendance of N/A. As in, it’s not applicable. No one was here. And it’s too bad there’s no one there. The Rockies have been playing good baseball so far this year, and their record is definitely a shock to me. Hopefully they can keep it up.

Man, I miss going to games at Coors Field...

And I could really go for a Rockie Dog with onions... From that upper deck Grillworks vendor, behind home plate. Where you are just a few paces from the clock tower and excellent views of downtown Denver.

Sigh...

Heheheheheh... Topps made the Colorado player card number 420...

Which is also kind of my point. The black text number printed on a dark green background is difficult to read while sorting. Topps should have knocked the card hum out in a circle, as they did with the Twitter notes, stats and mug shot. Although, since they didn't knock them out in 1971, I can't fault them for neglecting to do it in 2020.

Either way, their choices in text made sorting all of it take far longer than it should have. Though, my failing middle-aged man eyesight likely played a significant part in this as well.

Since they're not serial numbered, I didn't even realize the white parallels were as rare as they are reported to be. I also didn't think anything of this card because it being a post season commemoration of a team that I can't stand. So it didn't even phase me that it was white instead of black. 

At least Bregman's not on it...

However, this Baez stood out immediately.

It's serial numbered out of something. Can't remember how much.

While the Hobby box didn't blow me away, the product was solid enough. So I would often throw a few retail packs in the cart, along with the other stuff needed from the Targets.

Nothing earth shattering, but there are some nice photos sprinkled in amongst the usual Spring Training standing, pose and mug shot combination that this set should be. Like this pair of Orioles. Solid pieces for a rebuilding team, if they can replicate their advances in 2019.

And I like the deep blue seats behind Oscar Mercado. 

Cleveland's current set of uniforms look like the ballclub competes in Bases Loaded for the NES. There's a lot of talk of renaming and re-branding the team, with a return to the Cleveland Spiders as a possible new identity. My vote goes there. You have a nice throwback to history, and the potential for a really cool logo is right there.

One of my favorite insert sets in the Topps Heritage line is the Flashbacks.

Available in both baseball and history flavors! 

I'm almost positive that picture was taken at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, which is a nice touch from Topps. Potentially from the game described on the card. While the Baseball Flashbacks are usually pretty good, and this Seaver card stands out, it's the Historical Highlights set that I'm the biggest fan of. 

I only wish the odds were lower. Just like every year, I want more of these.

Because Willy Wonka gets a card in 2020 Topps Heritage!

As does D.B. Cooper!

Another long running Heritage insert set is Then & Now. I'm a lot less enthusiastic about Then & Now.

You should be able to figure the point out without me explaining it.

Yup, those guys make sense...

Oliva is kind of an obscure pick for this set, but I'm okay with that.

Always nice to see Killebrew.

A premium with 2020 Topps Heritage Blaster Boxes, are inserts patterned after the 1971 Bazooka Test set. 

I did not get the Alex Bregman card.

And my collection is better for it.

I did get Vlad Jr. And my collection IS better for it.

The blue skies on the Blue jays card is very appealing.

As well as the white puffy clouds and blue skies behind Edwin Diaz.

Other atmospheric conditions depicted in 2020 Topps Heritage include bright and sunny, sunset (or sunrise is more likely given Murphy's tired expression) over wispy clouds, or brewing thunderstorm!

And numerous Red Sox photos taken in front of this hedge in front of this building.

This time it's Chris Sale.

Now for something completely different that adds more to 2020 Topps Heritage case for a place...

On July 18, 2020, I took my mom to lunch at the Bakers Square down the street. It was recently her birfday, and we went to collect her free piece of birfday pie. Her and my dad have been eating here for decades. Their kitchen was even outfitted with some of Bakers Square's old chairs, eliminated before a restaurant remodel a few years back.

Two of those -now burned- Bakers Square chairs are now an anchor point for the fire line tape.This impenetrable barrier restricted access to the three season porch, where the fire started. As we salvaged things from the house, they were moved across town to my garage. Once a week, my parents have been coming over to sort through the things we brought over. Dumping what they don't want in my trash and recycling cans.

Amongst the items saved from the house was my mom's baseball card collection. Unfortunately stored in a room that sustained a great deal of smoke damage. These boxes date back to the mid-Junk Wax Era, and cover cards from then through today. We've been going through the cards and tossing out a great deal of them. It's going to take a while to get through all of this. A few of the Twins, Rockies and Expos are going into my collection. She's keeping the hits and cards she likes for herself. 

The rest of it is going to the "creating scarcity" cause. On this day, we thinned out the 1992 Studio, 1995 Donruss, 1994 Pinnacle and 1994 Score secondary market, by a tiny drop in the bucket! There's a bunch of 2015 Stadium Club in that burned and melted card album, leaning against the side of the garbage can.

Here's that burned and melted card album, with chunks of insulation stuck to the pages. This was last in the dining room, under a small TV stand, next to some other albums of pictures and stuff. The dining room was hit the worst by fire. I was able to rip the cover off of it, but the album pages had melted together at the top and on the sides. I was able to rescue some of the cards, including a Dellin Betances autograph. The lower left corner and middles were mostly salvageable the entire top row was a loss

For some reason, I couldn't close the D-Ring... Not sure why... 

Heheheheheheheheh... D-Ring... 

Those 2015 Stadium Club cards were significant because most of them came from a Hobby box that my mom and I split, about five years ago. Since she started collecting (shortly after I did), we had a tradition of buying a wax box and splitting it over lunch. 

Luckily, there is a great card store about 15 blocks north of where I live, with Baker's Square in between. So we stopped to see our Pals at Pal's before lunch. As soon as I entered, I was pointed in the direction of this beauty!

I didn't have a Todd Helton autograph before, and a 1 of 1 that looks like this?

This can't be turned down!

Along with our other purchases, my mom selected a Hobby box of 2020 Topps Heritage. There were three left on the shelf, she picked the one in back, saying it felt like the right one. After paying for a small card haul, we headed south for lunch...

Here... At Bakers Square!

The Pal's haul at our Bakers Square table. Including a mess of tickets for their upcoming 10th anniversary weekend (which was showed above). Assorted loose packs and singles were carried out in an empty 1987 Donruss box. A free gift since it had the Jeff Reardon Expos card on the bottom. In better condition than the one he gave me a few weeks earlier.

In these Covid times, some sit-down restaurants have opened on a limited level. Customers are spaced out (and I love that!) and tables are devoid of condiments. Menus are now disposable xeroxed copies. 

Of course This had to be saved in the Archives.

Bakers Square Breakfast Menu on the front side...

With the Bakers Square Lunch and Dinner menus on the reverse side! 

If you folded it down the middle, you'd have a 4 page Bakers Square zine! Not one that's very interesting, but I'd probably trade a Wasted Quarter for it. An early issue anyways...

Regardless, that Patty Melt sounds really good, so I'll go with that. And the word "Crush" at the front is unnecessary. There is nothing about this Patty Melt that requires the word Crush to describe it.

But it was delicious!

After we ate, we opened up the box of 2020 Topps Heritage. "Drafting" packs in alternate rounds, until the full box is divvied up. Then we take turns opening them, to see what we got. As I opened the first pack, I noticed an edge of shiny Chromey purple, mixed in with the edges of flat black cardboard...

An Albert Pujols Purple Refractor! Despite playing for teams that I don't like, Pujols has been an unofficial player collection. I remember following his career since he burst on the scene back in 2001. Pulling an autographed SPx rookie card (well, a redemption card) from a pack, during the 2001 MLB Playoffs solidified his status in my collection early on. My philosophy is, if I get a nice hit of a rookie from a pack, I'm going to pay a lot closer attention to his career.

My mom's first pack also contained a Purple Refractor (I don't remember who she got), and suddenly I remembered the existence of Heritage Hot Boxes. For the last several years, Topps has hidden single boxes, specially packaged with exclusive Purple Refractors inside each pack. They're fairly rare, doing a little research online lead me to think the Hot Boxes fall about one in every two or three 12 box cases. I've never seen actual odds on these cards, they are not mentioned on the wrappers.

But they are pretty sweet!

Here's some of the others I got from my half of the box:

An off-centered Juan Soto...

Damat...

I pull Rizzo cards almost as much as Joey Votto cards...

A pair of Topps All-Star Rookie bowling trophy cards!

Great overhead shot. Topps should have enhanced the brightness of the baseball.

You can see it, but it blends into the dirt. 

I like the Senzel card a lot. Not as wild about the Bellinger.

As soon as I pulled the Matt Olson Purple Refractor, I knew someone that had to see it. I took a picture of it on the Bakers Square table, the flash and angle made a cool effect via it's Purple Refractoriness.

Who could appreciate such a thing?

I knew you would!

To round out the highlighted Purple Refractors would be the Dustin May /  Gavin Lux Rookie Stars card. Lux is predicted by many to be the real deal, and from what I've seen of May, the Dodgers are going to have a nice piece to pair with Walker Buehler, as Kershaw starts to wind down. 

While not the level of a 2001 Albert Pujols autograph, I'm very happy with a hit of this level of two possible Dodger stars. Even though they are Dodgers.

And there's the base card.

And there's Kershaw's base card.

Another great example of what pulling a massive hit rookie card will do to your status in my collection...

Pedro Baez just got finished pitching in a watercolor painting.

By the time we finished opening the packs, I'd decided that I was going to pursue completing the set. Not knowing exactly what I had as far as Heritage stacked up on my unsorted 2020 card shelf. Between one and a half Hobby boxes, and a bunch of retail Hanger Boxes, Value Packs and Blasters, purchased since March, I had to be at least close to the 400 card low number set. 

The short prints are a completely different story.

After sorting the first few packs by hundreds, I snapped a picture of all the 2020 Topps Heritage I accumulated. Which was a lot more than I'd expected it to be. So yeah, I have to come close. 

Right?

Zooming out to show my sorting area. 1/3 of a square folding table, which also houses the Windows Box that allows me to write these stories and post them online! Well, the posting online part. I do all the writing and Photoshoppery on my ancient Mac Powerbook. Which just feels right.

Something else we found while going through my mom's smoke damaged baseball card collection, was a small stack of generic unmarked set checklists. I was given a copy of this sheet WAY back in the late 1980's, by another collector. Photocopies of that sheet have been made many times throughout the years, and it was a great way to keep track of sets in mid-build. Especially when you had multiple companies making 700 card sets every year.

Marking these sheets up was a lot of fun as you were filling your sets. I decided that I was going to use one of these sheets for 2020 Topps Heritage. The retro-ness of the set matches the retro assembly method. I didn't mark up the original. It was scanned, then adapted, while keeping the spirit of the original.

I never knew anything about Jeweltiques. Never went there and could tell you nothing about the place. 

But it's place in my card collection is pretty important!

Bryce Harper... Or cardboard cut out of Bryce Harper?

I got the guaranteed hit from the split box, a J.T. Realmuto Clubhouse Collection Gold. The hand written numbers on these throws me off. Topps uses gold foil stamping for all their other serial numbered cards, but these are hand written. 

Getting back to the Heritage inserts, we have New Age Performers. A rather pointless set that has appeared in Heritage since the set's early days. I've never been a big fan of New Age Performers, but at least I got a Twin!

This year's Heritage also has an insert set dedicated to Willie Mays' career. That's cool, but it's the Giants... That being said, I like the idea of seeing some of the lesser known Mays photos. The card on the far right says Candlestick Park, but that sure looks like the center field scoreboard area of the Polo Grounds. 

My half of this Hobby box held another French Back parallel. I'm glad Topps went with yellow for these, since there are only two French words in the text. Almost an additional disappointment since the Nationals happened to lose World Series Game 5. Though they did win in the end!

I also got another of those "Action" variants, with this Nolan Arenado short print.

Not often that a box hit is a Colorado Rockie, and I'm glad to have this.

It will sit perfect next to the Nolan Arenado base card in the Rockies binder.

Brendan Rodgers didn't make Colorado's 30 man roster to open the 2020 season. But he is in the Rockies 60 man player pool, stuck in "Alternative Training Site" limbo.

Okay... Let's wrap this up!

Thanks to those hard to read card numbers on the back, sorting this set took a lot longer than it should have. 

But once it was done...

It sure looked great in an album!

2020 Topps Heritage even made me like an Aaron Judge card!

When all this 2020 Topps Heritage sorting and checklisting was done, my custom Jeweltiques checklist looked like this. For the base set, I'm 25 cards short. And I still need 78 of those short printed high numbers. That's a whole lot to try and complete, but for now it's a goal. I'll call it complete when I have base cards 1-500, both Flashback sets, the New Age Performers, Then & Now and the 20 Giants Seasons sets. Pretty ambitious and I bet I quit first.

For the record, here is a list of what I need for the set:

5, 16, 49, 63, 98, 115, 116, 118, 132, 156, 206, 259, 274, 284, 297, 347, 349, 351, 355, 362, 367, 372, 380, 394.

And those dastardly Short Printed High Numbers...

401, 402, 403, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 411, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427, 428, 430, 431, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 445, 446, 449, 450, 452, 453, 454, 455, 458, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 467, 468, 470, 471, 473, 474, 475, 477, 478, 479, 480, 481, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 492, 493, 494, 495, 497, 498, 500.

Baseball Flashbacks

1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

History Flashbacks

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13.

New Age Performers

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.

Then & Now

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15.

20 Giants Seasons

1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16,  18, 20.

If you have any of these and feel like sending some my way... Well then,  I'll find some stuff, and put it in an envelope and send it back to you! What a deal!

2020 has been a messed up year in just about everything, including collecting baseball cards. Topps Heritage has been my favorite set that I've seen this year, and even that's not all that great. I'm anxiously awaiting 2020 Stadium Club, as that set is always one that is fun to pursue. Although, between shortages and price gouging I'm just about really to call it quits on 2020 product, and name as my 2020 Baseball Card Product of the Year...

The Fairfield Repack!